Bully Magazine: U2: Fighting the Good Fight or Hocking Their Wares?

[Niamh_Saoirse]

All I have to say is


http://www.bullymag.com/3.23.03/u2-032303.asp


By Ken Wohlrob
When we first published our article "One More Reason To Hate U2: Corporate Sellouts", we were inundated with hate mail. It seems U2 fans were severely upset that we would dare to suggest that the incredibly sacrosanct gentlemen of U2 could do anything that was not honorable. We received wonderful comments like, "U2 aren't sellouts, people just like them, which is what you and your dickhead staff doesn't recognize;" or our favorite, "Until then, shut the hell up, stop shitting on what millions adore and keep your petty insults and nonsensical opinions to yourself."

One of the chief defenses the U2 fans threw at us was that we should focus less on the band's business dealings and more on their wonderful humanitarian deeds. "And since Bono is a great celebrity, he chooses to use it for good instead of evil. BULLY those who take it for granted and spend all their cash on dope." One U2 fan even challenged us to "do your research and find out the truth before you open your mouths."


We do understand the U2 fans' need for us to back up our charges that U2 are somewhat less than the honorable image they project for themselves. Since we already tackled the corporate sellout issue in our original article, we felt it would be good to address another little problem with U2's image - that Bono and U2 are humanitarians that fight the good fight for social and political causes.

Bono's going to Africa to get debt relief for third world countries! U2 are playing a protest concert in England to protest the building of a nuclear waste facility! The buncombe builds up to such a level that articles such as this worthy winner of our Horseshit in Journalism Award dare to ask "Can Bono Save the World?".

Strangely enough, have you ever noticed that U2's cause-related meanderings always tend to happen whenever they have an album, video, or tour to promote? It seems like a selective charity that has two goals - to raise issue awareness (something we acknowledge U2 does accomplish) and to sell U2 albums, videos, and concert tickets.

While we applaud the band's desire to "raise awareness" about issues, the simple fact is that raising awareness is completely different from actually "doing." The hero worship should be reserved for people who actually enact change and get their hands dirty, such as Ed Rosenthal or Valerie Corral. The physicians who founded Doctors Without Borders are admirable chaps because they work to eliminate AIDS every single day in Africa, not when they are out on tour or promoting an album. Below is a table summarizing many of U2's efforts on behalf of causes and the promotional activities that usually coincided with these efforts. It paints quite an interesting picture and we're sure it will generate a further load of hate mail from U2 fans, even if it is true.



( Check link to see the rest of the article)

 

[MrBrau1]

Why would any self respecting U2 fan even bother to write to these guys? What is Bully magazine anyway? A Henry Rollins website? My bowel movement tomorrow morning is more important.

 

[Niamh_Saoirse]

Why would any self respecting U2 fan even bother to write to these guys? What is Bully magazine anyway? A Henry Rollins website? My bowel movement tomorrow morning is more important.

I have no idea. It?s the first time I see this so called magazine. I found it online when i was looking for U2 articles.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

...

That's all I'm going to say to that.

Angela

 

[JOFO]

The funny thing is that Bono has been doing all his Africa work in the last 2 years, and there is no album to promote.

 

[Swan269]

So.......in order for U2 to do any good, you either stop your whole life and work on the charity and make no music what so ever or just pump out albums and act like robots. I can't stand people who are all or nothing.....they need to get a life! ( he is intitled to his opinion but come on........just listen to the music and shut the hell up)

I am now going to blast bass trap or endless deep

 

[popacrobat]

miss cleo makes more sense than holmes

 

[Axver]

The funny thing is that Bono has been doing all his Africa work in the last 2 years, and there is no album to promote.

That's exactly what I was going to say. The idiot who wrote that article isn't worth the time of day.

 

[jick]

While it was indeed a well-written and well-researched article, there are some items they failed to mention or must have overlooked. U2's Achtung Baby tapes were stolen and bootlegged - perfect way to add advance hype to the new album - just the same way snippets of rough versions of Wake Up Dead Man and Discotheque were allegedly leaked out to the net just in time for POP.

