U2's spiritual journey creates questions

The last of a three part series over a couple of months. Whats more taboo than drugs, sex or is God ? The unwelcomed guest in the world of rock ‘n’ roll. However that’s preciselly why Bono, lead singer of U2, finds God to be such a powerful subject for the band’s songs. “You’re in a rock band what can’t you talk about? God? OK, here we go,” he once said. “You’re supposed to write songs about sex and drugs. Well, no, I won’t.” Todays top trending conversation is #SEX and you have to wonder with the quesions posed by fans? Does U2 have a lot fo sexual references in their songs or would say that they pretty much stay on the “God” trip?

From the band’s origins as four dreaming teenagers in Dublin, Ireland, in the 1970s to its current status as among the greatest rock bands on the planet, U2 has written and performed music shot through with a religiosity that defies easy categorization.

On its 2001 Elevation Tour, U2 sold out arenas and stadiums around the world, using in the process a surprising amount of religious imagery. The band usually closed with “Walk On,” a song from, All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Toward the end of the song, Bono would shout “Unto the Almighty, thank you!” and lead the crowd in a chorus of hallelujahs.

Bono and the rest of U2 would seem to fit comfortably with evangelicalism and contemporary Christian music. That placement, however, is resisted by both the evangelical establishment and the band itself. U2’s members—Bono, guitarist The Edge, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton ( which has birthday this month)—drink and smoke and swear, causing some pietistic Christians to question the band’s beliefs.

U2 doesn’t seem to care whether churches accept the band. Over  years, U2 has grown uncomfortable with organized religion, calling church life “claustrophobic” and blaming Christianity, at least in part, for dividing Ireland. “I have this hunger in me…. Everywhere I look, I see evidence of a Creator,” Bono has said. “But I don’t see it as religion, which has cut my people in two.”

The question of U2’s religious beliefs, and the ways band members have expressed them, is the subject of a 2001 book, Walk On—The Spiritual Journey of U2 (Relevant Books), by Steve Stockman, a Presbyterian minister in Ireland. Stockman mines U2 interviews and books about the band and its music to write a spiritual companion to the band’s career.

Stockman wrote that in U2’s early days in Dublin, Bono, The Edge and Mullen embraced a charismatic evangelical form of Christianity unusual then for Ireland. They found like-minded believers in a small group called the Shalom Fellowship. In the early 1980s, one of Shalom’s leaders declared that U2 would have to give up rock `n’ roll to please God.

It was a crossroads for the band, and after deciding that God would rather have them play rock music than stay in the fellowship, Bono, The Edge and Mullen left. Never again would any members of U2 be formally aligned with a religious group. “For Bono, The Edge and Larry, the God that they met and have pilgrimaged with down the amazing road is a God who is bigger than church or religious boundaries,”(STOCKMAN)

Fallen from Grace or Higher Calling

U2’s Bono Sings to the Heavens/ Dave Long/U2TOURFANSThese days bringing U2 into a conversation with a group of Christians can be a dangerous occupation. Once up held as the prime examples of Christians in the music business, many people now view the band as arrogant and egotistical, having long since abandoned their early religious fervor.

In fact, many churches will point to U2 as evidence of the fact that the music industry is too full of corruption and depravity for even the most committed believers to hold out against, almost as mothers used to frighten their children into good behavior with stories of the hobgoblins that awaited the ill-behaved child! Viewing U2 on the surface this can be understandable, but a deeper look at what the band is doing portrays a very different story.

Without a doubt U2 have changed a lot since their early albums. Many believe that U2 no longer possess the Christian beliefs which so obviously underpinned these albums, and in many respects amidst the images which U2 have created their beliefs can be difficult to unearth.

Often such use of artistic subterfuge is deeply frowned upon by Christian fundamentalists who argue that the gospel message should be perfectly clear; however, this is ignoring the fact that much of the Bible is itself written in artistic prose, rich in hidden meanings and multi-faceted nuances, whilst several books merely contain poetry - the most artistic of all writing forms.

Jesus himself taught in parables, using the images of the day to bring across truths about God, and most of the time leaving the people scratching their heads and wondering what he meant.

