why dont people like bono?

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he didnt get paid for the ipod advert, vertigo is a great song, u2 are still current and making good contemporary rock singles, they put on fantastic gigs, they are a good band, bono does lots of nice things for charity, he believes in a cause, is highly intelligent, why do people call him an idiot or think hes a sell out or anything like that. he is a smart businessman and knows a good product when he sees it (ipod) with a keen interest in politics (world poverty) - at least hes upfront about what he believes, at least hes not a hypocrite like other rock stars.

― ilovebono, Friday, 27 May 2005 11:55 (twenty-one years ago)

They charge a fortune for their shows, he has a giant ego that comes through in his interviews, and he's always wearing those damn sunglasses.

― steve-k, Friday, 27 May 2005 12:02 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe he has eye problems.

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:03 (twenty-one years ago)

We got in trouble the other day because someone had written 'what a tit!' above him in a subtitle note. He was talking about Pavarotti.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:04 (twenty-one years ago)

his latest video is an ad for target .

― promo, Friday, 27 May 2005 12:05 (twenty-one years ago)

The words "asshat" and "cockfarmer" spring irresistibly to mind

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=5&topic_id=179943&mesg_id=179943&page=3

― u2fansaregay, Friday, 27 May 2005 12:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I like "How To Dismantle an Atom Bomb" much better than "All That You Can Leave Behind," and Bono's pretensions have never bothered me; he's got enough self-effacing humor to make it alright.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Humour? Bono? Where?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:14 (twenty-one years ago)

in response to that posters name, u2 fans are certainly not gay. we have enough crosses to bear musically. bono and u2 fans are forever yours, straight. accept your burden. :)

oh and yes, i concur with the asshat statment.

― ebenoit, Friday, 27 May 2005 12:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Ha ha, using the words "self-effacing" and "Bono" in the same sentence - this is a first surely?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:15 (twenty-one years ago)

when i were a nipper i knew nothing of the 80s u2, and all that baggage, so was always a bit mystified by all the hate -- i only really knew 'achtung baby' and then 'pop', both of which i thought were like slightly stadium versions of indie-dance. but of late i do see what people hate in them.

― N_RQ, Friday, 27 May 2005 12:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Year on year, and in real terms, he gets worse - in respect of being a prize asshat

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:19 (twenty-one years ago)

He makes fun of himself in just about every interview; whether you laugh at him laughing at himself is entirely up to you.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I obviously don't share his sense of humour

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I've heard tell that some people are able to laugh at themselves in self-aggrandizing way - and if anyone can, Bono's yer man!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:22 (twenty-one years ago)

there's something so ...fake about him. he reminds me of an annoying only child who keeps poking his head into other people's photos. his ubiquitous, ugly, straining voice. His lame, telegraphed use of irony, seemingly utilised to cover the basic vacuity of his schtick. this stupid tryhard hobnobbing with past-it rock'n'rollers, look everyone! u2 are the (post)modern heirs to Dylan, Orbison, Cash, BB King!

he strikes me as someone who always desperately wanted to be a bob marley/bob dylan-style spokesman for a generation, he didn't quite get there, but he refuses to accept it.

― debden, Friday, 27 May 2005 12:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Part of the problem is the pompous headlines magazines give every Bono interview: "Can Bono Save The World?" or some such nonsense.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:23 (twenty-one years ago)

the problem is that i think hes just being a narcisistic arse when he makes jokes about himself, not self-deprecating.

― blahbariantheoriginal, Friday, 27 May 2005 12:23 (twenty-one years ago)

It's the glasses, really.

― diedre mousedropping and a quarter (Dave225), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Ever since he lost the race to be the next Pope, I've felt a lot less enthusiastic about Bono.

― pope bonoface (mike h.), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:31 (twenty-one years ago)

What is it with you people? Farm one little crop of cock, merely try on one chapeau of ass, and you're labeled for life.

― brianiac (briania), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe I'm more tolerant cuz I'm of Cuban descent. Cubans and the Irish love talking shit, and you flirt with pomposity a lot of the time.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:31 (twenty-one years ago)

dudes got eye problems!

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:32 (twenty-one years ago)

He is the lead singer of U2.

― Masked Gazza, Friday, 27 May 2005 12:32 (twenty-one years ago)

This is the main reason why I personally don't like the little twat.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:32 (twenty-one years ago)

SEE THE OMEGA CODE

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:41 (twenty-one years ago)

some people are just buckets to collect fury and hate...Bono's one of them. lord knows why, really. hes justone of those people you just can't stand. i can't think of one really stand-up reason (his crimes are also commited by people i either don't hate or actually enjoy/respect) to warrant his need for a slap up the head, but i still want to.

― b b, Friday, 27 May 2005 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

1. People tend to react badly towards the ostentatiously charitable. For good reasons or not, Bono's people make sure you know just how charitable he is, and that brings out a lot of folks' inner cynic.

2. His politics are laughably vague. "War is bad, poverty is bad". No shit, Sherlock. He's like a Jehovah's Witness who tries to sell you a vacuum cleaner when you tell him you're not interested in his religion.

3. Messiah complexes are innately hilarious. If he seriously wants to be treated like a regular Joe, he doesn't try very hard.

4. U2's music is quite good, sometimes. If Bono could assess his own achievement that honestly, he'd be a lot cooler.

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Seriously, how do you not want to smack this?
http://re2.mm-c.yimg.com/image/461725556

― diedre mousedropping and a quarter (Dave225), Friday, 27 May 2005 12:54 (twenty-one years ago)

The glasses.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:03 (twenty-one years ago)

"Stuck in a Pair of Glasses You Can't Get Out Of"

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm of Irish descent, and he's an eejit.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Exaggerated sense of self-importance. Everything in the initial poster's list is obvious, since Bono himself mentions all of those things at every opportunity. Mysteriously, he NEVER MENTIONS THE GLASSES.

― mike h. (mike h.), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:23 (twenty-one years ago)

"The Observer Magazine just about sums him up eg self-statisfied, smug."

― wtin, Friday, 27 May 2005 13:26 (twenty-one years ago)

doesnt the fact that he didnt accept any money for promoting the IPOD count for anything in his favour?

― ppp, Friday, 27 May 2005 13:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I am going to learn to laugh at myself in a self-aggrandizing manner.

