“And I have no religion
And I don’t know what’s what
And I don’t know the limit
The limit of what we’ve got”

U2 took a direction towards industrial ambiance with their 1993 album Zooropa. Whether coincidence or by design, some of the album offers interpretations of present day possibilities predicted from the early 90’s. The above lyric from the title track reflects an individual searching for an identity among an over-saturation of sloganized, advertise-laden content. The Edge’s lyric for “Numb” is a breaking point of it all. Today a person can easily become numb spending too much time absorbed in so much garbage digital content. Social Media has evaporated valuable time where people should be doing more for themselves. It has become an addiction to self-absorb into a sea of irrelevant stories.

“Lemon” is arguable the album’s finest work musically and among the best lyrics in the band’s storied catalog. Adam Clayton’s bass part is a memorable bouncing bite, carrying the great chordal vibrato of Edge’s guitar and Bono’s falsetto.

“And I feel
Like I’m slowly, slowly, slowly slipping under
And I feel
Like I’m holding onto nothing”

It’s too easy to drown in the negativity of present day 2018. Content and news is more accessible to everyone. It feels like too much at once. We ask ourselves, “Why are we holding on to something that is nothing?” The news may not directly affect our lives. It still can affect our perception of the world around us.

My first impressions of this album were how futuristic it sounded. It has moments of Edge (pun intended) mixed with tendered rests of reflection. Musically It was ahead of a curve in need of a redraw.

Looking back at this album has permitted me to forgive U2’s management and Apple for forcing “Songs of Innocence” onto everyone with an iTunes account in 2014.

@WriterDann