In a July 5th, 2015 Salon article, Annie Zaleskie wrote that we should "leave U2 alone." I sent Slate this rebuttal, which went unpublished. In light of recent news of a forthcoming U2 release, I thought it was time to dust this off. As this was written a decade ago, there might be some dated references in here (does anyone remember Tony Robbins?), and the final section discusses a media omnipresence that I don't think really exists as much anymore. But I think the basic points still stand.
Zaleskie declared that the veteran, much-despised Irish quartet "one of our best bands." Tho admitting that the band has engaged in numerous transgressions, she pleaded that "enough is enough."
I like some of their songs, and if you like the band, or love them, that's fine. There's no point in trying to de-convert a fan. I would just like to answer Zaleski's question: "why did they become so loathed?" Oh, there are reasons. There are many reasons...
The Sound and The (Lack Of) Fury
The late '70s/early '80s punk scene made a decisive break with rock 'n' roll's traditions by largely rejecting blues-based guitar styles. After the initial punk uprising cleared the decks, the so-called post-punk bands set about creating a new rock vocabulary, as brilliant guitarists like Public Image Ltd's Keith Levine, and Magazine and Siouxie and the Banshees' John McGeoch innovated unique styles that had seemingly nothing to do with rock's blues past.
U2's guitarist The Edge (his friends call him "The") has admitted that he was profoundly influenced by all of this right from the band's start. U2's shimmering guitar sound may have been strongly influenced by the punks/post-punks, but it was missing many of its' emotional elements. Punk and post-punk was music that trafficked in darkness, madness, and excitement; anarchy, angst, and anxiety. The snotty rebellion of the Sex Pistols, the awesome intensity of the Ramones or Black Flag, the droning horror of Joy Division, the dissonant rabble-rousing of Gang of Four or the Minutemen - all of it was scrubbed off, leaving a nice, clean replica. U2 did to post-punk what Eric Clapton did to blues and what Huey Lewis did to that old time rock 'n' roll - made it safe, bland, and easily chewable. "Alternative" rock for the timid.
In time, the band would experiment with other sounds and styles. I liked the unexpected funk groove of "Mysterious Ways"...that is, until Bono opened his mouth. And therein lies another problem:
No Pro-Bono Work
There are many incredible things that one can do with the human voice: crooning, opera, rapping, multi-part harmonies, soul power, rock roar. U2 singer Bono chooses to bellow. An open-mouthed, from-the-gut bellow, like Cher, or her sound-alike Danzig. For U2, this style of singing means...Drama! Passion! Inspiration!
Bono doesn't seem to have lived his songs, even if he really has. He seems as far removed from actual everyday human experiences as a politician rolling up his sleeves at a photo op and "working" at a shop for a couple of hours to show what a man of the people he is.1 Combined with the neutered rock music, the effect resembles less pop and more pep rally, or corporate anthems to motivate the workers. See also: most Contemporary Christian music; fellow '80s flag-wavers Bruce Springsteen, The Alarm, and The Call2; Army recruiting jingles; and Up With People. It isn't art so much as a Tony Robbins motivation seminar set to music.
I don't want motivation, and certainly not from a bellower. This is supposed to be rock 'n' roll, a little wild, reckless, and dangerous. We don't want to be uplifted, we wanna get high!
One need only compare two songs inspired by the black civil rights movement of the '60s, the Beatles "Blackbird" and U2's "Pride (In The Name of Love)" to see how hollow U2's attempts to "uplift" are: "Blackbird" is simple, musically low-key, and beautiful: "Take these broken wings and learn to fly/All your life/You were only waiting for this moment to arise." (The song has been covered by numerous black artists, incidentally.) Compare that with the MLK tribute "Pride," where Bono is hollering about...oh, who the hell knows? The man himself even admitted: "I looked at how glorious that song was and thought: 'What the fuck is that all about?' It's just a load of vowel sounds ganging up on a great man." But don't tell that to U2 fans who made it the band's biggest American hit up to that point in their career.
Apart from namedropping MLK, they've also: sang about Billie Holiday, covered Lou Reed, quoted from and dedicated a song to Charles Bukowski, recorded in Sun Studios, and hired B.B King and Johnny Cash to sing on their recordings, all to little effect, except perhaps to give themselves (and their listeners) a pat on the back for making all the right cultural references. I mean, Bukowski? The man was the anti-Bono: down to earth, profane, and in his work, devoid of histrionics, and utterly dedicated to the personal as opposed to the political. About the only thing they had in common was their prodigious drinking abilities.
"These Guys Are From England And Who Gives A Shit?"
