This is probably an unpopular call with the majority of U2 fans out there, but in my opinion Zooropa is their finest effort.
The reasons? Well, after running The Joshua Tree into the ground through stadium shows and becoming the biggest and most serious band in the world they started to have some fun in the 90's with Achtung Baby and Zooropa, which incidentally was recorded between stops on the mammoth "Zoo TV" world tour in 1993. This lead to some experiments with European-styled electronica, dance music and other various loops & samples which ended up as this album: a bold new direction in the 90's from an 80's stadium rock band. And it was fresh and exciting at the time too - check out the chiming loops on "Babyface", the electronic fuzz in "Numb" and the club-feel of "Lemon". All good things. There's even a track sung by Johnny Cash! Not many of us saw that coming on this album the first time we heard it.
But all good things do come to an end: U2 tried too hard with the follow-up Pop and then went back to the safety of stadium-friendly, self-righteous rock in the 21st century - and today they're still more popular than ever.
You can keep their last three albums though, I'll just sip my Guinness and listen to Zooropa instead - a great record from a band who had the guts to try something different. Even if they don't like it in hindsight.
An underrated album, that's for sure. Dirty day, an underrated track.
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