I still like U2’s ‘Pop’ — Part 1

Pop, released in 1997, might be U2’s smartest, edgiest album.

Behind the glitz and glam of the album’s packaging (and the accompanying tour), Pop goes uncompromisingly deeper than most pop music, taking on several religious themes in an indirect yet profound way.

On the band’s website, Bono said of Pop,  “We’ve had to get the brightly coloured wrapping paper right, because what’s underneath is not so sweet.”

Not so sweet, indeed — and you know that if you’ve given the album a serious listen.

Here’s an excerpt from the lyrics to “The Playboy Mansion.”

If O.J. is more than a drink

And a Big Mac bigger than you think

And perfume is an obsession

And talk shows – confession

What have we got to lose?

Another push and we’ll be through

The gates of that mansion.

I never bought a lotto ticket

I never parked in anyone’s space.

The banks they’re like cathedrals

I guess casinos took their place.

Love, come on down

Don’t wake her she’ll come around.

Chance is a kind of religion

Where you’re damned for plain hard luck.

I never did see that movie

I never did read that book.

Love, come on down

Let my numbers come around.

–“The Playboy Mansion,” U2

Cover of Pop