His IPod promotion reminds me of his Trabant promotion, ie, stupid.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:32 (twenty-one years ago)

You're assuming Bono doesn't have any Apple stock. He's egotistical enough to think that having his music on the commercial would raise the stock price! Bands also normally have to pay for their own commercials, whereas Bono can claim he's spreading "beautiful things" while raking in the cash. If it was an unknown band it'd be an amazing boost to publicity and a good way to get the music out there. With U2, it's a guarantee they'll go platinum faster.

― mike h. (mike h.), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:36 (twenty-one years ago)

doesnt the fact that he didnt accept any money for promoting the IPOD count for anything in his favour?

You mean the one that hyped U2's new record?

― diedre mousedropping and a quarter (Dave225), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:37 (twenty-one years ago)

doesnt the fact that he didnt accept any money for promoting the IPOD count for anything in his favour?

I hope this was a joke.

― Keith C (kcraw916), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:40 (twenty-one years ago)

why would a multimillionaire not accepting upfront money for an ad where his band/album/song is tied in with a hot, hip young new product craze and then flogged ceaselessly across the airwaves deserve some sort of karmic credit for that?

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:40 (twenty-one years ago)

He wears the glasses to make it less obvious that he has no eyebrows.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:42 (twenty-one years ago)

never met bono. dude can engage an audience of 20+ thousand. not a bad trick. u2 from war through achtung baby were pretty top notch, a lame track here and there, but overall, nothing to dismiss. who knows. maybe elitist types are jealous of his working relationship with brian eno

― album zutique, Friday, 27 May 2005 13:47 (twenty-one years ago)

What was that tour where he was acting extra-wacky? ZOO? It reminded me of Jerry Lewis describing Laurence Olivier trying to do pratfalls at parties.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:49 (twenty-one years ago)

When is a man who has called himself "The Edge" all of his adult life and worn a hat to cover his baldness for over 3/4ths of it not the most absurdly vain man you've ever heard of?

When he's standing next to Bono.

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:54 (twenty-one years ago)

dr. morbius, zoo tv, yes. pop mart, too. did you go to an entire show, or are you basing this on photos or tv snippets? because if you were there, you probably would have been charmed like i was by his clowning. it was funny and ballsy at the same time. i could see how it could look idiotic in a picture though

― album zutique, Friday, 27 May 2005 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

He's not very rock n' roll. He's very not rock n' roll. I think that adds to it.

― Andrzej B. (Andrzej B.), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:56 (twenty-one years ago)

It's an aggro-christian thing: he's testing everyone's tolerance

― The Sensational Sulk (sexyDancer), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:57 (twenty-one years ago)

He doesn't make Fucking music. This can't be repeated enough.

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:57 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't know. plenty of hot girls fucking love u2 and bono. fucking them to achtung baby i've never found uncomfortable. i have a feeling this pile on wouldn't occur regarding, say, slint, and people wouldn't say "slint doesn't make fucking music." go to a slint show though and look for females. it's a drinking game. have a beer for each female you see. it works for lots of indier than thou rock shows. try it.

― album zutique, Friday, 27 May 2005 14:02 (twenty-one years ago)

A lot of hot women love rich men.

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:03 (twenty-one years ago)

x post

I'm not comparing them to Slint, I'm comparing them to Petey Pablo.

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:04 (twenty-one years ago)

It's a good question. Even as I mentally list Bono's many annoying qualities, they still don't account for the intensity of my contempt for him. So there is, in fact, something unquantifiable at work here...

Perhaps we intuitively feel the politician in him. It's that toxic mix of superiority and pandering. It's in the wording. The man can gush about his idols and still come across as an egomaniac. This is what killed John Keryy, incidentally.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.billadler.com/gimage3/gallery_tmpltsonny_bono___b.jpg

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Is the word you're chasing after Hypocrisy, joseph?

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:12 (twenty-one years ago)

*Kerry*. Soryy.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:12 (twenty-one years ago)

"doesnt the fact that he didnt accept any money for promoting the IPOD count for anything in his favour?

I hope this was a joke."

humour me?

― ppp, Friday, 27 May 2005 14:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the point, ppp, is what is morally praiseworthy about allowing yourself to receive global mega-publicity for promoting a private company?

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)

x-post
No, it's not hypocrisy per se. He just really, really wants to be loved - at the same time believing that he deserves all the love in the world and then some. You know the dynamic.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

why do people get all puritanical in their ethics regarding bono? who really gives a fuck what he does?

― album zutique, Friday, 27 May 2005 14:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Because he invites it. If he didn't position himself as an ethical beacon, we sure as fuck wouldn't discuss him in these terms!

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I know it's too crude a word joseph, but I think there's a kind of instinctual hypocrisy that infects career politicians and the like, an inability to say anything other than what you think people want to hear, a reflex for smarming your way through. Kind of like anti-chutzpah or sump'n.

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:19 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.showbizireland.com/images/stars/bono-eu-2.jpg

― kephm, Friday, 27 May 2005 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

'Cause they can't rid themselves of the embarrassing memory of him marching around onstage with flagpole in hand. (shudders) It takes more than gold lamé to make up for that. Musically, I quite like a dozen-or-so of their '80s songs, but 3/4 of THOSE have been way-overplayed unto oblivion.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I like "anti-chutzpah"!
x-post

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw ZOO TV via photos & tv snippets, yes. A live U2 show is not something I could've endured after '83.

Despite the man's artistry, the way he epoxied his lips to the ass of Old Gangster Sinatra in his last years was distasteful.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Despite the man's artistry, the way he epoxied his lips to the ass of Old Gangster Sinatra in his last years was distasteful.

Hey, since we're on THAT subject, anyone remember his posthumous "duet" with Marvin Gaye?

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't wait till somebody has a posthumous duet with Bono. Why couldn't he and Sting have had a Tupac'n'Biggie moment? And then the Bloc Party could create a track with their leftover eee-yo's?

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Aw, c'mon. If you're gonna rag on his looks he was MUCH more embarrassing circa Live Aid:

http://www.u2.se/images/art/biografi/Bono/bonoliveaid.jpg

― The Mad Puffin, Friday, 27 May 2005 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

"We can't have any of this! I'm from Dublin! We gotta remember - we're just seven people tryin' to live in this hise! Listen to me - I'm from Dublin! Don't any of ya care about that?!" [ flees the room in tears ]

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

why dont people like boners?