The fact that U2 have been making socially and politically conscious music from the get-go, and are such high-profile supports of do-gooder causes makes their personal transgressions and hypocrisies all the more galling. From moving their business out of Ireland to avoid paying taxes; to The Edge's attempts to build not one, not two, but five mansions in the environmentally sensitive Malibu hills3; to the already-noted iTunes debacle4 and their clueless response to it, it's readily apparent that "the conscious of rock" behave like any other entitled, arrogant rich kids, or like some massive corporate entity that does what it wants, when it wants, and to whom it wants.
In 1991, U2 practically crushed the great experimental band Negativland, and one of the greatest indie labels ever, SST Records, for daring to sample them in a silly prank record. The horrible lawsuit dragged on for years. But then, U2's subsequent Zoo TV tour featured the very sort of multi-media sampling and satire that Negativland pioneered. Coincidence? I find it amusing that one of U2's most celebrated collaborators and producers, Brian Eno, seemingly sides with Negativland. In his 1996 book "A Year With Swollen Appendices," he writes that Negativland "...believe any attempt to copyright 'intellectual property' is retrogressive...I became more and more persuaded by their points of view." He even gives out their web address, "...where they are conducting this very interesting discussion."5
With Or Without U2
The misery of the U2 non-fan is compounded by the fact that they seemed to be everywhere. Their every move becomes some big ol' whoop-de-do on which the media must breathlessly report. We couldn't turn on our tvs, computers, radios, or pick up a paper or magazine with hearing or seeing them. Their greatness is stated as an insurmountable fact. It's like being surrounded by "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"-like pod people. This has all become fairly oppressive over the years because U2 won't freakin' break up! They just go on and on...
And if you are still one of their supporters, check out FU2: a free download album of anti-U2 songs. The "Letter To Paul McGuinness," a U2 fan club members' account of her appalling treatment at a concert, should sway any last remaining Bono apologist. The fact that the fan club was named "Propaganda" should have been a tip-off. After all, the dictionary definition of the word 'propaganda' is: "information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view." Uh-huh.
I like some of their songs, and if you like the band, or love them, that's fine. There's no point in trying to de-convert a fan. I would just like to answer Zaleski's question: "why did they become so loathed?" Oh, there are reasons. There are many reasons...
The Sound and The (Lack Of) Fury
The late '70s/early '80s punk scene made a decisive break with rock 'n' roll's traditions by largely rejecting blues-based guitar styles. After the initial punk uprising cleared the decks, the so-called post-punk bands set about creating a new rock vocabulary, as brilliant guitarists like Public Image Ltd's Keith Levine, and Magazine and Siouxie and the Banshees' John McGeoch innovated unique styles that had seemingly nothing to do with rock's blues past.
U2's guitarist The Edge (his friends call him "The") has admitted that he was profoundly influenced by all of this right from the band's start. U2's shimmering guitar sound may have been strongly influenced by the punks/post-punks, but it was missing many of its' emotional elements. Punk and post-punk was music that trafficked in darkness, madness, and excitement; anarchy, angst, and anxiety. The snotty rebellion of the Sex Pistols, the awesome intensity of the Ramones or Black Flag, the droning horror of Joy Division, the dissonant rabble-rousing of Gang of Four or the Minutemen - all of it was scrubbed off, leaving a nice, clean replica. U2 did to post-punk what Eric Clapton did to blues and what Huey Lewis did to that old time rock 'n' roll - made it safe, bland, and easily chewable. "Alternative" rock for the timid.
In time, the band would experiment with other sounds and styles. I liked the unexpected funk groove of "Mysterious Ways"...that is, until Bono opened his mouth. And therein lies another problem:
No Pro-Bono Work
There are many incredible things that one can do with the human voice: crooning, opera, rapping, multi-part harmonies, soul power, rock roar. U2 singer Bono chooses to bellow. An open-mouthed, from-the-gut bellow, like Cher, or her sound-alike Danzig. For U2, this style of singing means...Drama! Passion! Inspiration!
Bono doesn't seem to have lived his songs, even if he really has. He seems as far removed from actual everyday human experiences as a politician rolling up his sleeves at a photo op and "working" at a shop for a couple of hours to show what a man of the people he is.1 Combined with the neutered rock music, the effect resembles less pop and more pep rally, or corporate anthems to motivate the workers. See also: most Contemporary Christian music; fellow '80s flag-wavers Bruce Springsteen, The Alarm, and The Call2; Army recruiting jingles; and Up With People. It isn't art so much as a Tony Robbins motivation seminar set to music.
I don't want motivation, and certainly not from a bellower. This is supposed to be rock 'n' roll, a little wild, reckless, and dangerous. We don't want to be uplifted, we wanna get high!
