After the release of the record, David Bowie praised the band, writing, " might be all shamrocks and deutsche marks to some, but I feel that they are one of the few rock bands even attempting to hint at a world which will continue past the next great wall—the year 2000." Although the record was a success, in the years following its release, the group have regarded it with mixed feelings and rarely play its material in live performances. Bono said, "I thought of "Zooropa" at the time as a work of genius. I really thought our pop discipline was matching our experimentation and this was our "Sgt. Pepper". I was a little wrong about that. The truth is our pop disciplines were letting us down. We didn't create hits. We didn't quite deliver the songs. And what would "Sgt. Pepper" be without the pop songs?" The Edge said that he did not think the songs were "potent", further stating, "I never thought of "Zooropa" as anything more than an interlude... but a great one, as interludes go. By far our most interesting." Clayton said, "It's an odd record and a favourite of mine." In 2005, Bono claimed that Zooropa's "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" is "perhaps the greatest U2 song".