― Ian Riese-Moraine's Plateau Rouge! (Eastern Mantra), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Ironically, he kind of looks like a mad puffin in that photo.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

TS: Real world Patrick or circa-Live Aid Bono?

Patrick, obviously.

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Name differs by one character from "Bozo." Differing letters only one stop away on the middle-to-end-of-alphabet express.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Not to mention that Z is just an N rotated 90 degrees.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:42 (twenty-one years ago)

who has the nerve to perform on stage who isn't egotistical? if vanity's really the issue here, then maybe new hobbies are in order, self-effacing, placid ones, like gardening. because a lot of musicians, believe it or not, are sort of into themselves

― album zutique, Friday, 27 May 2005 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)

why dont people like bobos?

http://getreligion.typepad.com/getreligion/bobos.jpg

― The Mad Puffin, Friday, 27 May 2005 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

There's being an extrovert, there's being an egotist, and then there's adopting Bono Vox as your stage name.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 27 May 2005 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

when i were a nipper i knew nothing of the 80s u2, and all that baggage, so was always a bit mystified by all the hate --

the hate has nothing to do with the 80's U2 and everything to do with post-Achtung Baby U2 (or post-Zooropa U2, really)

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 27 May 2005 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

post-War U2 for me.

If you write a song about MLK Jr., you might want to check whether he was killed in the morning or evening.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 May 2005 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Huh. Does anyone like U2, while hating Bono?

Anyway, I not only don't mind Bono, but positively like him. I think his 'schtick' is funny and charming. He is amazing in concert and he writes good songs. Why is Bono reprehensible while Morrissey is indulged? They are in so many ways the same.

As for his 'self-effacing' qualities, they do exist, pretty powerfully, I think, in the 'religious' U2 songs, and in songs like "Mofo." And in general I think his being clownish, dressing in absurd outfits, being silly and contemptible are actually part of his self-effacement. He intentionally offers himself up as a ridiculous object! It's awesome.

― mrjosh (mrjosh), Friday, 27 May 2005 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Why is Bono reprehensible while Morrissey is indulged?

Or Peter Murphy? Or Rivers Cuomo?

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

or--I cannot say this often enough--Peter fucking goddamned unbearable horseshit pompous full-of-himself motherfucking Murphy?

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 15:58 (twenty-one years ago)

(I'm seeing Peter tonight BTW. Seventh time seeing him solo in fifteen years. :-D )

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 15:59 (twenty-one years ago)

god help you

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:00 (twenty-one years ago)

move the heart, switch the pace

― album zutique, Friday, 27 May 2005 16:01 (twenty-one years ago)

a.k.a. I have reached my target audience [insert winky here]

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:01 (twenty-one years ago)

...look for what seems out of place!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.tommcmahon.net/images/bozo.jpg

HOW LONG MUST WE SING THIS SONG?

― The Mad Puffin, Friday, 27 May 2005 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

haha it's all love, buddy (except between me and Murphy, obv.)

frightening as hell xpost

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Looks like he's sitting in a shithouse looking for a shotgun.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)

haha that's a Bono lyric, right?

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I just don't get it: Let's make a table:

BONO | MORRISEY
good looking Irish guy | good looking Irish guy
important 80s band | important 80s band
pompous and ridiculous manner | pompous and ridiculous manner
affected and over-the-top singing style | affected and over-the-top singing style
outspoken lefty political beliefs | outspoken lefty political beliefs backed up by huge sums of money
excellent stage performer | excellent stage performer
makes himself look ridiculous on purpsoe | makes himself look ridiculous on purpose

I mean, look at this:

http://www.seadogphoto.com/seadogphoto/images/Saint%20Morrissey%20cover%20web.jpg

ihttp://www.foreverill.com/images/moz/cityscape.jpg

ihttp://www.motorcycleaupairboy.com/images/mozclip01.jpg

ihttp://www6.nrk.no/magasin/upunkt/gallery/albums/Mandag:-Morrissey/morrissey17.jpg

I LOVE MORRISSEY and I LOVE BONO!

― mrjosh (mrjosh), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Great Bono-esque lyric, Ned!

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

goddamn i can never post images on this board

― mrjosh (mrjosh), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Grr...Matos beat me to it.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

though really 'saint morrissey' makes the point doesn't it?

― mrjosh (mrjosh), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Grr...Matos beat me to it.

I knew full well what I was doing.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

so does Bono!

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

"In every craphouse a sore butt...no, wait."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

this thread has turned fun! yay! :-D

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

haha best xpost I've ever managed!

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Let joy be unconfined!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

"...cuz the god Peace has blessed my mind!"

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Alfred, I think I know what you mean. I'm not really tied to any particular ethnicity (for the record: half Irish, quarter Greek, quarter Rican) but my family, as I re-realized this past weekend, loves to talk shit, and I think that's where my appreciation of those aspects of Bono's persona come from.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Still tippin' on Bono? Misters josh & matos OTM.

― brianiac (briania), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:21 (twenty-one years ago)

(xpost to Matos)

Yeah! I started giving Bono a break when I read Bill Flanagan's "Until The End of the World," which, despite its length, is one of the most generous and intelligent rock bios I've read. Bono falls on his face a lot and I stlll can't stand a lot of U2 music, but he's one of the very rare instances of an artist with whom I'd love to share a few pints instead of listening to their music.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think it's quite as simple as "Morrissey is just as bad as Bono, so game over for you haters." I agree they share many of the same traits as noted above, but in one crucical category they are pretty different: self-importance. Bono comes across in his music, interviews, etc. as someone who takes himself way more seriously than Morrissey does.

― Keith C (kcraw916), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:31 (twenty-one years ago)

"Bono comes across in his music, interviews, etc. as someone who takes himself way more seriously than Morrissey does."

I've never seen this. If anything, Moz has been more of a prat lately.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I like that book a lot, too. And I quite like a good amount of U2's music--basically, War, Best of 1980-90, Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and All That You Can't Leave Behind are what I own/listen to. A lot of the rest of it's pretty meh by me. But yeah, I'd consider myself a fan.

xpost: nobody takes himself more seriously than Morrissey does, and given that woe-is-me is about the lamest excuse for a worldview I can think of, game, set, and match are all in Bono's court for this one, sorry kids.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

haha I anticipate cries of "at least Morrissey's not--gasp!--a [shudder] cornball" any second now.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

"Bono comes across in his music, interviews, etc. as someone who takes himself way more seriously than Morrissey does."

are you joking?

