Iconic Albums U2 The Zooropa Era (1993)

In 1993, U2 did something few of the world's biggest bands would have dared to attempt.Still in the middle of the enormous Zoo TV Tour, and less than two years after reinventing themselves with Achtung Baby, they returned to the studio intending to record a short EP. Instead, the sessions grew into Zooropa-one of the strangest, boldest and most experimental albums of their career.Iconic Albums: U2 - The Zooropa Era tells the complete story of how the record emerged from the chaos of Zoo TV and pushed U2 even deeper into electronic music, media overload, irony and uncertainty.Across 35 chapters, the book follows the band from the aftermath of Achtung Baby through the ever-expanding Zoo TV spectacle and into the rushed Dublin sessions that produced Zooropa. It explores the creation of every major song, including "Numb," "Lemon," "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)," "The First Time," "Dirty Day" and "The Wanderer," as well as the extraordinary decision to bring Johnny Cash into U2's futuristic electronic world.The book also examines the wider ideas behind the album: Bono's fascination with advertising and information overload, The Edge's transformation from guitarist into producer and sonic architect, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.'s place inside the increasingly electronic sound, and the development of MacPhisto-the final and darkest of Bono's Zoo TV characters.There is also the story of the songs that did not make the album, the creation of the distinctive Zooropa artwork, the unusual choice of "Numb" to introduce the record, and the way new songs were incorporated back into Zoo TV before the tour finally ended in December 1993.Finally, the book traces how the experiments of Zooropa led directly toward Brian Eno and U2's Passengers project, Original Soundtracks 1, "Miss Sarajevo" and eventually the electronic ambitions of Pop.Part album history, part tour story and part portrait of a band refusing to stand still, U2 - The Zooropa Era explores one of the most fascinating transitional periods in U2's career.For listeners who have always believed Zooropa deserved to be understood as more than a companion to Achtung Baby, this is the story of the album that began as an interruption and became a direction.