Its become startlingly stylish to hate U2--but I dont. Ive been with them since I saw them perform I Will Follow live at Red Rocks on a half-hour video show on TV after school (since we didnt have cable or MTV). If youre above a certain age, the fervor about this raw, hungry group that wanted to make their mark on the world didnt speak to you thirty years ago, and it still doesnt. In fact, it perplexes you, and you hold it up to some other superior standard from your own youth. If youre below a certain age, the cocktail of raw sincerity, veiled (*gasp*) Christianity, tinted glasses and humanitarian causes smacks of a self-righteousness that takes itself too seriously--at best entirely uncool; at worst perversely out of step with the who gives a #$%^? cynicism of grunge culture and the ephemera of its many successors. For me, U2 were my first object lesson in popular culture that art could be more than about mere entertainment. So, while much of the rest of culture has grown up and beyond the notion that art could be about something grand--something more than the experience of its composite sonic materials--I choose to be naive, like U2. I dont think Ill ever give up trying to make something grander out of the strains beneath the sounds of my music.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 02:49:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015