Pride (In the Name of Love)

“Pride (In the Name of Love)” The second track on the band’s 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire, it was released as the album’s lead single in September 1984. Written about Martin Luther King, Jr., the song received mixed critical reviews at the time, but it was a major commercial success for the band and has since become one of the band’s most popular songs. It was named the 378th greatest song by Rolling Stone on their list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. “Pride” appeared on the compilation The Best of 1980-1990 as the opening track, and on the 2006 compilation U218 Singles.

The song had been intended to be about Ronald Reagan’s pride in America’s military power but after the lyricist Bono had been influenced by Stephen B. Oates’s book Let The Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and a biography of Malcolm X. these caused him to ponder the different sides of the civil rights campaigns, the violent and the non-violent. In subsequent years, Bono has expressed his dissatisfaction with the lyrics, which he describes, along with another Unforgettable Fire song “Bad”, as being “left as simple sketches”. He says he was swayed by The Edge and producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, who played down the need to develop the lyrics as they thought their impressionistic nature would give added forcefulness to the song’s feeling, particularly when heard by non-English speakers.

“I looked at how glorious that song was and thought: ‘What the fuck is that all about?’ It’s just a load of vowel sounds ganging up on a great man. It is emotionally very articulate - if you didn’t speak English.”

—Bono , U2 by U2

The song contains the erroneous reference to King’s shooting as “Early morning, April 4”, when it was actually after 6 p.m. Bono acknowledges the error and in live performances he occasionally changes the lyric to “Early evening…”.

Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders sang backing vocals on the recording. She was married to Jim Kerr of Simple Minds at the time and she is credited as “Christine Kerr”

Three music videos were made. The first was shot in August by director Donald Cammell and features opening and closing shots of the Dublin Docklands area. Two versions of this video exist; black and white and colour (sepia). The band was not satisfied with Cammell’s video, and they agreed to their principal photographer, Anton Corbijn, shooting an alternative. A “one-take” video filmed in a basement near London’s Heathrow Airport, it features U2 standing sternly in front of a wall under poor lighting conditions.

The U2 camp was also unimpressed with this video and a third video is produced by compiling footage shot during The Unforgettable Fire recording sessions at Slane Castle. The original (black and white) Cammell video was primarily used in promotion

Temper Trap inspiration 4 new U2 album

In a chat online,Bono said the band was working on three albums with different musical directions.

“Something really exciting is that finally the rock band is melting into clubland and experimenting with sounds that are not normally deemed authentic for the rock band - synthesizers, experimental sounds - which you can hear in an album by the Temper Trap,” Bono said. “That’s exciting, a new hybrid.”

The Temper Trap, whose hit Sweet Disposition was compared with the sounds of U2, has been recording its second album, due for release mid-year, in LA and London.

Tebow, Bono and Faith

 ‘It’s not just something that happens when you’re at church’ – Tim Tebow 

Tim Tebow and Bono have faith in common, faith in a higher power (God). Both men use their platforms to express their views of faith in that higher power. U2 songs have expressed faith, religion, love, sex, lost and hop for many years. Bono has taken the hit many times about whether the band is a Christian band and if they are pretending to be faithful. This makes them veterans in the category of bring religion to work.  How many times have you seen Bono take a knee for the big man up stairs? Bono and Tebow share passion that which drives results. Tim has had this passion for sometime which has extended beyond football. As a Florida Gator he made the promise.

“I promise you one thing. A lot of good will come out of this. You will never see any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. You will never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season. You will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season.” Tim Tebow 

Tim has leadership qualities and because of his faith, he is able to understand how to motivate his team. Bono in the same token has leadership qualities to use his passion to make a difference in the world. 

The passion is the attraction to the Denver team today. U2 fans have passion for Bono, Larry, Adam and The Edge.  Why do we mock those with passion; it’s fear, fear that you could be doing better than me, fear that if I drive my passion that I will be held accountable for doing something with that passion.  Lets turn 2012 into passion believing in something greater than yourself is not a bad idea, heck if you had all the answers you would still need passion to share your vision.   Cheer on Tim Tebow’s passion for life and lets wish him a “Beautiful Day” next Saturday night.

