"Zooropa" is a song by Irish rock band U2, and is the opening track from their 1993 album of the same name. The song was the result of combining two pieces of music, the first of which was conceived in the studio, and the second of which was a soundcheck recording from one of the group's concert tours that was discovered by guitarist the Edge. The lyrics were written by lead vocalist Bono and describe two characters in a brightly lit city in a futuristic version of European society. Some lyrics in the song were taken directly from advertising slogans, and they also featured the phrase "dream out loud", which has appeared in other U2 media. The song touched on several themes, including moral confusion and the future of European society.
Promotional recordings of the song were released in the United States and Mexico, and the song appeared on two record charts shortly after its release in 1993. The song was briefly performed at three shows on U2's Zoo TV Tour in 1993. The band had difficulties performing it in 1993, and it was not played again until the U2 360° Tour in 2011.
The recording of the song received mostly positive reception from critics, who praised it as the album's opening track.
Background and recording
During the Zoo TV Tour in 1992, U2 were trying to create a vision of an attractive future for Europe, as opposed to a negative, dystopian image that would be found in science fiction. With recent and ongoing events in Europe, such as the Revolutions of 1989, the enlargement of the European Union, and the Bosnian War, lead vocalist Bono created a surreal vision of a European location called "Zooropa". Bono has referred to Zooropa as being a concept album, with a main theme of the exploration of interpellation within the European Union.
Bono and guitarist the Edge had been reading works by cyberpunk author William Gibson, who wrote about a futuristic urban environment known as "The Sprawl". Gibson was an influence in the texture of the song, which Bono described as "fucked up sci-fi". Bono wanted to use noise to create a visual setting for the song, similar to Gibson's futuristic world, filled with advertisements on LED displays and neon signs, as in the 1982 film Blade Runner. With "Zooropa" as the album's opening song, Bono stated that he wanted the album's music to be like "legal drugs" that would create a trip where "you come out of the other end and you feel like you've been on some kind of a journey". The closing song on the album, "The Wanderer", features Johnny Cash on vocals, and was intended on being the "antidote" to the futuristic-sounding opener.
"Zooropa" was written and recorded during the album's sessions at Windmill Lane Studios and The Factory Studios in Dublin, which took place from March to May 1993 between legs of the Zoo TV Tour. The song was created from two separate pieces of music. The first was a jam session recorded by the band in Dublin during the album's sessions. The second was a soundcheck the band had recorded a few years prior on tour in Australia or New Zealand that the Edge found while listening to cassette recordings of their soundchecks. Along with sound engineer Joe O'Herlihy, the Edge edited the best parts of the soundcheck using Sound Tools to create a song arrangement, which served as a backing track. The two-halves of the song were then edited into a stereo mix. Producer Flood created an atmospheric mix and then crossfaded it in with the song's "sombre, ethereal" introduction. The bass guitar in the intro was played by drummer Larry Mullen Jr. while the Edge was busy working on the album's guitar riffs.
Synthesizer sounds were added by producer Brian Eno on a Yamaha DX7 keyboard, including a "squishy, mad-synth sound" to create a "dovetail" connecting the different segments of the song. The Edge later added guitar tracks, as well as additional sounds to the song using an EMS Synthi A synthesiser. Once the song was almost finished, the band had doubts about the first half's backing track. Having established an arrangement for the song, they performed it again in the studio and used the new recording for the first half, while using portions of the new performance for the second half.
The band had originally intended on recording an EP during the sessions, but Zooropa eventually evolved into full-length album. "Zooropa" was one of five songs that were part of what would have become the band's EP, which also included "Babyface", "Numb", "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)", and "The Wanderer". Prior to the song's final title, it had the working title "Babble–Zooropa", as mentioned in a May 1993 issue of Hot Press, and was later titled "Zooropa I & II" in a June 1993 issue of Billboard.