The Edge /U2TOURFANSWe cannot know exactly what U2 dreamed of during their two year break, but anyone who knows something of the very early days of U2’s career may have some ideas. Before they recorded their first album U2’s live gigs were characterized by the two personas which Bono would play - the Boy and the Fool. When it came to recording, however, the Boy became the primary character, and the Fool faded into insignificance.

Over the next ten years the Boy grew into a Man, and U2’s punk beginnings became everything punk had rebelled against. U2 were the epitome of stadium rock giants, spearheading the social conscience in Rock music. They had taken this path as far as they could, reached the biggest audiences imaginable and needed to totally rethink what they were attempting to achieve as a band. With the realization that Stadium Rock could never be personal or subtle, U2 were faced with a choice - return to playing smaller intimate venues, or redefine the framework entirely. Their popularity made the first total

Whilst many other stars have burnt themselves out with the ‘rock-and-roll life-style’, U2 have managed to cope with the pressures of success fairly well. The band has talked of how the pressure of their lifestyle was getting to them, and, if they had kept on the way they were going, they may indeed have burnt out. However, the realization of the absurdity of rock ‘n’ roll has deflated this. The band had been so intense that the only way out was to go totally over the top. Whereas they had previously spent so long avoiding the paraphernalia of being rock ‘n’ roll stars, now they are having fun playing with it, exploding all the clichés.

U2 and Church The Church has never coped well with its artists and U2 are no exception. They have refused to play by anyone else’s rules, and have frequently overstepped the tight boundaries of ‘permissible behavior’ drawn up by the church.

As a result the church has often viewed them with suspicion. Even one of their most explicit songs of Christian faith and longing for a better world, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” was taken by many Christians as evidence that U2 had lost their faith.

The tendency for the Church to look for perfection in its heroes has placed an overwhelming pressure on U2.

They are expected to have all the answers with no sign of doubt, and the church embraces them warmly when they express their faith clearly. However when they have expressed doubts or confusion the church has been just as quick to point the finger and disown them.

The offspring of a mixed marriage, Bono has claimed that he feels equally at home in both Catholic and Protestant churches. However the way in which the Church has often treated U2 has meant that he has come to feel equally not at home in either.

As he sings in Acrobat, “I’d break bread and wine, if there was a church I could receive in.” In his experience the church is too constricting and stifling. It has constructed a set of rules and beliefs to which he is expected to adhere.

However Bono describes his faith in terms of John 3:8 - no-one knows where it’s coming from or where it’s going to, it’s like the wind. “I’ve always felt that way about my faith. That’s why on the new album I say ‘I’ve got no religion’, because I believe that religion is the enemy of God, because it denies the spontaneity and the almost anarchistic nature of the Spirit.”

He sees no reason why all of his songs have to be full of happiness and joy and is fascinated by the connection between the Blues and Gospel Music. He describes the Psalms as the Blues of the Bible, with David giving off to God, “where were you when I needed you?”

The church has often failed to understand art or rock music, and often looks with suspicion on anything which it does not understand.

Everyone’s faith and spirituality must be worked out in the context in which they find themselves, and although few within the church have any idea of where U2 “are”, many are quick to point out where they think they should be.

We need to stop looking for perfection from those in a position of power. They are as much real people as the rest of us - open to doubts, depression, confusion and fear. We must not expect people to hide these emotions, but must allow people the freedom to be honest in their art.

To do otherwise is a denial of the realities of life. God does not solve or remove all our problems, but can help us through them. U2 has never merely painted a black picture of the world, but have stressed a salvation encompassing this.

God I believe in isn't short of cash, mister!

Lola Cashman

Unless your Lola Cashman , this story has just taken off its posted on Fox and U2Log. Remember U2 have won a legal battle against their former stylist, forcing her to hand over a cowboy hat and clothes she took from them in 1987.

Singer Bono told Dublin’s High Court that Lola Cashman acquired the items without permission during the band’s Joshua Tree tour. She insisted they were a gift to her from the star and appealed against a ruling that she must return them.

In a statement the band said they were “relieved” the legal battle is over.  “Proceedings were issued in Ireland very much as a last resort and with great reluctance,” they said.

It looks as if she has become short on cash ? Who knows maybe a come back, either way we are sure that most bands would avoid the whole hot mess. The site Rock and Roll Auction has just posted a whole mess of items that look like came from her collection. Check them out

 

Lola Cashman/BonoRosary beads

The possessions were estimated to be valued at 5,000 euros (£3,400).U2 had been fighting with Ms Cashman over the ownership of a Stetson hat, a pair of metal hooped earrings, a green sweatshirt and a pair of black trousers.

