(Photograph by Peter Walsh)

Andy: “Who’s your favorite big rock band, Noel?” Noel: “I’d have to say U2” Jarvis: “Aw, f*** off!. You don’t like U2!” Noel: “I know U2 are naff, but they took five years off and came back with ‘Achtung Baby’ and, as far as I could tell they’d actually listened to the Mondays and the Roses and learnt. And it was good. They could have made ‘The Joshua Tree’ for the rest of their careers. But they had the guts to break their own mould”.

December 17, 1994

Graham Coxon x Dead Pretties

U2 are the opposite of cool. They know this about themselves. They run hot, emotionally, which makes a lot of sense when you realize their spiritual roots are in revival style Christianity.

U2 attracts people who aren't turned off by unrestrained emotionality. Their fans love their sense of discipline, which includes a brutal work ethic, dedication to creative risk taking, and great personal loyalty. (A surprising number of U2 band members, staff, creative team, and band spouses have been around for forty or more years. A surprising number of U2 fans are still married to their first spouse.)

Most U2 fans love that the band genuinely loves each other. They are very, very loyal to each other, and very gentle with each other. They are also unusually bright and thoughtful for rock musicians, and three of four are intellectually adventurous autodidacts. It can be pretty hard to listen to other bands talk after being a U2 fan. You really forget that bands are often shallow and not all that bright.

U2 deliberately try to create a concert experience of spiritual elation and emotional catharsis. They deliberately point fans' attention to matters of conscience and always have. In many ways, music is the least important thing about them. As I said, their primary identity is performance art. Some people love it, some people hate it. I'm a lover, me.

A lot of people bitch about U2 being pretentious. And they are at times. But much more often, they are deadly serious and trying their level best. I think it's this exact lack of cool that enrages people so much.

Bono / The Fly, Los Angeles, CA, 1992.

Baby U2 / Rehearsal session at Shepperton Studios, UK - 1982.

📷 Original photos: UrbanImage