Composition and themes "Zooropa" begins with a two-minute-long introduction. As the song fades in, sustained chords are played, and a noisy collage of mainly indecipherable human voices from radio signals fades in at 0:19. The background voices include a clip of George H. W. Bush saying "Peace talks", and are referenced in the album notes as "courtesy of the advertising world". A quiet piano and bass guitar are heard above the voices, which get louder with each beat. At 1:30, the volume of the voices rises suddenly and the bass part changes. The introduction then begins to fade out fifteen seconds later, while a guitar riff played with a delay and wah-wah effect joins the mix. The riff is briefly played on its own before the bass guitar and drums join in at 2:03. This is followed by background voices saying, "What do you want?" in both English and French ("Qu'est-ce que tu veux?"), and "De quoi as-tu peur?" ("What are you afraid of?"). In response to the questions, the lyrics in the first three verses of the song consist of various advertising slogans. At 3:45, following the first three verses, a break in the song's instrumentation occurs, except for guitar, and the song returns to a state similar to the introduction's end. A rapid rhythmic synthesiser fades in and at 4:03, the drums and bass re-enter and the song assumes an increased tempo. The theme of moral confusion and uncertainty becomes present in the remaining lyrics.
The song describes two characters in a setting with a dull and grey appeal, who emerge from blinking neon signs into a brightly lit modern city. The radio sound effects in the introduction were intended to create a mood and setting for the song. DJ Carter Alan noted that the sounds seemed to draw a connection from Achtung Baby, but Bono stated that it was not intentional and that he didn't want it to have "anything to do with the past". The lyrics in "Zooropa" begin with the Audi advertising slogan "Vorsprung durch Technik" ("Advancement through technology") and the first three verses feature references to slogans for other brands, including Colgate, Daz, Fairy, and Zanussi.
Following the first three verses of advertising slogans, the song continues with the lyrics "I have no compass, and I have no map" and "No reason to get back", referring to the uncertainty of the new direction of U2's music at the time. The following verse begins with, "And I have no religion", which was included in the lyrics because Bono stated that he believes "religion is the enemy of God." A review of the album in Melody Maker compared the lyric "Uncertainty can be a guiding light" towards the end of the song to the line "If you walk away, [...] I will follow" from U2's 1980 single "I Will Follow". The reviewer stated "The man (Bono) that once had so many answers now sounds simply confused." The theme of moral confusion was first used in U2's song "Acrobat" from Achtung Baby. The coda in "Zooropa" features the lyric "dream out loud", which Bono included as a reference to "Acrobat". The phrase "dream out loud" was first used by Bono during the Lovetown Tour in 1989, and has appeared several times in U2's work since then. The phrase was also used in the song "Always" – a B-side to the "Beautiful Day" single released in 2000 — and was spoken by Bono in the PopMart: Live from Mexico City video.
Release and chart performance
"Zooropa" was the opening track from the eponymous album, and promotional recordings (promos) of the song were distributed by Island Records in the United States and Mexico. The U.S. promo features an edited version of the song that fades in at the first guitar riff (removing the intro), and the Mexico promo features the album version of the song, along with "Numb" as a second track. The cover art of the Mexico promo features the same logo from the Zooropa album cover—a sketch of the circle of stars from the Flag of Europe with an "astrobaby" figure in the middle, based on the "graffiti babyface" from the Achtung Baby album artwork. The logo represents an urban legend about a Soviet cosmonaut left floating in orbit for weeks after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"Zooropa" was one of four songs from the album to be featured on the Billboard charts, and was the only song to chart that was not released as a single. On 24 July 1993, it appeared on the Album Rock Tracks chart at number 26, and remained on the chart for ten weeks, eventually peaking at number eight. "Zooropa" also appeared on the Modern Rock Tracks chart on 7 August 1993 at number 28, and peaked at number 13 during its eight weeks on the chart.
Live performances
During the Zoo TV Tour, clips of "Zooropa" were played during the beginning of the show. The clips included the lyric "What do you want?" repeated twice, which was displayed on video screens in various languages, and interspersed with a voice saying "It's very simple". This part of the opening segment was intended to create confusion among the audience regarding the show's message, and eventually lead to information overload. U2 performed "Zooropa" live at three consecutive concerts during the fourth leg of the Zoo TV Tour in 1993. Bono originally discussed how the song would be played live during the album's recording sessions, saying that the Edge's guitar riffs may be extended in concert. The song debuted live at a concert in Glasgow in August 1993, and was performed in the middle of the set list following "Numb". The live version was much shorter than the album version, skipping the piano intro, as well as the first three verses, starting with the line "I have no compass, and I have no map". U2 had difficulty performing the song live, which Bono acknowledged to the audience following its debut. According to the book U2 Live: A Concert Documentary, the song's first performance sounded "shaky" and needed more rehearsal, although its subsequent Zoo TV performances "sound[ed] better". Bassist Adam Clayton suggested performing the song as the show opener during the rehearsals for the tour's fifth and final Zoomerang leg, but it was not performed again on the tour.