Okay I admit it. U2 used to be a terrific band. Of course it would be ludicrous to rank them up there with such greats as the Who, the Velvet Underground, Sam Cook, The Band, the Beatles, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Otis Redding, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, the original Jeff Beck group, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Neil Young, Elvis Presley’s Sun Sessions combo, Prince, David Bowie, Patsy Cline, George Jones, Johnny Cash, The Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, Patti Smith, Suicide, The Kinks , REM, The Stooges, the 1965-1970 Rolling Stones ,Aretha Franklin, M.I.A, Robert Johnson, Woody Guthrie, Billy Holliday, Marvin Gaye, the Impressions, Bjork, Kate Bush, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Sly and the Family Stone, Funkadelic/ P Funk, The early Wu Tang Clan, the early Pretty Things, Can, Captain Beefheart, Public Enemy or Bob Marley because U2 never quite reached their peaks of brilliance or put out that one transcendent killer album ( they had no Layla, Kid A, London Calling, Talking Book, The Doors, Axis Bold as Love, A Love Supreme, Blonde on Blonde, Blue, or Forever Changes), but they were pretty damn great.
They were also a reasonably creative and popular band that the thinking rock fans/ former fans of the Police or Talking Heads could openly like without being ashamed. Plus they never overly challenged or pushed their audience too much by being wildly experimental and/or controversial. They were critical of government, and the excesses of capitalism without being especially direct. They seemed for and against all the right things but they were kind of vague about it so no one usually got their feathers ruffled. Correct me if I am wrong. But they never came off as total musical whores or sellouts like say Lincoln Park, Limp Biscuit or later Rod Stewart or Liz Phair.
U2 were definitely a great refreshing change and pleasant diversion from Journey, Quiet Riot, Huey Lewis, Toto, Bon Jovi and all the rest of the soul destroying, sewer water that American radio was peddling as music in the ‘80s (thanks Lee Abrams.) In the creative wasteland of 80s radio, they stood out like a beacon and represented a certain kind of post punk integrity. After they broke through I thought maybe some of the better overlooked groups from the UK like the Jam, XTC, and Gang of Four or the better slash bands (like X, Los Lobos and Violent Femmes) might have a shot in the spotlight. Of course most of the greatest bands of the era never blew up in the USA (early on MTV helped a little), but there was a little hope for a while.
Years later, I heard WXRT play a whole new U2 record on the radio (I think it was “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”.) I was surprised how dull it was, and I could not connect with any of the songs. By this point the songs and riffs all sounded hackneyed, and recycled, the production was bloated and the band seemed to be going through the motions like the ‘90s stones. By that time the band did not even sound like they were interested in delivering substantial music or deeply connecting with anyone. They were selling the musical equivalent of spam or Big Macs.
The big single, “Vertigo” was originally titled “Native Son”. According to Wikipedia the song was inspired by a native man who stood against his country to fight for his freedoms. The song was inspired by the Native American activist, Leonard Peltier, but I’m not totally sure Bono would have been on his side today it would mean going against corporate interests.
At one time Bono in his characteristic quasi ironic/ half joking manner (which does not allow you to decide whether he is the most arrogant person in the world or joking) once said Radiohead is challenging us (U2) for the title of best band in the world. (Of course the often brilliant Radiohead eclipsed them fairly early and even when U2 were at their peak in the 80s Sonic Youth. New Order, Joy Division and early Public Image Ltd. and many others made their music sound safe and tame in comparison.)
I know I am getting off track but someone once told me a version of this joke
A musician dies and goes to heaven. He meets Elvis, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix. Suddenly a man flies by. “Hey, I didn’t know Bono was dead,” the musician says. “He’s not,” Elvis replies. “That’s God but sometimes he talks and behaves like he’s Bono.”
And of course the band’s early quasi military clothing and socially conscious image was mostly Clash lite, their guitar riffs were copying Tom Verlaine’s and Keith Levene’s, (although the edge has gotten much more recognition) and their sound owed quite a bit to Joy Division but that’s ok.
The band was exciting and professional from the beginning and they created their share of classics (mostly from the early to late 80s) such as I Will Follow, Pride in the Name of Love, and New Year’s Day. They did a wonderful I will follow performance on the Old Grey Whistle Test show in which they were firing on all cylinders.
But then they are just another evil too big to fail corporation. Let me explain further.
The deal that U2 made with the IPod people was truly appalling. There was a new IPod which came with a free copy of the (then) newest U2 CD free (or as as part of the IPod cost) and U2 got the bean counters who figure out record sales to count these giveaways as sales to jack up their overall chart placement.