By the time ATYCLB was coming around, U2 hit their stride already with Bono's famous "lost laptop" stunt that gave the band great publicity, gave the public awareness that U2 were working on an album, and made Bono look like some hero to the finder of the "lost" laptop.

But then Bono made his cheesiest and most lame and most obviously planted publicity stunt when he cried foul because a British DJ played a demo version of Electrical Storm right around the time the Best Of 1990-2000 was to be released. He said he gave the demo tape to the DJ as a "gift" and not to be played on the radio! Come on! Giving the DJ a demo version of your soon-to-be-released single, then pretending to cry foul when it is played. How pathetic and fake and pretentious.

I am now waiting with baited breath on what new publicity stunts U2 will pull off to promote the album. I wonder what U2 will so next, I just hope what they do won't be lame and obvious but cleverly disguised as sincere when in fact it will be scripted.

Cheers,

J

 

[U2girl]

If you read reader mail, you'll notice how "cleverly" the site deals with the many contra letters by fans. Insults mixed with mocking.


Leaking material before it's finished isn't necessarily good as it rushes the band, and increases the chance for mistakes. Also, their label will not be happy about it so I doubt U2 really had anything to do with the leaks. (remember how strict the label was regarding leaking of soundboard recordings)

I believe Bono did really lose his laptop - as for the demo of ES I don't know. Yes it was a DJ, but also it was a gift to a friend - we don't know what the circumstances were and whether the DJ got the approval to play it in public - probably not, as we know the label stopped the airplay of that demo very quickly.

 

[Mullen-Girl]

 

[jick]

If you read reader mail, you'll notice how "cleverly" the site deals with the many contra letters by fans. Insults mixed with mocking.


Leaking material before it's finished isn't necessarily good as it rushes the band, and increases the chance for mistakes. Also, their label will not be happy about it so I doubt U2 really had anything to do with the leaks. (remember how strict the label was regarding leaking of soundboard recordings)

I believe Bono did really lose his laptop - as for the demo of ES I don't know. Yes it was a DJ, but also it was a gift to a friend - we don't know what the circumstances were and whether the DJ got the approval to play it in public - probably not, as we know the label stopped the airplay of that demo very quickly.

To believe that all these leaks and publicity stunts throughout the years were accidents and unintentional is a big slap in the face to U2.

First, it is saying that U2 are indeed careless and unprofessional and extremely negligent to allow leaks. It is also saying Bono doesn't care that much about his songwriting because he misplaces or loses his laptop. The laptop is where he writes, that is his tools of the trade. It's almost like comparing Bono to a professional basketball player going to a game forgetting to wear his shoes! Bono would never lose his laptop.

Second, it is also a blatant insult to U2's shrewd marketing strategies if you'd say all these events were actually accidents. U2 have planned long and hard how to "plant" incidents and accidents right around the time when the timing is perfect so they will get the maximum publicity mileage and maximum promotion for their new album. To be around and relevant for this long a time is a tribute to the marketing moguls and image branding management team and spin doctors of U2.

To think otherwise would be to call U2 a bunch of careless slackers who have a penchant for getting their things stolen or flat-out losing them. So back to the article, I believe U2 are geniuses in hocking their wares. No other band comes close, and this is one of the reasons I love U2 so much.

Cheers,

J

 

[U2girl]

I didn't say everything was an accident, I said laptop may have been one and we'll never know the full story on ES demo. The label's reaction to that demo being played in public seems to clash with the idea it was deliberate. (work against the very rules of the trade? no musician in general lets out any of his work out like that, especially not until it's finished)

No one is perfect, and they aren't either - it is possible that songs leak without them knowing/allowing. It doesn't mean they're careless and unprofessional (they are known to be exact opposite), it just happened.

