Island 518047
Producers: Flood, Brian Eno, and the Edge
Track listing: Zooropa / Babyface / Numb / Lemon / Stay (Faraway, So Close!) / Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car / Some Days Are Better Than Others / The First Time / Dirty / The Wanderer
July 24, 1993
2weeks
With the success of Achtung Baby, U2 again launched a massive tour, this one dubbed “Zoo TV.” The trek began with multiple-night stands at indoor arenas, but like the The Joshua Tree tour, it soon moved to huge outdoor arenas, carrying a new title, “Zoo TV: Outside Broadcast.” Yet “Zoo TV” was different from the band’s previous tours — the stage was covered with video monitors, displaying TV broadcasts and other messages via satellite from around the globe. Bono came onstage wearing o gold lame Elvis-type suit and “Fly” glasses. Just as Achtung Baby had redefined U2’s sound, “Zoo TV” had effectively recast the band’s live shows.
Still brimming with creative energy from Achtung Baby and “Zoo TV,” U2 opted to enter the recording studio in Dublin during a break between the U.S. and European legs of the tour. “We had to wait until summer to tour Europe,” says bassist Adam Clayton. “We had three months, so we thought we would go back and dig up some of the tracks from Achtung Baby that we hadn’t finished. We thought we would put together some sort of an EP just to keep ourselves busy, but then it turned into an album.”
The band continued on the path it had forged with Achtung Baby, as several of the tracks, including “Lemon” and “Numb,” rocked with an electronic dance beat. Longtime co-producer Daniel Lanois had only limited involvement with the sessions. With Brian Eno still on board, Flood, who had been credited with recording The Joshua Tree, was tapped as a co-producer, along with guitarist the Edge. “Eno and Edge contributed to the record the most,” says Clatyon. “In a sense, [producer] was a role that Edge always had played. On Zooropa, since we were under time pressure, there was a lot more handed over to him. He would work on some of the chord structures on his own and have the work prepared for us, so when we came in the next day there was less messing around and we knew what we had to do.”
The Edge also took on the role as lead vocalist on “Numb,” the first track from the album released to radio. Although the Edge had contributed lead vocals in the past, this was the first time one of his vocal contributions had received such a high profile.
Other voices appeared on Zooropa as well. “The Wanderer,” the album’s final track, features Johnny Cash on lead vocals. “That was just magical,” says Clayton. “Bono and myself spent some time with Johnny after we finished the Rattle and Hum sessions and we talked about the possibility of doing a track together. It just so happened that when we started Zooropa, Johnny was touring with the Carter Family and Kris Kristofferson in Dublin. We played Johnny the track. Bono said he would finish up some words for him and asked Johnny if he would come in the next day and sing it.”
For Cash, the collaboration was also a special moment. “I felt really honored that they wanted me to be on their album,” he says. “That was a bold step my career and it opened up a lot of doors for me.”
Like Achtung Baby, Zooropa debuted at the summit, giving U2 its fourth consecutive Number One album. Clayton says the deadline pressure contributed to the quality of the album. “Since we only had three months, it meant we really got the best of each other,” he says. “And that was a good way to work.”
THE TOP FIVE
Week of July 24, 1993
1. Zooropa, U2
2. Back to Broadway, Barbra Streisand
3. Janet., Janet Jackson
4. Sleepless in Seattle, Soundtrack
5. It Won’t Be the Last, Billy Ray Cyrus