The band was also trying to retrieve a number of other items which had been seen in her flat, including a video tape and monitor, rosary beads and hundreds of photographs.

During the appeal hearing, she claimed Bono was running around in his underwear backstage at the Sun Devil Stadium in Arizona on the last night of the tour when she asked him for the hat.

The court was told he “plonked” it on her head. “Polnked on her head, hum sounds like a message to go put my hat way, not here you go mate take my hat and sell it. This is a problem with fans every item is up sale, or has some value.

 

Reference: U2LOG, Fox, BBC, Newwire, Wide Release

March U2 Reading

‘So I bought a £5 acoustic guitar from a junk-shop down Dublin quays and I started learning chords and collecting songs. There was a guy in school who had a bit of a band going. He had an electric guitar and the school gave him a room to practise in; there was a bass player and a drummer and the sound was amazing to me. I just loved it.

I don’t know what it was like objectively, four teenage schoolkids struggling to play a song, probably, but the sound of drums and guitar and bass felt primal to me. I started to see that not only did this make me feel good but you got a bit of attention if you did it, too. You could meet girls and these people were considered cool. I suppose that was when I really made my decision that this was what I wanted to do….’

This month starts our book club. We have selected U2 by U2

U2 by U2 is the first book to take a look at the career of U2 through the eyes of the band members themselves. Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton and manager Paul McGuiness take turns sharing details from the band’s meager beginnings up to the end of the How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb tour,

The highlight of this book is the photos. Designed like an oversized, multicolored and completely overblown magazine, the photos leap from the page. Some of them are familiar, like the iconic Anton Corbjin black and whites, while others are private snapshots that provide a deeper look into these people than they are willing to share with their own words.

The book is divided by each U2 album. This gets repetitive considering each album recoding process was basically the same thing. The band was under prepared and struggling, then songs began to fall into their lap. Lets start reading and sharing your comments on our forum.

Watch a video introduction to U2 by U2

U2 arrives to Ottawa museum

U2 3DTake a seat in the IMAX theatre, put on your glasses and get ready to see Bono and the boys in 3-D.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization will re-open its IMAX Theatre Monday after two months of renovations that will allow it to present 3-D films for the first time. The opening films will be U2 3D and Sharks 3D, a documentary filmed in 2005.

The makeover to the 20-year-old theatre includes a new projector,

3-D screen, a new sound system and seats equipped with cup-holders. The renovations will allow the museum to present 3-D IMAX films and traditional-format IMAX films, says theatre manager Sarah Mitchell.

U2 3D, a feature-length film released in 2008, was filmed during a 2006 concert in Buenos Aires during the band’s Vertigo tour.

The musical documentary “U2 3D,” which stitches together three performances by this Irish rock band during a recent tour of South America, is not merely a technical landmark — shot entirely in digital 3D — but also an aesthetic one, in that it’s the first Imax movie that deserves to be called a work of art.

The person most responsible for the film’s vision, Catherine Owens — one of the movie’s two directors, who is also in charge of production design for the band’s live shows — has brazenly ignored the usual stipulations about making a 3-D film.

She favors quick edits and slow dissolves rather than long takes and hard cuts. Throughout, she layers the screen with multiple planes of information: long shots and medium shots of the musicians, images of the crowd, close-up details of graphics from the big screen that the band performs in front of that make the designs abstract and merge them with the performers.

The result is not a confusing mishmash of images but a musical/experimental work that visually simulates the sensation of thinking. The very idea of self-contained screen geography is thrillingly reconceived.

The style of the film dovetails with the international, humanistic vision that U2 has presented in songs and public statements for more than 20 years. When the band performs its hit “One,” the lyrics take on new meaning.

Artificial Horizon coming very soon

Atifical Horizon U2

 Direct E-mail to the fans

Artificial Horizon is no longer on the horizon…. it’s here!The limited-edition CD, produced for our 2010 U2.com subscribers, has arrived in the warehouse and is now being shipped. How long will it take to get to you? Depends where in the world you are but we’re told ‘between 7 and 21 business days’.