― album zutique, Friday, 27 May 2005 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

are you joking?

Not at all--I just always detected a sense of self-irony/ridiculousness in Morrissey right from the get-go, whereas I never saw that in Bono. I never saw U2 in concert (I wish I did, though), but I have seen Moz, and he was a HAM.

― Keith C (kcraw916), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

To be fair, Moz was pretty funny during the early solo years ('88 to '92 or so). I still own several of his "Your Arsenal"-era interviews, and he's at least as funny as Bono.

(I don't need to remind anyone that both Bono and Moz are Irish)

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

when you put on devil's horns and make phone calls to politicians from the stage, chances are real good you're a ham.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Not to mention giving the Pope your Fly shades to wear.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

morrissey comes across as incredibly arrogant in his intereviews, the way he dismisses culture in general, and his ex-rhythm section in particular. i image there's an element of camp in his interview persona, but for crying out loud, though you can make all sorts of claims for how he comes off, bono never approaches morrissey's explicit haughtiness.

― album zutique, Friday, 27 May 2005 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

see, this is why I think it has everything to do with the glasses.

― diedre mousedropping and a quarter (Dave225), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

you have to engage the world in order to try and save it. you can ignore the world if all you want is to preserve your myth. I prefer engaged people, thanks.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

and yes, I realize his "saving it" is the nut of the problem for lots of people. boo fucking hoo.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Bono can save the world as much as he likes, I just wish his soundtrack was better!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

fair enough, then.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

even though I don't agree w/you at all or anything.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

peter murphy has never bothered me -- he's sort of a poor man's david bowie.

i've had my ups and downs wr2 morrissey -- at least U2 doesn't sound like sheryl crowe's backup band (which is what the band that morrissey hired for you are the quarry sounds like).

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

People can decry Bono's pretensions all they want, but he knows his shit and has actually DONE something.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:54 (twenty-one years ago)

A lot of people have indeed Done Something. It's entirely possible their artwork sucks too. (If not that, then possibly their cooking or sense of interior design.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

peter murphy has never bothered me -- he's sort of a poor man's david bowie.

this is PRECISELY why he bothers me. I'm borderline enough w/Bowie anyway. (note: I am American, and except during high rave I have never wanted to be English. thanks for Led Zeppelin and Omni Trio, though.)

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I listened to Peter Murphy circa "Deep" and then dropped him after I discovered Bowie. Then, much later, I played that Murphy album with the song about Socrates right after listening to "Diamond Dogs" – Bowie stank like wet dog shit and I couldn't listen to him for nearly a year.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Peter M's Dust from 2002 was and remains my favorite album of that year. Extremely entrancing (and I appreciate the fact that the new album is almost a complete 180 in mood and style too -- it will be interesting to see if he performs Dust songs tonight).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Key difference between Bono and Morrissey is one of scale. Morrissey projects his persona onto a large-but-still-comprehensible hillside; Bono's needs the side of Mount Everest else it chafes at the restraint.

Insert your comparison here. Arc de Triomphe vs. Great Wall of China. Whatever.

― The Mad Puffin, Friday, 27 May 2005 17:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I was forced to hear that live '02 album (mostly Dust, I think--Dust Live or something like that) and it made me want to walk into traffic.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Who forced you to listen to it? You can't blame women. Women don't dig Peter (only goth boys), which once again proves their superiority.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Women don't dig Peter

Oh, you'd be wrong there.

(Live album was from 2000 and is called Just for Love.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

thanks for the correx, Ned.

the manager of the record store I worked in at the time forced me, Alfred.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Mad Puffin OTM

Bono wants the world to be as obsessed with him as he is with himself. Morrissey knows the world will never be as obsessed with him as he is with himself.

― Keith C (kcraw916), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:11 (twenty-one years ago)

"Bono wants the world to be as obsessed with him as he is with himself"

No – Bono wants people to be as obsessed with the world as he is.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Real-life Paul Hewson may be a good guy, but the persona of Bono Vox is too often one-note grandiose in bad diva style (Achtung Baby! notable exception), while, as far as anyone call tell, Stephen Patrick Morrissey does not exist, there is only the meticulously created cinematic pop-star that is Morrissey.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Real-life Paul Hewson may be a good guy, but the persona of Bono Vox is too often one-note grandiose in bad diva style (Achtung Baby! notable exception), while, as far as anyone call tell, Stephen Patrick Morrissey does not exist, there is only the meticulously created cinematic pop-star that is Morrissey.

no wonder I prefer Bono!

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:21 (twenty-one years ago)

the reason Bono is more annoying is that he doesn't market himself as a mere selfish windbag like all these other acts do. His ego exercise and self-deifying is supposedly making the world a better place rather than merely expressing common neuroses or entertaining. That he through out a few "ironic" parlor games in the 90s was vacuous trendspotting after realizing they'd need to fuck around for a bit after Rattle & Hum got shit - can't carpetbag America, do Euro instead. Benign idolatry is a bogus notion, the idea that you can be vain as long as you're Jesus. Giving him credit for having "DONE something" is foolish because the only reason he does it is to justify his self-adoration (and yours of him). The purpose of art and entertainment isn't messianicism.

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

it wasn't all that convincing when Greil Marcus said it about "We Are the World," either, Anthony.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:23 (twenty-one years ago)

haha I disagree

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)

obviously! for years now!

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:25 (twenty-one years ago)

"Giving him credit for having "DONE something" is foolish because the only reason he does it is to justify his self-adoration (and yours of him). The purpose of art and entertainment isn't messianicism."

I agree, Anthony, but we're not talking about U2's music – just Bono's persona. He's not like Diana Ross giving a free concert for a playground and then spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on indulgences; he does "something" because he sees a lot wrong with the world and uses his power to change it. That it may come off as messianic is the risk he takes, and our obligations as critics to call him on it if he starts to posture.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:28 (twenty-one years ago)

um, actually he is just like Diana Ross.

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Do I need to put up pictures of the PopMart set?

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:29 (twenty-one years ago)

"the only reason he does it is to justify his self-adoration"

why do people think they can read bono's mind? what number is he thinking right now?

