Songoftheday 8/29/20 - You can reach but you can't grab it, you can hold it control it no but you can't bag it...

 

 

"Discotheque" - U2

from the album Pop (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 4

 

Today's song of the day comes from Irish rock legends U2, who had taken a break after the lukewarm reaction to their 1993 album Zooropa. That set was an international success, and went to #1 in America selling over 2 million records, but failed to spin off a top-40 pop hit at all (the track "Lemon" did go to #1 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart). In 1995, Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton Jr., and Larry Mullen got back together to record a single for the Batman Forever soundtrack. The result, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me", brought them a decent hit, reaching the top 40 here and #1 on the Alternative Rock radio chart. A year later, Mullen and Clayton revamped the theme from Mission Impossible for the Tom Cruise film adaptation that did even better, making the top 10 on the American pop chart at #2 at Dance. 

With a wait then hurry up pattern leading up to their next album, U2 hired up producers like Flood (Erasure) and Nellee Hooper (Soul II Soul, Madonna) that were more versed in electronica for their Pop album from 1997. With Mullen sidelined with a back injury, drum loops were employed to fill in the gaps on records. The lead single from the set was the campy "Discotheque", written by Bono and the Edge and produced by Flood. Not a "disco" song per se, the track was a noisy clash of sound that resembled the bands Garbage and Republica rather than the grandiose arena rock of The Joshua Tree. The music video, featuring the four in Village People-style outfits, was, well, shocking, but it definitely got a reaction...

It was worth it for the Edge with the leatherman outfit and handlebar mustache alone.

"Discotheque" brought U2 as a band back into the American pop ten for the first time since 1992, if only for a week in February of 1997, before falling out of the top-40 within a month. But the song was a much bigger success at rock radio, spending a month (4 weeks) at #1 on Billboard magazine's Alternative Rock radio chart, and getting to #6 on the Mainstream Rock list. It also reached #7 on their Triple-A (Adult Album Alternative) rock radio format tally. The remixes of the track coupled with the name alone helped make the single their biggest club success, spending two weeks at #1 on the Dance Club Play chart. Internationally, the single did quite well, topping the charts in their native Ireland, the UK, Italy, Finland, Norway, and New Zealand, and reached the top ten in Canada (#2), Sweden (#2), Czech Republic (#2), Iceland (#2), Australia (#3), Hungary (#3), Denmark (#4), Belgium (#5W/#14F), The Netherlands (#6), Switzerland (#6), Germany (#9), and Austria (#9), and almost there in France (#12). The Pop album became their fifth consecutive #1 album in the U.S., going on to sell over a million copies. 

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Here's an edit of the "DM Deep Club Mix" from David Morales that helped the song top Billboard's Dance Club Play chart for two weeks...

Next up is the band performing the song live on their PopMart tour in 1997...

And again on their Vertigo show in 2004...

Up tomorrow: Shed no tears for this pop queen.