Bono is a jerk!

[elfismiles]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_Crap (South Park episode)

I'm a sucker for such simple guitar riffage ... in highschool I played the crap out of an awesome, live off the radio, King-Biscuit Flower Hour broadcast of a late 80s U2 show. I frakking love listening to that tape. And I'm still a sucker for even the recent simplistic "edge" guitar sound. (Then again I love the soaring simplicity of Dave Gilmour solos).

EDIT: holy CRAP! That show is online...
Orpheum Theatre (Boston, MA)
Date: 05.06.1983
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/u2/concer ... -1983.html
[interesting hearing the differences tween this recording and the live radio broadcast version]

But then I learned of U2's run in with Negativland ... what turds U2 were over that! And then Bono's political activism ... more turdishness.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Man the negativeland thing was appalling. I think thats when I made a point of stopping listening to them anymore. I have hardly done so since. Not that it matter that much, so much music sounds like U2 these days.

I hope Tom Verlaine is happy.

[elfismiles]

Man the negativeland thing was appalling. I think thats when I made a point of stopping listening to them anymore. I have hardly done so since. Not that it matter that much, so much music sounds like U2 these days.

I hope Tom Verlaine is happy.

I felt lucky to have seen them (for the first and only time to date) when they we here recently at the Alamo Drafthouse doing there "IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD FM" thing - twas very pleasurable and funny.

[smiths]

bono is a tragedy more than anything,
a pretty good person seduced and destroyed, and somehow still believing he is fighting the good fight

but its still worth separating the the man from the early band,
U2 were, for a while, a really good band

i still think the Unforgettable Fire and the Joshua Tree are great albums, and nothing bono does can ever change that

[Stephen Morgan]

Look up a song called "Waving at the Poor" by Mitch Benn.

[undead]

And his music sucks, too.

[mulebone]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o4hz5rB2YE

Hold the presses Mikey! Hot news on the wire!
Hundreds see an image of a Guinness drinking choir.
Celebrities and cameras are headed to the scene
While presidents are fleeing to their speeding limousines.

Don't worry, it's just stigmata.
Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.

Your local programming interrupted
by the mindless banter of a soulless talking head.
Roll out the red carpet, dripping bloody tongue.
Pay no mind to blue berets and all their shiny guns.

Don't worry, it's just stigmata.
Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.

Who you gonna call when the man brings his hammer down?
Goose stepping with a smoking Irish fly.

And when our world is over, children by the fire
Raise their hands and pray that they may see a new Messiah.
And somewhere in the darkness a flag goes running by.
The smell of cigarettes and love are incense for the fly.

Don't worry, it's just stigmata.
Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.

Who you gonna call when the man brings his hammer down?
Goose stepping with a smoking Irish fly.

[Twyla LaSarc]

I thought U2 pretty cool about the time of 'Boy' and 'War'. Since then Bono in his role as charity scamster and uber-ego has destroyed any respect I had for the band.

I just love the investments he and his wife make such as feudal castles in Ireland and sweatshops in Africa that manufacture her oh-so-PC line of organic hemp fashion for the money-rich and irony-impaired.

I have a friend who refuses to believe that Bono is part-owner of Forbes. He's a hairy eyeballed radical but turns into the Britney fanboi when his rock-n-roll heroes are shown to have feet of dung.

[Bruce Dazzling]

IMHO, Achtung Baby is the best mainstream rock album ever released by a band not called the Beatles.

BUT...

I believe that the influence of Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno should never be underestimated.

AND...

Having said that, Bono's douchebaggery has certainly grown exponentially over the years.

[IanEye]

I believe that the influence of Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno should never be underestimated.

[Joe Hillshoist]

I believe that the influence of Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno should never be underestimated.

Yeah I'll third that.

[JackRiddler]

.

Bono, the politician, is a more than a jerk. He's a walking neoliberal apologetic, a wrecking tool for globalism. The contrast to Lennon is instructive. As has been said here, Lennon always knew war is the lead evil, spoke as himself and did not worry all the time about his image, would have never imagined lending his artist-and-rebel cred to demons like Bush and Blair --


Imagine Lennon and Nixon! It's very hard to do!

and, when he was doing politics, used his fame to direct attention to real social movement leaders, not to himself.