Irrelevantvant U2 in 2012

Thinking about the article in Rolling Stone referencing U2 and Bono’s comments of irrelevance. The boys have been working on 3 album projects. Bono made reference to having a need to having U2 music played on radio. RS threw some cold water on that idea.

RS:” We hope they realize that radio is unlikely to put any song they ever write into heavy rotation: instead, they should just focus on making another great record, and then hit the road on an arena tour that drops some of the old warhorse in favor of great songs from the past. We fear their primary focus is competing with Lady Gaga on radio. Its a fight they’re going to lose.”

U2 music will be played on radio and other sources. Commercial radio may not be the right venue for U2; however consider SIRUSXM as a perfect new home for the boys. Bruce Springsteen has made a go for it and it has worked out well for both. The Police had a channel and the list goes on. Online music venues have worked well for bands that have a strong fan base and look to continue to supporting good music. U2 has a strong marketing machine and management team unlike other bands. Record labels have lost some of their power as band gain back the control of the direction of their music, so expect to see U2 take hold of the reins as they guide their fans thru the next 20 years.  

We invite you to share your comments on our social channels: Facebook   Twitter 

New Year, New U2 ?

The boys have been pretty busy in 2011 and with some reports coming that they have recorded some new tunes the question remains; when can we expect to see some fresh U2 tunes ? U2 has reinvent its self a come of times already. Fans flocked to the 360 tour in hopes to retain those youthful times of bliss. We start this year with a bit of directional news. U2TOURFANS will be working on a couple of big projects this year. Our goal is to be able to provide a home for all of our images, videos and continue to provide a source for U2 news and conversation. As we begin the process we will be testing out some new features and creating some opportunities for authors to share their U2 expereience. As alway we thank you for all your support and we hope that the changes we make improve your U2 experience.

Bono Busker !

Irlish Central reports that Bono the most famous busker has hit the streets again. Bono could be found on Christmas Eve in Dublin’s Grafton Street singing his heart out along with Oscar-winning musician Glen Hansard, Mundy, Declan O’Rourke and Hothouse Flowers rocker Liam O’Maonlai. Bono did the same thing last year which meant that crowds of people, warned in advance, were waiting for the superstar and his all-star entourage. In fact, numbers got so high that police were forced to ask Bono and his band to move on as fears were expressed for crowd safety.  It was all in a good cause however, as all money collected was donated to charity.

 

From the Sky Down

From The Sky Down ,would make a worthy Christmas present for a music-loving friend, family member or, even better, a treat for yourself. It ranks alongside Pearl Jam’s Twenty and Kings of Leon’s Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon as one of the top rock DVD releases of 2011.

From the Sky Down is a documentary focusing on the recording of Achtung Baby, which is seen as the crucial transition of the biggest rock band in the world.

Achtung Baby is the reason we are still here now,” says guitarist The Edge in the doccie.

The doccie is told via the band in present time with scenes in and around the recording of the album.

Achtung Baby found the band in a rather bloated position. With 1987’s  The Joshua Tree U2 went from just an Irish alternative rock group to being the biggest band in the US. The media and fan worship that borders on idolatry, and comes with making it big in in the US, went to their heads. They were absorbed in the consumerism and fast-paced materialism that comes with that country’s culture, which resulted in the terrible Rattle and Hum album. This was a group that had lost their identity as a band and as individuals.

The opening lines of the doccie begin with the words: “They say that a band is a clan. You may not be related, but you have pledged loyalty to each other.”

It then goes on to show band members Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge and Larry Mullins jr waiting to go on stage at Glastonbury. (Of course they have to do it in slow motion, it being U2 and all.)

The narrative includes earlier footage of the band and shows exactly how much creative input Daniel Lanoi and Brian Eno, in particular, had on their creativity both in their music and emotional well-being. In fact, from the very beginning one of the secrets of the band’s success was the number of super-talented and intelligent people who surrounded them.

Bono initially comes across as a pretentious twat. But as the doccie evolves into a musical exploration you remember that he is essentially a musician, and a good one at that.

The doccie strips away all that bloated bull U2 are known for, and just as what Achtung Baby did for them then, this DVD brings out the real musician in each of them.

In parts the explanations are musically technical, but user-friendly enough that the average fan won’t get bored.