― album zutique, Friday, 27 May 2005 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

666

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

god is 7

― album zutique, Friday, 27 May 2005 17:45 (twenty-one years ago)

xxxxxpost

Seriously, how do you not want to smack this?
-- diedre mousedropping and a quarter (right.knewi...), May 27th, 2005.

I read that as "Seriously, how do you not want to hit this?"

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Friday, 27 May 2005 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

sexxy and smugg, all the way!!! ha.

― diedre mousedropping and a quarter (Dave225), Friday, 27 May 2005 18:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey man, you don't, uh, you don't talk to the Colonel. You listen to him. The man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet-warrior in the classic sense. I mean sometimes he'll, uh, well, you'll say hello to him, right? And he'll just walk right by you, and he won't even notice you. And suddenly he'll grab you, and he'll throw you in a corner, and he'll say do you know that if is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you - I mean I'm no, I can't - I'm a little man, I'm a little man, he's, he's a great man. I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas...

The heads. You're looking at the heads. Sometimes he goes too far. He's the first one to admit it.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Friday, 27 May 2005 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

For a second there, I thought this was about Colonel Parker.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 27 May 2005 19:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I still do!

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 27 May 2005 19:03 (twenty-one years ago)

colonel kurtz. off the top of your head? damn

― album zutique, Friday, 27 May 2005 19:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Nobody writes to the colonel.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 27 May 2005 19:11 (twenty-one years ago)

~~vertigo is a great song

surely it's been pointed out elsewhere, but "Vertigo" is "You Keep Me Hanging On" plus a bit from Tones On Tail "Go!", done in unconvincingly hodgepodge manner (/manor).

now if Xenomania had fused those 2 tracks, they might have made something of it, instead of sounding roughly as relevant as "Has Anybody Seen My Baby?".

― Paul (scifisoul), Friday, 27 May 2005 19:34 (twenty-one years ago)

TYpical ILM'ers dislike him because, back in the 80s, his band was sort of the "guitar hope" in a mainstream increasingly dominated by synths.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 27 May 2005 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

The last straw:
http://graphics.boston.com/sports/patriots/superbowl/galleries/halftime_u2/1.jpg during superbowl halftime.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Friday, 27 May 2005 22:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey, this brings us full circle back to "What a tit!"

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 27 May 2005 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Bono has certainly given ILM alot of fun thread, if nothing else.

I pretty much like him, actually...he's a fun douchebag!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 27 May 2005 22:34 (twenty-one years ago)

matos otm

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 27 May 2005 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, at least he keeps everyone busy. Bono = critic chew toy.

― darin (darin), Friday, 27 May 2005 22:38 (twenty-one years ago)

You'll all miss him when he's gone!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 27 May 2005 22:40 (twenty-one years ago)

oh man, that Super Bowl thing was HORRIBLE. I was hoping a plane was gonna crash into the stage.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 May 2005 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Bono's good heart not denied. I think the problem is in his charity. In the same way that Victorian philanthropists exacerbated the situations they tried to put right by creating a civilised-charitable/ignorant-helpless dualism, Bono reinforces the idea that his recipients are naturally incapable of helping themselves, as opposed to victims of a fucked-up distribution of wealth. To boringly repeat myself: he supports the economic system that fucks over the people he wants to help.

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Friday, 27 May 2005 22:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe because the band's music ceased to matter a Joshua Tree and they won't go away.

― Anthony Lombardi (CCPO), Friday, 27 May 2005 23:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe because the band's music ceased to matter a Joshua Tree and they won't go away.

But there's a whole age group a couple years younger than me that I think really associates U2 with Achtung Baby and not the Joshua Tree. (I'm thirty, so I'm thinking people more like 25, 26, 27ish)....

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 27 May 2005 23:51 (twenty-one years ago)

http://vikingphoenix.com/Holidays/Time_cover_large.jpg http://image.pathfinder.com/time/europe/photoessays/bono/images/victory.jpg

― Cool Hand Luuke (ex machina), Friday, 27 May 2005 23:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Ha, I LOVED the superbowl thing! When he did that jacket move, I--and everyone else in the room--went AWESOME! all together. (And awesome indeed it was.)

Re: Achtung Baby, I was out shopping today and the guy behind the counter of the shop--which was playing "Until the End of the World" at the time--told me a long story about how he was from Bulgaria, he had been at the Sarajevo concert during the Achtung, Baby tour... everyone had just gotten their first pair of blue jeans, and U2 came, and it was the greatest concert experience of his life. He said the show was a life-changing experience for him and for everyone else who had been there.

So, yes, there are people who care about U2 after "Joshua Tree." He told me his favorite records were Achtung, Zooropa, and Pop--my favorite three also.

― mrjosh (mrjosh), Saturday, 28 May 2005 01:19 (twenty-one years ago)

the best thing about U2 is their siblings -
the problem is not that they're dicks, but that they're not Diks...

― Paul (scifisoul), Saturday, 28 May 2005 02:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, I'm glad they reached a Bulgarian audience with that garbage.

― Anthony Lombardi (CCPO), Saturday, 28 May 2005 04:59 (twenty-one years ago)

their first 3 albums rocked - the next 3 they sold out , and then i stopped caring.

― october boy, Saturday, 28 May 2005 06:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm fucking sick of "Vertigo" and I honestly can't get excited about much of their music since Zooropa (not that I was wild about that one either), but Bono is an awfully good guy -- if woefully overexposed. I was doing some reporting for the Notebook section of TIME when Joey Ramone passed away in 2001, and my editor very nicely tossed me the ball and told me to find some to write an obit/eulogy. They'd suggested John Lydon (as if he would've said 'yes', let alone said something nice?) or Patti Smith, but I suggested Bono, who'd been telling every Tom, Dick and Harry how much the Ramones had meant to U2. They said, "if you can get'im, go for it." So, after a frantic few days of wrangling with publicists and tour managers (U2 were on tour supporting All That You Can't Quite Seem to Bring Yourself to Listen To Anymore), someone managed to slip Mr.Vox my phone number, and he very nicely called me and we had a nice long chat about the Ramones. He could not have been nicer and cooler about the whole thing. And yes.....i did ask him what his thoughts about Killing Joke were. He said he liked bits of their first album. Heh.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 28 May 2005 06:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Bono is like the MOR, Christian and cartoonish version of John Lennon (which is only 50% his fault). Plus he's too aware of himself and is a bit of an attention whore. That and the fact he wants more money from American taxpayers for charity (Unconstitutional) when he pays no taxes himself in Ireland.