But I played Achtung Baby and Zooropa on a continuous loop for about two years straight (slight exaggeration). Rank U2 wherever you like in the pop and rock pantheons, call'em derivative, make fun of the wall of sound, whatever. I loved that cassette (PIRACY!!!) and I'm happy to say so today.

Furthermore, the influence of Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno should never be underestimated. (Fourth!)

.

[Searcher08]

and Brian Eno was heavily influenced by Stafford Beer, the founder of management cybernetics and whose work was an integral part of Allende's great vision for Chile.
Thought you might enjoy this...



JR, your description deeply resonates with my guilty pleasure (about once a year or so) of cranking up Ted Nugent and playing air guitar to a 1977 'Stranglehold'.

[Elvis]

Owing to my personal music path, I basically "missed" U2 and wouldn't immediately recognize any songs by them (though I remember liking some of what the guitarist was doing). But I thought Bono was a wanker since I first saw U2, on Letterman, about ten years ago; after their number, Bono headed to the couch by himself. Maybe the other guys didn't want to chat with Dave but my thought was "is this about U2 or is this all about 'Bono'?" Anyway, it bugged me. And he's bugged me ever since.

Have you seen the Bono impersonator? He goes around in public as Bono and it's hilarious to see fans fawning over the fake.
http://www.bonodouble.com/index1.html

[elfismiles]

Violence erupts as U2 rocks Glastonbury
Tom Morgan
June 25, 2011 - 11:22AM

U2 and its frontman Bono, known for their global poverty-fighting efforts, were accused of dodging taxes in Ireland by activists who crashed their performance at England's Glastonbury festival.

The anti-capitalist group Art Uncut inflated a 6-metre balloon emblazoned with the message "U Pay Your Tax 2." Security guards wrestled them to the ground before deflating the balloon and taking it away. About 30 people were involved in the angry clash.

Bono fan Gary Noble, 45, said he found the security response "all a bit shocking."

"I love U2 but I think everyone should pay their taxes. The campaigners have a right to voice their opinion," he said.

Art Uncut argues that while Bono campaigns against poverty in the developing world, his group has avoided paying Irish taxes at a time when his austerity-hit country desperately needs money.

Ireland, which has already accepted an international bailout, is suffering through deep spending cuts, tax hikes and rising unemployment as it tries to pull the debt-burdened economy back from brink of bankruptcy."

Tax(es) nestling in the band's bank account should be helping to keep open the hospitals, schools and libraries that are closing all over Ireland," Art Uncut member Charlie Dewar said ahead of the protest.

U2, the country's most successful band, was heavily criticised in 2006 for moving its corporate base from Ireland to the Netherlands, where royalties on music incur virtually no tax.

Bono, guitarist The Edge and U2's other members - bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen - are among the country's wealthiest residents. Forbes magazine has estimated the band earned $US195 million ($A185.68 million) last year, mostly through its hugely profitable 360 Degrees world tour.

It's not known how much personal income tax the band members pay in Ireland.

During the years when Ireland was a booming "Celtic Tiger" economy, the members of U2 invested in a wide range of Dublin properties, including a luxury riverside hotel and a planned Norman Foster-designed skyscraper on the River Liffey. Plans for the "U2 Tower" were shelved when property prices collapsed in 2008.

U2 is headlining the first night of the three-day Glastonbury festival, its first appearance at Britain's most prestigious summer music event. The band was due to perform last year but had to pull out after Bono injured his back.

Some 170,000 people have descended on a farm in southwest England for the extravaganza, which includes sets by Morrissey, Mumford & Sons, Coldplay, Beyonce and scores of other acts.

Rubber boots are the fashion item of choice after heavy rain turned the 364-hectare site into a mudbath. More rain is forecast.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/vio ... z1QIckcVpD