The story is told with frank honesty from all four members’s perspectives.

When they decided to record in Hansa, Germany, it was 1990, just after the Berlin Wall had been pulled down. But, say the band, it was a very dark time for them. They couldn’t find their groove. The breakthrough finally came when Bono found the chords to the song One. The rest of the creative process then flowed organically.

But what was interesting is that even though they had a straight-up rock sound with no special effects, their ensuing tour, ZooTV, was anything but.

“If we’re accused of megalomania then let’s do something to enhance it,” says The Edge. “Let’s give them rock star.”

Enter The Fly with his Lou Reid glasses, Jim Morrison leathers and Elvis Presley attitude. Throughout the tour U2 took on the role of the media, the concepts of truth and democracy, and Bono as we know him was born.

The question is: was Achtung Baby the way back to the roots of U2, or the beginning of a bigger and more bloated U2?

U2: From The Sky Down is available online

Imelda and Bono

Looking like an Old Testament preacher on a festive jolly, Guggi was sitting next to me on Friday night at The 02 in Dublin. The artist smiled quixotically at me when I told him what was about to happen next was the worst-kept secret in Ireland.

Then, seconds later, Guggi’s best friend, a messianic fella by the name of Bono, joined headliner Imelda May and her band onstage for an audacious version of Desire by his band U2 (the rumour that Larry Mullen was to play drums proved unfounded).

The 12,000 crowd went mental. Harry Crosbie, who owns the venue, had told me earlier in the bar that tonight “we would be witnessing a magical piece of rock ‘n’ roll history — it was 23 years ago that U2 filmed music for the movie Desire in this building”.

When Bono and Imelda did another duet together — a suitably festive and out-of-kilter version of Phil Spector’s Christmas: Baby Please Come Home — everyone, including Guggi beside me and doubtless Harry elsewhere, was up on their feet dancing the recession away.

But this was Imelda May’s night. It is some achievement that the beautiful belle from the Liberties in Dublin sold out Friday and again last night at the country’s biggest venue. Wearing a tight-fitting silver dress that wouldn’t have looked out of place on Marilyn Monroe, she held the audience in thrall for a good two hours with her sassy blend of retro cool, surf guitars and rockabilly with a razor’s edge.

The music throughout, courtesy of Imelda’s bewitching voice, was evocative of what you’d hear in a David Lynch film. I could see why Rolling Stone described her as exuding “the dangerous allure of a Fifties pulp pin-up, the kind with race-car red lips and a dagger in her boot”.

A bluesy rendition of Spoonful by the Chicago bluesman Hubert Sumlin (who only died on December 4) was followed by Psycho, Tear It Up and Big Bad Handsome Man, with her own big bad handsome man, husband Darrel Higham, on guitar beside her.

“The music he plays, the way he moves me and sways,” she sang. “Rocks me to the core/When he sings in my ear/He makes me shiver and leer/Leaves me wanting more and more.”

It was the sentiment of the audience watching her perform, too. She has bona fide star quality; the authenticity of her music emphasises that star quality.

Ireland’s First Lady of Rockabilly isn’t anything you could remotely call manufactured. She isn’t pretending to be Wanda Jackson or Patsy Cline or Billie Holiday. She only knows how to be one thing and that’s herself.

She charms the crowd almost as much with her raw Dublin girl lingo as she does with her songs that have charmed everyone from Jools Holland to Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck to Van Morrison.

Imelda will be making steps (with a dagger in her boot or not) to the Forum in Waterford tomorrow, the INEC in Killarney on Thursday and the Big Top in Limerick on Friday.

Impossibly hip Irish band The Last Tycoon are the (very) special guests on the last two shows.

“We’re delighted to be asked to open for Imelda again,” Tycoons frontman Stephen Fanning told me — he and his band flew specially from their base in Berlin for the gigs.

“We played with her in Berlin last May and after seeing us, she invited us on the rest of her German tour, which was amazing. She’s been really supportive of us and her fans were great to us as well,” Stephen said, before adding that the hotly tipped group have their own headline show in the Workman’s Club in Dublin on December 28 with a new album on the way in 2012.

Now that will be mayhem.

- Barry Egan