I like some U2 though.

― Cunga (Cunga), Saturday, 28 May 2005 07:23 (twenty-one years ago)

http://img261.echo.cx/img261/5112/bono24gc.jpg

― Cunga (Cunga), Saturday, 28 May 2005 07:34 (twenty-one years ago)

i really like "new year's day" and "sunday bloody sunday"

― Nic de Teardrop (Nicholas), Saturday, 28 May 2005 09:29 (twenty-one years ago)

"the next 3 they sold out , and then i stopped caring"

Woof. The sentiment is touchingly retrograde.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 28 May 2005 12:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Stephen Patrick Morrissey does not exist, there is only the meticulously created cinematic pop-star that is Morrissey.

no wonder I prefer Bono!

I can't change his facade into a heart, Matos.

― Ken L (Ken L), Saturday, 28 May 2005 16:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Thanks in part to this topic I had a dream my mother was dating Morrissey. You have to be careful about what threads you click on before sleeping.

― Cunga (Cunga), Saturday, 28 May 2005 17:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Mars and the scepter will be found conjoined
Under Cancer calamitous war:
Shortly afterwards a new King will be anointed,
One who for a long time will pacify the earth.

Lost, found, hidden for such a long time
The pastor will be honored as a demigod.
Before the Moon finishes its full period
He will be dishonored by other winds.

― latebloomer: B Minus Time Traveler (latebloomer), Saturday, 28 May 2005 18:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, Paul "Bono" Hewson is the second child of Bobby and Iris Hewson. His brother, Norman, is the oldest.

Described by Bobby as "a bloody exasperating child", Paul got a reputation at an early age for being both absent-minded yet argumentative...traits which earned him the unholy and ironic nickname "the Antichrist" from both family and friends.

― latebloomer: B Minus Time Traveler (latebloomer), Saturday, 28 May 2005 18:19 (twenty-one years ago)

holy shit.

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 28 May 2005 18:26 (twenty-one years ago)

again, SEE THE OMEGA CODE

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 28 May 2005 18:27 (twenty-one years ago)

damn you anthony, I laugh out loud every time you say that

― mike h. (mike h.), Saturday, 28 May 2005 18:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I've been almost obsessed by U2 for half my life now, and there are times when even I want to tell him to just. shut. up.

I think the root of it, though, is that he is pathologically uncool. He's really deeply sincere about everything, AND he likes to talk, AND he has a big stage to blather forth upon. Those three things give him plenty of rope to hang himself with.

― Lyra Jane (Lyra Jane), Saturday, 28 May 2005 20:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Er ... four things. Blame it on Mr. "uno, dos, tres, quatorze."

― Lyra Jane (Lyra Jane), Saturday, 28 May 2005 20:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I did a search on this giant thread for "hair" and "mullet" and came up with nothing.

If we're going to talk about glasses, let's talk about the real fashion issue. This stupid piece of shit who has a habit of talking about The Clash as though he owns them, and who has spent much of his career making music that sounds uncannily like the very worst years of Gang of Four (but were somehow wildly popular while doing it) has consistently (although it's subdued now) had the most preposterous hockey haircut on earth.

I'm too worked up at the thought of Bono to proofread. I am now sweaty. Sorry if this makes no sense.

― usual channels, Saturday, 28 May 2005 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

hockey haircut

Bahahahahaha

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 28 May 2005 21:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Bono was as popular as Slobodan Milosovic then?

― Jay Watts III (jaywatts), Saturday, 28 May 2005 21:36 (twenty-one years ago)

What's amazing is that on this entire thread no one has mentioned that HE CALLS HIMSELF BONO VOX. Aside from that, I don't have a huge problem with his persona. He does tend to come off as a type with whom I might not get along in person but I have no trouble believing that he's probably a more honourable human being than Jimmy Page or Perry Farrell (or Miles Davis?) or lots of people to whom I'd rather listen. I wonder whether the haters have or had a lot invested in U2's music at some point. Maybe I'm not that bothered by his persona because I'm indifferent to most of his music (and even when I like U2 stuff it's usually not because of him, with a few notable exceptions). I do think Achtung Baby and Zooropa have some great moments.

― Sundar (sundar), Saturday, 28 May 2005 23:46 (twenty-one years ago)

(And I don't think there's necessarily anything 'wrong' with U2's music as such. Most of it just do a ton for me personally. 'Cause I'm weird and stuff.)

― Sundar (sundar), Saturday, 28 May 2005 23:52 (twenty-one years ago)

M-M-M-M-Mephisto!

Wot a cockfarmer.

― bastardhat, Sunday, 29 May 2005 20:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Here's what I really want to know about U2: what is still driving these fuckers?

Like they need another 20 million each for this year's world tour? Or do they actually believe they need yet one more watered down record to add to their musical legacy? Could it simply be the passion? Or, does each time that Boner rocks a rooftop or truckbed, is he THAT much closer to saving the spaceship earth?

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Sunday, 29 May 2005 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Sonny Bono?

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Sunday, 29 May 2005 22:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Sorta x-post I thought one of the main points raised in the "U2 at the End of the World" book was the oodles of money they actually lost on tour, up through "PopMart." The last two tours have been cash-ins, sure, but the "Elevation" tour was the best I'd ever seen the band (out of 7 or so times). The most recent/current tour was easily the worst.

Anyway, as for charity, it's hard to know all the good Bono's doing (or not doing) based just on what he publicizes. Frank Sinatra reportedly gave away tens of millions without making it obvious, as does Springsteen currently. Allegedly.

In the end, I really don't see how Bono is any worse than anyone with a platform. Let alone a mouth.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Sunday, 29 May 2005 23:18 (twenty-one years ago)

haha I heard "Vertigo" again today and enjoyed it!

― Paul (scifisoul), Thursday, 2 June 2005 23:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I like to accent the second o in his name.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 2 June 2005 23:52 (twenty-one years ago)

"Discoteque," "Elevation" and "Vertigo" are the only songs from the last three albums I can actually get down with. Maybe "Stuck In A Moment" if I'm feeling nice. REM's Monster is about all they can pull off with any reward these days.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 2 June 2005 23:55 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...