Thanks for your patience.We asked Ralph Moore, Editor At Large of Mixmag, the world’s biggest selling dance magazine, to take an early listen to the new collection.He loved it - here’s some highlights of his review: ‘world beat flavour takes the song to totally different place.’(Elevation (Influx Mix) ); ‘crashing drums and jet-propelled synth’ (Get On Your Boots (Fish Out Of Water Mix); ‘makes U2 sound like another band entirely’ (City Of Blinding Lights (Hot Chip Remix).

Read Ralph’s full take on Artificial Horizon here and if you can’t wait a moment longer take a listen to excerpts of all 13 tracks in the Audio Player embedded in the storyBest wishes

The U2.Com Team

U2 loses “Worst Album”

NME AWARDS 2010 This is one of the times that Bono and the boys can be quite happy they did not win the award. It seems that the bands record “ No Line on the Horizon” was up for the “Worst Album” award at the  Shockwaves NME Awards in London this week. Luckily for them, they lost to tween group the Jonas Brothers for their record “Lines, Vines and Trying Times”.

Other nominees included Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown”, Lady GaGa’s “The Fame”, and “Humbug” by Arctic Monkeys. At least U2 weren’t nominated for “Worst Band”, which the Jonas Brothers also took home.

It’s funny to see records like “No Line”, “21st Century Breakdown”, and “The Fame” receive some positive recognition for their content (all three were Grammy nominated, with Green Day and GaGa’s records taking home wins), and then they get nominated for “Worst Album”! But clearly, they weren’t as bad as the Jonas Brothers!  Do you agree?

U2 Earns a Whopping $108M

So U2TOURFANS FILE PHOTO 2009 If money makes the world go round, then U2’s latest tour, which is dubbed “360 Degrees,” proves this saying true.

The veteran act leads Billboard’s 2010 Money Makers list, earning more than $108 million in 2009.

Bruce Springsteen is second with $57 million and Madonna follows with $47 million. AC/DC and Britney Spears round out the top 5 with $43 and $38 million, respectively.

Just in case if you wanted to know how BillBoard determains the leaders of the money train, here is what they had to say.

Billboard compiles the list from monies earned through tours, CD and digital sales, publishing royalties and more. In compiling these rankings, the editors used proprietary data from the Billboard Boxscore archives (concert grosses), Nielsen SoundScan (sales of physical albums, digital albums and digital tracks), Nielsen BDS (tethered downloads, on-demand streams and noninteractive streaming at Rhapsody, Napster, AOL and Yahoo) and Nielsen RingScan (master ringtone sales), and then applied the corresponding mechanical rates and estimates where necessary for each category to determine the industry’s top-earning artists.

The ranking covers the one-year period from the first week of 2009 (which ended Jan. 4) through the last tracking week of the calendar year ended Jan. 3. It combines an artist’s estimated take from those products with box-office results from concert performances that took place during the calendar year.

U2TOURFANS U2 File Photo 2009 Sales data tallies all available titles for each artist during the tracking period. Artists receive 100% credit for sales of a title if credited as the lead artist or as an equally billed lead artist.

In calculating an artist’s share of revenue from recorded-music sales, Billboard used a royalty rate of 20% for superstars and 16% for newer artists, minus producer fees and the usual packaging and free-goods deductions for CDs.

An artist’s take of revenue from on-demand streams was calculated based on the average wholesale rate paid to labels, while revenue from non-interactive streams was based on SoundExchange’s rate settlement with webcasters. An artist’s share of revenue from tethered downloads was calculated on an average-per-download basis. In instances when the artist is a songwriter, Billboard estimated the share of songs written by the artist.

U2TOURFANS 2009 File Photo CD mechanical royalties for artist/songwriters were calculated by assuming the standard royalty rates. For digital downloads for track, album and ringtone sales, Billboard used the current statutory rates, assuming 12 tracks per album. Billboard also subtracted a 10% manager’s fee for each revenue category. For touring revenue, we credited each artist with 34% of gross tour receipts, after the promoter’s fee, the artist manager’s fee and other costs are subtracted.

Our figures do not include revenue from merchandise sales, sponsorships, synchronization deals and songwriter performance royalties. The data used in this report was compiled and calculated by Billboard Research manager Gordon Murray, senior Billboard correspondent Ed Christman, Nielsen Music special projects manager Deborah Schwartz and Boxscore chart manager Bob Allen.