Salome sessions were not only leaked without label/band allowing, they were stolen. Discotheque leak came online, also most likely without them consenting, and if I'm not mistaken it "helped" into them releasing the album early. (we all know what happened after that) ATYCLB snippets also were not intentional.

Laptop is another thing. I find it unlikely that he'd deliberatly misplaced it just so someone would "find" it. What if it would never be returned, or all the contents would be erased? (it wouldn't be the first time either, he also lost lyrics to October album)

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i wish this article were true... if bono only did his humanitarian efforts to promote a new album, then of course the past 3 years he would have been bunkered down in the studio as opposed to walking through the african veldt, thus delaying the album that the africa stuff is supposed to be promoting...

 

[MrBrau1]

The really funny part is they're WRONG on so many fronts.

So Bono's trip to Africa in May 02 was to promote a DVD which was released 6 months prior? Right.

They ignore the Conspiracy Of Hope tour of 1986, when U2 played and nothing was released by the band.

1990, U2 pay a $25,000 fine for a Dublin Drugstore which was caught selling condoms. No album since 1988, and none until late 1991.

 

[U2Kitten]

LOL @ last 2 posts. All that proves is that these "Bully" assholes don't know what the they're talking about

 

[Bono's shades]

I'm willing to bet these guys got plenty of intelligent and articulate rebuttals to their first article bashing U2, but of course they only quoted the angry and irritational ones so they can paint all U2 fans as well as the band in the worst light possible.

 

[Katey]

Well if this has all been a well though out marketing ply for Bono this Aids and Africa thing I will be the first with egg on my face.. The good news is there is not a hope in haiti of that happening.
You can say it six ways from Sunday and everyone will still be looking for an angle on why Bono does what he does. Eventually you just turn a deaf ear and say you know what .. what the bloody hell have you done today to make the world a better place.. I think it's jealousy , I think it's small man syndrome and I think it in general a small pityful person that critizizes the motives of Bono and his work on the HIV AIDS/ Crisis and Debt Trade issues in Africa..
Bono is first to say it shouldnt be him doing this.. he does it anyways not because he is a rockstar who wants attention for himself but because he can use his rockstar to draw attention to what a true emergency this is.. he does it becasue he is the finest example of a humanitarian .. he is last to take credit and the first to praise the frontline workers who deal with Aids everyday.. When there was a need Bono stepped up to the plate .. now people are throwing pitches at his head.. Guess I am just the umpire who kicks the pitcher out of the game for bad form.. shame on them .. I think they should take any money they make off that issue of the magazine and send to the orphanges in Africa .

Notice how Bono is a bigger man then all this critisism you don't seem him knocking the people down who sit at there computers write upsurd stories and do nothing but wonder why anyone would try and save the world..

 

[MrBrau1]

Ya know what? Fuck those guys.

 

[Sue DeNym]

Ya know what? Fuck those guys.

They're not my type.

Nobody can please everybody. Even Jesus had critics, people who criticized His actions and mocked His words.

These guys are just another in the long line of naysayers. Publish a magazine nobody has ever heard of (and naming it "Bully" kind of tells you what mindset these folks have) and use it to shoot your mouth off. Been there, seen that. Wake me when you're through.

For what it's worth, I am well aware that Bono and the boyz are not angels. They're human, they say and do stupid things, they sin, they stumble. But for all their faults, they are at least trying to make a positive difference in this world. Can their critics say the same thing?

 

[jick]

Leave the critics alone, let them do what they want. It doesn't matter to us U2 fans anyway. In Bono's words "screw them I say." As long as all the actions U2 does (publicity stunts, Africa work, etc) will help boost the band's popularity and profit-making in one way or the other, I am all for it because that is what will drive the band to make more music which is really only the bottom line of U2 anyway.

Cheers,

J

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Notice how Bono is a bigger man then all this critisism you don't seem him knocking the people down who sit at there computers write upsurd stories and do nothing but wonder why anyone would try and save the world..

Exactly. Gotta give him credit for that-a sign of his maturity.

And Sue DeNym-.

Angela