AIEEEE

― 'Twan (miccio), Saturday, 26 November 2005 16:10 (twenty years ago)

Dedicating "Bullet in the Blue Sky" to the "brave men and women" of the United States military, Bono kneeled down, raised his arms, and blindfolded his eyes as if he was about to get shot by a firing squad. Why this dramatic act was so widely accepted by U2 followers while Patti Smith's earlier anti-war declaration was so vehemently rejected exemplified Bono's ultimate star power and poetic influence. Bono knew he was a ringleader, a ringleader with a political agenda.

― 'Twan (miccio), Saturday, 26 November 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

I can't count the number of ways this article hurts my heart.

― 'Twan (miccio), Saturday, 26 November 2005 16:13 (twenty years ago)

You don't need to go past the first two sentences.

Riding the subway to MSG with a pair of U2 tickets burning a hole in my pocket, every person was a suspect. Did they know about the treasure in my back pocket?

GET OVER YOURSELF.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 26 November 2005 16:15 (twenty years ago)

you do need to read the rest.

― 'Twan (miccio), Saturday, 26 November 2005 16:17 (twenty years ago)

Patti Smith condems the war and is booed. Here's Bono, for his part:

Says it all.

― TRG (TRG), Saturday, 26 November 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, but according to the village voice, the difference is Bono's ultimate star power and poetic influence.

― 'Twan (miccio), Saturday, 26 November 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

Is that supposed to mean the crowd actually agreed Smith but the problem was her?

Poetic influence, hehehe. Good one.

― TRG (TRG), Saturday, 26 November 2005 17:01 (twenty years ago)

you do need to read the rest.

I did. I cried.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 26 November 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

I'm not getting through to the link right now so I can't read the article itself, but...

According to the Patti listserv Bono made a point of getting her back on stage during U2's set to sing "Instant Karma" and telling the audience that (I'm paraphrasing) U2 wouldn't exist without Verlaine and Smith (Tom was playing with her). They also did a bit of "People Have The Power". So it seems he was trying to somehow either educate his stupid audience or make it up to Patti. Or something.

I don't really have an opinion about this but I thought it was interesting. Another listserv message pointed out that this is the same place that booed Sinead off the stage for similar comments.

― sleeve, away, Saturday, 26 November 2005 17:28 (twenty years ago)

"What makes Bono's political manifesto so easily consumed while Patti Smith was so bluntly rejected?"

Maybe the fact that Patti Smith took a political stand whilst Bono made some sot've vague humanist gesture that could be read any way any member the audience wanted?

Has Chuck Eddy been fired or something?

― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Saturday, 26 November 2005 18:03 (twenty years ago)

"Pride in the Name of Love" and "Where the Streets Have No Name" followed. International flags made of lights bedecked the stage and Africa became Bono's next issue at hand. Now that he had the audience drunk on American patriotism, he could really slip the crowd a mickey.
He asked everyone to turn on their cell phones, to "turn the darkness into the Milky Way." Soon the lights filled the stadium, as if he was directing a cell phone commercial. By text messaging your full name to 86483, he instructed, you can show support for One.org, the campaign to make poverty history.
"We're asking for 1 million to sign up for the One Campaign. TWO million Americans signed. By 2008, there will be 5 million signed up. That makes us bigger than the National Rifle Association." Speaking for the AIDS emergency in Africa, "Nearly 400,000 Africans owe their life to this country," The crowd roared.

There I was, 16 years later, a die-hard fan of U2, and Bono is still advocating for Africa.

I'm now sure that this all some elaborate parody. It has to be.

Also, 16 years later than what?

― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Saturday, 26 November 2005 18:08 (twenty years ago)

Later than when Rattle and Hum came out. A TELLING SIGN.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 26 November 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

man, what a dick he is!

― gear (gear), Saturday, 26 November 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

At least he supports the troops! I was wondering about his stance on that ...

― TRG (TRG), Saturday, 26 November 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)

charity for africa! fuck that guy!

― gear (gear), Saturday, 26 November 2005 19:17 (twenty years ago)

He's a bully! Now he's picking on poor little Canada!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051126/ap_en_mu/people_bono_aid

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 26 November 2005 19:22 (twenty years ago)

such a twat!

― gear (gear), Saturday, 26 November 2005 19:25 (twenty years ago)

Stop, stop! He can save the world, him and Sachs together that is, only 14 more benefit concerts to go!

― TRG (TRG), Saturday, 26 November 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

Speaking for the AIDS emergency in Africa, "Nearly 400,000 Africans owe their life to this country," The crowd roared

ha! YOU'RE WELCOME, AFRICA!

― latebloomer: Do I have a large frog in my hair? (latebloomer), Saturday, 26 November 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

Bono put on a white bandana imprinted with the Islamic moon, the Star of David, and a cross. He shouted, "All of these symbols are all sons of Abraham. Same family. A family feud. All are sons of Abraham! Father Abraham, what have you done? Speak to your sons. Tell them no more, no more!"

BWIsaksdhWBEHYTREHSWBSHGEWHTIOHEUIOHUEHUHSB!!!!!111!!H!*!*!*!!!

He's a bully! Now he's picking on poor little Canada!

He publicly endorsed the PM before our last election 18 months ago ... now, as we gear up for another election, what will happen if he withdraws his endorsement? GIVE ME BACK MY POLITICS!

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 26 November 2005 20:29 (twenty years ago)

Can we get some figures on how many Africans owe their death to this country?

― THIS IS THE SOUND OF ALTERN 8 !!! (noodle vague), Saturday, 26 November 2005 20:44 (twenty years ago)

http://bluebuddies.com/gallery/Smurf_Cassettes/jpg/Smurfs_Cassette_Tape_Father_Abraham_In_Smurfland.jpg
Father Abraham, what have you done!

― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Saturday, 26 November 2005 21:16 (twenty years ago)

ten years pass...

"Stuck in a Pair of Glasses You Can't Get Out Of"
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:17 (10 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― Daithi Bowsie (darraghmac), Sunday, 17 April 2016 23:01 (ten years ago)

late 80s longhaired Bono was a beautiful man

― lute bro (brimstead), Sunday, 17 April 2016 23:43 (ten years ago)

I wonder what the odds are that the OP was actually Bono. Acting arrogant or self-important is pretty much the ultimate crime for an Irish person, so the fact that we gave the world Bono is incredibly bizarre. It'd be like the world's most famous alcoholic coming from Saudi Arabia.

