U2 - [Matthew]

[exclusive content]

Last year, I was asked to write an article on U2 and their soon-to-be released album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. I poured a lot of heart into the article (have you ever actually cried as you wrote a band/album review?). Sadly, what showed up in the magazine bore little resemblance. Before you haul out your 'poor wittle writer' lines, keep in mind there's legitimate, well-executed editing done for space limits. And then there's there's the amateur, ham-handed, forgot-to-do-my-science-fair-project-now-I-gotta-stay-up-late butchery inflicted on my article.

Criminy. I think I may still may have a chip on my shoulder about this thing.

Without further ado, the 'director's cut' of the article you didn't see in the magazine.


U2: A Disarming Look

To fully understand U2’s music, you must first understand a little about its frontman, Bono; to fully understand U2’s latest album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, you must first understand a little about a man named Bob Hewson.

Bono embodies a host of seeming contradictions which, as if a rock star needed any more help, make him all the more fascinating: A self-professed Christian who swaggers and sways and seduces crowds of tens of thousands. A man who at times appears to be hopelessly in love with himself, yet devotes much of his energy to solving social crises across the globe.

In contrast, Bob Hewson held no significant sway over anyone other than those in his own house. And yet, this lowly postal worker managed to be something of a thorn in Bono’s side for many years and, for better or worse, shaped the singer’s life more than any other person.


History

U2 formed in 1976 after drummer Larry Mullen Jr. posted an ad on a bulletin board at his Dublin high school. Of the half dozen or so guys who auditioned, three stood out: guitarist Dave Evans (eventually to be renamed ‘The Edge’), bassist Adam Clayton, and a “charismatic character” of questionable singing skills who would come to be known as ‘Bono’. The nickname was originally “Bono Vox”, the name of a brand of hearing aids. Bono resented the moniker until he learned the phrase was Latin for ‘good voice.’

After recording a successful three-song EP (titled U2:3) and a less than successful tour of the U.K, U2 signed with Island Records in 1980. In December of that year, the band launched a small, but successful East Coast tour for their first full album release, Boy.

Their second album, October, was the first to bring into focus the band’s deep Christian convictions and the beginning of a career-long process of figuring out how those beliefs could be squared with being rock stars.

U2 followed up October with War, a live mini-album titled Under a Blood Red Sky, and The Unforgettable Fire. After steadily building their following throughout the eighties, The Joshua Tree album served as the mainstream breakthrough U2 had been working for. Singles “With Or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” became number one pop singles.

Double album Rattle and Hum followed thereafter, and then a turning point in 1991 with the release of Achtung Baby. Recorded in Berlin, the album and the subsequent Zoo TV tour found U2 reinventing themselves as an edgier ‘alternative’ group. Bono took on the personas of ‘The Fly’ and ‘MacPhisto’ while one version of the “One” video featured the U2 gents in full drag. 1997’s Pop and the Pop-Mart tour pushed U2 even further into new territory, incorporating elements of techno into their music.

Their next full-length album wouldn’t arrive until 2000’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Remarkably, after nearly thirty years of critical and commercial success, after a stylistic shift on par with ‘Sgt. Pepper’, U2 survives and thrives with its original lineup.

And now, eleven albums, fourteen Grammy awards, and two record-breaking tours later, their first studio album in four years.


How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

Overall, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb has a somber tone, standing in contrast to the buoyant Everything You Can’t Leave Behind. Though it’s not immediately as catchy and radio-friendly as its predecessor, ‘Bomb’ drops safely within the top five U2 albums of all time.

“Vertigo”- the soundtrack to your favorite iPod commercial- leads off the album with The Edge’s blistering and nasty guitar riff.

Other highlights include "City of Blinding Lights", the fifth cut and the first transcendent ‘goosebump’ moment. "Original of the Species" holds some truly memorable hooks, though sadly its placement so deep in the album makes it doubtful it will be pushed for radio airplay.

As All That You Can’t Leave Behind ended with “Grace”, so the song “Yahweh” (the Hebrew name for God) rounds out the CD with the album’s most overtly spiritual lyrics. It is less a song and much more a prayer.

But there is one song that stands out above the others. The track that undeniably serves as the emotional linchpin of the whole apparatus.


A Sort of Homecoming

At 4am on August 21, 2001, after a lengthy battle, Bob Hewson succumbed to cancer. At his bedside, his two sons, Norman and Paul, better known as Bono.

For a week, the 75-year old Dubliner had lain on his deathbed as U2 toured Europe supporting their All That You Can’t Leave Behind album. But each night, after the show ended, Bono would fly back to be with Bob, usually sleeping nearby, even though the father and son had endured a strained relationship for years.

When he was only 14, Bono’s mother had died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage. Living in a tough Irish household of only men, in a place where emotions were bottled and stored for years like so much whiskey, Bono found a great and needed outlet in music.

Bono recalled a defining incident when his father passed on an opportunity to inherit a piano:

“My father was a beautiful tenor who loved opera, but he never imagined that music might be handed down, like his bad back and his bad temper, so he never bothered us about learning an instrument."

While they reconciled before Bob’s death, Bono allowed that he wished it had happened years earlier.

Unbelievably, just hours after his father’s passing, Bono flew to London and performed in front of 17,000 fans at Earl's Court. As he walked onstage wearing black, the red-eyed singer knelt and made the sign of the cross.

"I want to thank my old man, my father, for giving me this voice," Bono told the crowd. "He was a fine tenor and he always said if I had his voice, who knows what might have happened."

Yet another enigma: consummate ‘the-show-must-go-on professional or numb and still-angry son? Bono gave the answer himself sometime later when he commented on that night.

"If you were of sound mind, you wouldn't need thousands of people a night telling you they loved you just to feel normal. It's sad, really.”

Bob is the titular ‘bomb’ to be dismantled. And the song “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” provides ample evidence that their Cold War melted away before it was too late.

“I know that we don't talk
I'm sick of it all
Can you hear me when I sing,
You're the reason I sing
You're the reason why the opera is in me.

Where are we now?
I've got to let you know
A house still doesn't make a home
Don't leave me here alone.

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you that makes it hard to let go
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
Sometimes you can't make it
The best you can do is to fake it
Sometimes you can't make it on your own.”


The Show Goes On

In March 2005, Bono will take a break from saving the world to tour with the band.

Will U2 prove to be Generation X’s Beatles? An enduring, culture-defining group that maintains its popularity and relevance even while evolving? The theorem has certainly held thus far.

Each band member is now older than 40. Their creative process, though arduous and protracted, consistently pays off in albums of considerable depth and quality. There is reason to believe that the next U2 project will hold even deeper resonance as the lads rock and roll their way into middle age.

As writer and professor Rev. Chuck DeGroat queried ‘Have U2 finally found what they’re looking for?’ Who knows? Thankfully, with ‘Bomb’, they’ve at least taken us with them on that journey.

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