One need only compare two songs inspired by the black civil rights movement of the '60s, the Beatles "Blackbird" and U2's "Pride (In The Name of Love)" to see how hollow U2's attempts to "uplift" are: "Blackbird" is simple, musically low-key, and beautiful: "Take these broken wings and learn to fly/All your life/You were only waiting for this moment to arise." (The song has been covered by numerous black artists, incidentally.) Compare that with the MLK tribute "Pride," where Bono is hollering about...oh, who the hell knows? The man himself even admitted: "I looked at how glorious that song was and thought: 'What the fuck is that all about?' It's just a load of vowel sounds ganging up on a great man." But don't tell that to U2 fans who made it the band's biggest American hit up to that point in their career.
Apart from namedropping MLK, they've also: sang about Billie Holiday, covered Lou Reed, quoted from and dedicated a song to Charles Bukowski, recorded in Sun Studios, and hired B.B King and Johnny Cash to sing on their recordings, all to little effect, except perhaps to give themselves (and their listeners) a pat on the back for making all the right cultural references. I mean, Bukowski? The man was the anti-Bono: down to earth, profane, and in his work, devoid of histrionics, and utterly dedicated to the personal as opposed to the political. About the only thing they had in common was their prodigious drinking abilities.
"These Guys Are From England And Who Gives A Shit?"
The fact that U2 have been making socially and politically conscious music from the get-go, and are such high-profile supports of do-gooder causes makes their personal transgressions and hypocrisies all the more galling. From moving their business out of Ireland to avoid paying taxes; to The Edge's attempts to build not one, not two, but five mansions in the environmentally sensitive Malibu hills3; to the already-noted iTunes debacle4 and their clueless response to it, it's readily apparent that "the conscious of rock" behave like any other entitled, arrogant rich kids, or like some massive corporate entity that does what it wants, when it wants, and to whom it wants.
In 1991, U2 practically crushed the great experimental band Negativland, and one of the greatest indie labels ever, SST Records, for daring to sample them in a silly prank record. The horrible lawsuit dragged on for years. But then, U2's subsequent Zoo TV tour featured the very sort of multi-media sampling and satire that Negativland pioneered. Coincidence? I find it amusing that one of U2's most celebrated collaborators and producers, Brian Eno, seemingly sides with Negativland. In his 1996 book "A Year With Swollen Appendices," he writes that Negativland "...believe any attempt to copyright 'intellectual property' is retrogressive...I became more and more persuaded by their points of view." He even gives out their web address, "...where they are conducting this very interesting discussion."5
With Or Without U2
The misery of the U2 non-fan is compounded by the fact that they seemed to be everywhere. Their every move becomes some big ol' whoop-de-do on which the media must breathlessly report. We couldn't turn on our tvs, computers, radios, or pick up a paper or magazine with hearing or seeing them. Their greatness is stated as an insurmountable fact. It's like being surrounded by "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"-like pod people. This has all become fairly oppressive over the years because U2 won't freakin' break up! They just go on and on...
And if you are still one of their supporters, check out FU2: a free download album of anti-U2 songs. The "Letter To Paul McGuinness," a U2 fan club members' account of her appalling treatment at a concert, should sway any last remaining Bono apologist. The fact that the fan club was named "Propaganda" should have been a tip-off. After all, the dictionary definition of the word 'propaganda' is: "information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view." Uh-huh.
Again, I admit that they have made a few good tunes, and am not bothered by anyone who likes them. But the article asked: why did they become so despised? You got questions, I got answers!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnotes
1. Bono certainly behaves like a politician, the way he palls around with world leaders. I don't understand why this is considered to be a good thing. An artist has a far more important job than the politician. Thru the great gift of imagination, artists contribute to mankind's information pool, along with all manner of scientists, creators, thinkers and doers. The best thing a politician can do is fill in your street's potholes.
2. Big Country, and the Waterboys were posed perilously close to this style, as well.
3. Mr. The Edge finally got his way by making million-dollar 'donations' to conservancy groups. Bribery makes the world go 'round, eh?
4. for YEARS, my wife kept getting that damn album popping up at unexpected times. Like an annoying fly buzzing around, we could not get rid of it. Why do we have to be frikken computer programmers to delete some space-hogging files from our phone?!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnotes
1. Bono certainly behaves like a politician, the way he palls around with world leaders. I don't understand why this is considered to be a good thing. An artist has a far more important job than the politician. Thru the great gift of imagination, artists contribute to mankind's information pool, along with all manner of scientists, creators, thinkers and doers. The best thing a politician can do is fill in your street's potholes.
2. Big Country, and the Waterboys were posed perilously close to this style, as well.
3. Mr. The Edge finally got his way by making million-dollar 'donations' to conservancy groups. Bribery makes the world go 'round, eh?
4. for YEARS, my wife kept getting that damn album popping up at unexpected times. Like an annoying fly buzzing around, we could not get rid of it. Why do we have to be frikken computer programmers to delete some space-hogging files from our phone?!
5. Brian Eno "A Year With Swollen Appendices," pg. 396