At least the plain people of Dublin have made their opinion known:

http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7613jjJSf1rb8miwo1_500.jpg

http://i0.wp.com/ajournalofmusicalthings.com/wp-content/uploads/Bono-is-a-pox-1.jpg

― the_ecuador_three, Monday, 18 April 2016 14:00 (ten years ago)

I like "How To Dismantle an Atom Bomb" much better than "All That You Can Leave Behind," and Bono's pretensions have never bothered me; he's got enough self-effacing humor to make it alright.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, May 27, 2005 8:12 AM

Bono sucks

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 18 April 2016 14:01 (ten years ago)

That's not Bono, who is it? (xp)

― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Monday, 18 April 2016 14:21 (ten years ago)

It's some guy who sings old ballads for old people, Finbar Wright I think. Any writeable surface is considered fair game:

http://bawdyfox.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Bono-Pox-bawdy-feature.png

― the_ecuador_three, Monday, 18 April 2016 14:57 (ten years ago)

New Finbar Wright album, "More of That Guy Who Sings Ballads For Old People"

― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Monday, 18 April 2016 15:00 (ten years ago)

lol i think there is a good chance that is bono in the OP.

i wonder what % of artists read their ILM threads. we're pretty well indexed on google. sometimes i will be googling for something and then encounter some thread that's full of my own rambling... like that part in ulysses that's like, every road is a road back home or something

― Treeship, Monday, 18 April 2016 15:03 (ten years ago)

ramble less

― the 'major tom guy' (sleeve), Monday, 18 April 2016 15:06 (ten years ago)

― Treeship, Monday, 18 April 2016 15:06 (ten years ago)

Trís otm this is sovereign soil trís u ramble where u like

― Daithi Bowsie (darraghmac), Wednesday, 20 April 2016 10:40 (ten years ago)

Only examples of artists posting to their own ILM threads I can recall are Saul Williams and the guy who remixed "Euphoria (Nino's Dream)". Though I'm sure there are others that I've just forgotten.

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 10:58 (ten years ago)

the guy who remixed "Euphoria (Nino's Dream)"

whereabouts pray tell?

― linee, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 11:03 (ten years ago)

Euphoria (Nino's Dream): Best Record Ever?

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 11:56 (ten years ago)

this was a good one - C/D, S/D: Aaron-Carl

― just sayin, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 12:01 (ten years ago)

Scout Niblett: the *WORST MUSIC* in the WORLD

― cock chirea, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 12:32 (ten years ago)

Only examples of artists posting to their own ILM threads I can recall are Saul Williams and the guy who remixed "Euphoria (Nino's Dream)". Though I'm sure there are others that I've just forgotten.

i seem to recall brad from medicine getting quite fun on the medicine thread ?

― mark e, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 12:55 (ten years ago)

One of the guys from the Cruzados posted on a Dylan thread about playing with Bob on Letterman.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 20 April 2016 13:27 (ten years ago)

I am the recording artist John Scoggins from the album Pressed For Time> I did not disappear plus you gossiping old ladies don't seem to know where to search for the actual John Scoggins, jes. you go on google and there's like hundreds of john scoggins's that are NOT ME. Go to UTUBE, and ITUNES, You'l find the Actual artist John Scoggins is alive and well and still making and releasing Music. There,s currently an original album vinyl on EBAY right now JAN> 2016 BUT probably not for long, music on Warner music on ITUNES, Amazon and every other digital site AND NEW Music on UTUBE> god search for a musician on music sites Google will just give you all sorts of people with the same name that ain't me.

― John Scoggins, Monday, January 18, 2016 11:58 AM (3 months ago)

― small doug yule carnival club (unregistered), Wednesday, 20 April 2016 14:10 (ten years ago)

Howdy! This is John "Chris" Christensen from Laser Pace. I've really enjoyed watching (and listening to) your dialogue about our album Granfalloon. If you have any questions about the group or our music, I can be contacted at: www.myspace.com/johnchrischristensen

Thanks for keeping the music alive!

― John Christensen, Friday, November 16, 2007 6:44 PM (8 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― Romeo Daltrey (Tom D.), Wednesday, 20 April 2016 14:21 (ten years ago)

Linda di franco

― lute bro (brimstead), Wednesday, 20 April 2016 18:09 (ten years ago)

S/D - Madteo

― map, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 18:21 (ten years ago)

― Daithi Bowsie (darraghmac), Wednesday, 20 April 2016 19:50 (ten years ago)

Eugene from Oxbow.

― suffeeciant attreebution (aldo), Thursday, 21 April 2016 09:21 (ten years ago)

OXBOW - s&d

― suffeeciant attreebution (aldo), Thursday, 21 April 2016 09:23 (ten years ago)

c'mon you lot, easily the best instance of this is the DJ Q thread...

http://f.cl.ly/items/3z3e1x2C2C442e2m0F1H/IMG_0561.jpg

the ineffable genius of DJ Q

and then he went on to name his debut album after the thread:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/ineffable/id844195482

― real orgone kid (NickB), Thursday, 21 April 2016 09:35 (ten years ago)

Hehe, this is too funny.
Mr. Kurt Ralske here. A friend alerted me to this thread. There seem to be some ghosts from everyone's past lurking 'round here.
Interesting to read all your comments. FYI I gave up making music entirely a few years ago + now focus on making video art, which I've had some nice success with. I've completely forgotten about UVS -- it seems like some weird half-remembered dream.
My own take on the UVS records is...well they're for me personally embarrassing, because I don't really think "pop stardom" was anything I was ever suited for + probably should never have pursued. So I think of these records the way someone might think of their career as a former stripper, or something like that: a skelton in the closet. I can't bear to listen to the first album + don't even own a copy of the second. I do think the third has some interesting music on it, and it gets played once every year or two.
Looking for happy endings? Yes, why not. For what it's worth, I am much much happier now than when I made those records. Someone above mentions a my involvement with a Bjork-like co-worker...yes well we were married two years ago + are expecting our first child in June.
So, requisite warm fuzziness all 'round, and if you've ever enjoyed the music, wishing you continued enjoyment.
― Kurt Ralske, Friday, February 27, 2004 1:28 PM (12 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

On the Ultra Vivid Scene thread

― nate woolls, Thursday, 21 April 2016 09:38 (ten years ago)

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