So some of the people who got the recordings did not even consciously buy them yet this counted as sales. How is this better or more ethical than redistricting areas or losing late votes to boost a candidate’s election standing?
Even though Bono always acts like a self-appointed representative of musical progressivism (a better choice might be Tom Morello), some of us have always had a problem with that assertion. John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten) once said that Bono thought he could change the world by” singing in tight leather trousers.’
More often his band acts like an evil corporation, and Bono is not even the head CEO, he is a figurehead or corporate spokesperson who refuses to go against his corporation’s policies. And aren’t you sick of seeing Bono speak on any music related documentary even if he has nothing to do on the subject? Does anyone really care what Bono thinks about dub or grime or who we should vote for?
As Chuck D once rapped, “Our Freedom of Speech is freedom or death. We got to fight the powers that be.” The evil U2 Corporation tried to stifle the free speech of Negativland.
The way underground San Francisco sound collage artists Negativland (the former Chicago resident known as the spring man turned me on to them) put out a recording with U2 on the cover, and Negativland written smaller than the band’s name there was also a picture of a U2 plane on the cover.
The recording also contained some songs that sampled and parodied U2 songs. But that’s what satirists are supposed to do. Think back to the Mothers of Invention, Spike Jones and even Weird Al. Some people might think the band was trying to troll U2 into a publicity creating lawsuit, but I prefer to think of it as Negativland testing and exposing the limits of free speech.
The massive wooly mammoth sized U2 sued the very creative but gnat sized Negativland and basically ruined the band financially.
At one point one of the members of Negativland tricked the Edge into an interview, and the guitarist seemed to imply that the record label Island was totally in charge of the lawsuit, and he had little say over the suit. See: https://www.negativland.com/news/?page_id=19
I could understand if the court merely awarded U2 half of the profits of the song, but the courts also ordered that all critics and stores who had copies of the album in any form return them to Island Records so that they can DESTROY THEM. Supposedly U2 was very embarrassed and perhaps even disagreed with Island about the whole thing, but no one not put their foot down to go against their label. Do you still think Bono is the perfect freedom fighter for everything that is good or right in the world?
This reminded me of the case in which the smart and very talented Brit Pop band, The Verve, scored their only hit in the USA with the entrancing “Bitter Sweet Symphony.” The band’s fame was well earned, and the song was actually better than anything the once great Rolling Stones had done in years, but since the song sampled a few seconds of an orchestral version of a Rolling Stones song, they had to give all of the profits to the Rolling Stones Corporation (they still have the right to play it live.) See: http://whatisfairuse.blogspot.com/2008/02/u2-v-negativland.html
This might get confusing. At Live 8, when Coldplay played the song live with Richard Ashcroft ( the lead singer of The Verve) handling some of the vocals, Chris Martin (the lead singer of the overrated Coldplay) introduced him as the world’s greatest singer and Bitter Sweet Memory as the greatest song. This was of course hyperbole but it is a classic tune (one of the most haunting of its era). Just take a listen. https://youtu.be/1lyu1KKwC74
I also lost some respect for the stones when they stopped performing their song “My Sweet Neocon” which was of course was critical of neocons because some conservative concert sponsors were uncomfortable with the truth conveyed in the song (supposedly some of the stones counselled Pearl Jam that they had to go along with the corporate program more if they ever wanted to be a big long lasting, high earning, stadium band).
In all fairness the Rolling Stones recently recorded a shockingly excellent album of blues covers in only three days called Blues and Lonesome that hooked me right away. It is totally different from their recent overproduced, charisma challenged output, and it effectively channels the spirit of the late, great Brian Jones.
This U2 and Stones cases show that corporate rights and corporations-are-people mentality Trumps (originally this pun was unintended) creative freedom almost every time (things will probably get worst with a new Trump appointed judge). We are supposed to have a government for the people by the people but both the conservatives and neoliberals and their judicial appointees generally put the people’s interests below Wall mart and Monsanto’s.
U2 had also been by British Guitarist Paul Rose for Achtung Baby’s “The Fly” which allegedly rips off his guitar work. U2 won the lawsuit but they could probably afford better lawyers.
Bono also criticized First world countries (such as Ireland) for not giving the often starving African countries a break on the massive debts they owe to the World Bank for borrowing money to modernize
Then the U2 Corporation officially changed their residence away from Ireland to avoid paying taxes. If you avoid giving the government their fair share then how can you criticize the government for how they conduct themselves?
