There was a time I was a HUGE U2 fan.  Loved, loved, loved their albums and thought they were one of the best bands out there.

Yeah, they stumbled a bit with the album Rattle and Hum (too long, too meandering) but, overall, they released some exceptional works.  War.  The Unforgettable Fire.  The lovely ep Wide Awake in America.  The Joshua Tree.

After Rattle and Hum, one could understandably be worried they were spent.  Then came the wonderful Achtung Baby and, suddenly, they were again on top of the world, IMHO.

While touring on that album and with creativity to burn, they released the album Zooropa in 1993.  The album was met with… confusion, perhaps, by audiences in general.  The album was very experimental and, compared to some of the previous U2 albums, perhaps a little too radical to some.

I personally loved every second of its wonky bizarreness, including the way it ends with a song sung by, of all people Johnny Cash!

Over at vox.com, Dylan  Scott offers his positive opinion on…

The unexpected resonance of Zooropa, U2’s least remembered album, 25 years later

Mr. Scott seems to share similar opinions to mine.  I loved U2 up to Zooropa but, sadly, from that point on the band seemed to drift off into directions that no longer interested me.  Their follow up album, Pop, I could barely listen to.  Their subsequent albums had songs here and there I liked but, overall, nothing that stood out like everything that came before.

And, to me, its a really sad thing to see.

Mr. Scott notes that U2 themselves seem to hold Zooropa in low esteem, barely singing any of the songs from that album in their shows.

Again, that’s too bad.

Still, reading the article is fascinating and, if you’re a fan at all of U2 -or even a lapsed fan as I am of late- its an interesting read.