U2’s Zooropa turns 30 and proves that uncertainty can still be a guiding light
On July 5 we celebrate Zooropa’s 30th anniversary. Produced by Flood, Brian Eno and The Edge, the album was initially intended to be an EP. Zooropa was born on a break between legs of Zoo TV Tour and U2 won a Grammy as the Best Alternative Album of the Year.
“Alternative” is really a good word to describe it. There are several others that suit very well too: risky, weird, strange, experimental. We need to remember that U2 started a process of transformation during the Achtung Baby’s making of. And maybe I can say Zooropa was the high point of this moment. “A product of limitless imagination.”
Perhaps not everyone has heard about the album, but certainly they’ve already listened to “Stay”. This song is one of the most beautiful of U2’s career; its video is like a movie, a Win Wenders’s true piece of art. Also, it goes between reality and fantasy, a place I love to see U2 exploring. Besides, I think I could make a connection of three iconic songs — “With Or Without You”, “One” and “Stay”. They all got U2 style; nevertheless this album is much more than that.
Zooropa is known by questioning what it’s like to be a person in this changing world bringing the innovation in the sound. “Lemon” shows Bono ’s falsetto vocal range. Or better, MacPhisto’s performance was stunning. Very rhythmic and with different remixes, you can find various levels in this song. U2 allowed themselves to have fun and play with characters.
“Numb” has The Edge taking the lead vocals saying a list of ‘don’t’, like a rap. One of the themes of Zoo TV Tour was to recreate the feeling of sensory overload. At the beginning of the 90’s the communications have improved — the band used live-satellite transmissions from Sarajevo, for example. The idea of the song, like in the tour, was to express that sense of people receiving too much information at the same time. Yes, this was in the 90’s… Imagine nowadays with Internet, social media, etc. U2 were giving a clue of what it would be the 21st century. Crazy world! The Edge is really from the future! Haha
There is another side of Zooropa that I think it is dark. “The First Time”, “Dirty Day” and “The Wanderer” — the last one in Johnny Cash’s powerful voice — have obscurity, sadness, melancholy. Noises that annoy me and make me feel unquiet. That anxiety takes me back to the beginning of the album.
“What do you want?” is the main question of “Zooropa”. As I said earlier, it’s important to have in mind the history background. Europe after the fall of Berlin Wall, the collapse of communism, the expansion of the European Union, borders coming down… all of this has influenced U2 to make music, to build a tour and to give life to Bono’s alter egos The Fly and MacPhisto. It was the perfect scenario to help to create a future you wanted to live. A plural world, like it’s described in the song using famous slogans of many brands (ex: “Vorsprung Durch Technik” or “Be A Winner”). However, with so many options/noises/interferences, it’s also an uncertain world. “And I have no compass, and I have no map”; “And I don’t know what’s what”. But the trust of “Zooropa” was that uncertainty could be a positive point of departure. “Don’t worry baby, it’s gonna be alright. Uncertainty can be a guiding light.” Despite of the chaos of the modern world, you can dream and build the place you wish for. “She’s gonna dream up the world she wants to live in. She’s gonna dream out loud.” This reflection worked for U2, hope it works for me too.
By Fernanda Bottini
Communication: Journalism / PR
Massive U2 fans who writes about the Irish group for about 20 years
Email: febottini@gmail.com
