U2...
I wrote all this shit, this morning...and then lost it all...doesn't that piss you off when that happens?:):):)...
You know what's ironic about U2 selling out?...as John Waters says in this nice little article he writes about their newest album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, in The Age magazine...
U2: pop gone sour...
"...a band that for nearly two decades has been at the top and is desperate not to slip..."
You know what's ironic about that stupid move by an otherwise amazing band?
U2 never was on top...
They topped out at 66 on the all-time album sales chart, with Joshua Tree at around 10 million albums sold...Achtung Baby sold around 8 million...
Recording Industry Association of America's All-Time Top-Selling Albums (as of 5/16/05)...at Infoplease.com...
The Finger...All-Time Album Sales (as of 1/07/05)...
Though Wikipedia lists Joshua Tree at 26 million and sales of Achtung Baby at 18 million...
U2...at Wikipedia...bottom of the page...
...and I have no way of objectively calling which numbers are correct...
U2 never was one of the all-time popular bands...
And I used to really respect the fact that they didn't give a shit...
They just kept making music that mattered...whether people bought it or not...
Songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday...and New Years Day...and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For...and Where the Streets Have No Name...and Silver and Gold...and Bullet the Blue Sky...and God Part II...and Pride (In the Name of Love)...and Love Rescue Me...and Angel of Harlem...and When Love Comes to Town...and Desire...and With or Without You...and 40...and Gloria...and Van Diemen's Land...I Will Follow...
Because...if people don't like a song like Sunday Bloody Sunday...about ending the violence in Northern Ireland...violence that bands like U2 and the Cranberries helped end...along with politicians like John Hume and David Trimble...
Who gives a shit what they think?...
They clearly have some fucked up priorities...
So if all folks care about it having a song that they can dance to...and not one that makes them think...and care about things other than themselves...
Why would you give a shit what they think about your music?...
They're clearly morons...who cares what they think?...
A question that John Waters poses to U2 in this nice little review of another mediocre album from this otherwise great band...
The truth is I'd still rather hear songs like Mysterious Ways and One, as clearly mediocre as they are compared to songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For...than not hear from U2 at all...as John's sub-title alludes to...
But what I'd much rather...
Is that U2 stop carring so much...about what all the morons in the world think about their music...and whether or not they buy it...
And start making good music again...
I had so much more to share this morning...
I think this is turning out to be my best Christmas ever...and it's definitely not because of money...which I have very little of this Christmas...
But now I've lost it...and I'll have to write about it again some other time...
You know what I miss most about hanging out with Brandi?...
Her courage...
I haven't seen that in someone I've been close to, other than myself, in a long time...it's sad...
If Bono were to die, today...
I'd remember Rattle and Hum, 1988...because that was his best moment...fuck Time Magazine...
Because it was the moment in his life when he had the most courage...
I appreciate what he's done for efforts to alleviate AIDS and TB and malaria in developing countries all over the world...
But I'd rather have his courage...
Bono isn't trying to grow up, as John suggests in this album...
Bono got scared...to ask U2 to do something as courageous as their latter, better albums...
As John suggests of the Beattles...when the Beattles were holding John Lennon back in a similar way...after the White Album...John did the sensible thing...
He left...
And if U2 can't create the space for Bono to sing as meaningfully in his songs as he does in his political work...
Bono should probably leave too...
And start making music that means something again...
It will be sad not to hear from The Edge and Larry Mullins and Adam Clayton, again...though I'm sure we'll hear some new incarnation of these guys' very decent musical abilities...
But goddamn if I don't want to hear Bono wail about some injustice again as powerfully back as he did back in the day...
And if U2 has to disband for that to happen...
Then so-fuckin'-be-it...
And if Adam Clayton and Larry Mullins and The Edge and Bono don't want that to happen...and if they want to be something more than a has-been band...
Then they need to start making some music that's worth listening to, again...
My friends...my parents...a lot of folks...are selling out, right now...
It's so sad to watch people sell their soul for so little...
And the saddest thing...is to watch people sell to such low bidders...
Pathetic...
Sometimes I wish I had a greatest hits of my friends and family when they were at their best...to at least enjoy the memories of when they had a little courage to be themselves...and to do something worthwhile...
But like everyone else...
Either they'll have to learn the lesson on their own...
Or like Elvis...the all-time top-selling performer...die trying...
Right now...I'd just settle for a little company...someone with courage...who realizes that the alternative is just so goddamned lame...they just won't even consider it, anymore...not seriously, at least...
And when they don't want to be asking themselves that really sad question that all the folks who sell out have to be asking themselves...
"Who really gives a shit what I think, anymore?"...
By the way...if you haven't seen Capturing the Friedmans' yet...definitely recommend it...and you know what I love about this movie?...the director doesn't seem to give a shit about how much money it makes or doesn't make...and good for him...hopefully that will last...
Have a Merry Christmas, everyone...
Love,
Ben
