Is Bono overexposed in the media?

[Zoots]

I'll give Music Rising the benefit of the doubt. After if you are a musician who has lost his/her home, you'll need to start working again to help yourself out. Something about not giving men fish but teaching them how to fish.

 

[DreamOutLoud13]

The main thing I get frustrated with is when the media is like "Bono and U2" or whatever...I want to say Bono is a MEMBER OF U2 he is not seperate! They're 4 buddies in a band TOGETHER Bono is not a stand alone figure.

I'm sick of it too, and my mother is guilty of it, in an even worse way: "Hey Chass, can we listen to that one Bono song?"

But last night, in the build up before the performance, the ESPN guys said "Bono and The Edge and U2", which was a bit different.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I have heard a lot of comments (not as much here) that giving away instruments is not important and that rebuilding the Superdome is not important either, and that everyone should focus on food and shelter. But anyone who says that stuff does not understand New Orleans. Culture means a lot to them. They are proud of their musical history, they love their football team (even showing up with bags over their heads when they were the worst team in the NFL), they have the creole/cajun cuisine that is only found there, they regularly go to the French Quarter to party while their city floods (small floods, not Katrina). Just giving them back their homes and giving them food is great and all, but you can have those things in other cities. If we revitalize the city but not the culture, is it even worth it? I think Edge is doing something important even if many do not realize it.

Very well said. And of course one can argue that all the money spent on the Superdome should have gone to citizens, but in so many articles and interviews that's just what people wanted, the Superdome. It's symbolic for them, just like the music and the instruments are.

And I for one would never judge what those people should do, what they need, and what they should or shouldn't do for themelves. Speaking for myself, I would walk a mile in their shoes before I'd ever do that. It's so easy to judge when you've never had your whole life destroyed by a hurricane like Katrina. Read about the suicide rates there.

 

[thankyou]

I have heard a lot of comments (not as much here) that giving away instruments is not important and that rebuilding the Superdome is not important either, and that everyone should focus on food and shelter. But anyone who says that stuff does not understand New Orleans. Culture means a lot to them. They are proud of their musical history, they love their football team (even showing up with bags over their heads when they were the worst team in the NFL), they have the creole/cajun cuisine that is only found there, they regularly go to the French Quarter to party while their city floods (small floods, not Katrina). Just giving them back their homes and giving them food is great and all, but you can have those things in other cities. If we revitalize the city but not the culture, is it even worth it? I think Edge is doing something important even if many do not realize it.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Most people I know who don't like U2, when pressed, will eventually put it all down to Bono. He's not overexposed in a Paris Hilton way, but I do think he has become an entity on his own that is just as large or larger even than U2 itself. This to me is not a problem until it effects U2. If U2 simply become the backing band to Bono's crusades, either in public perception or in reality, that's when it's gone too far.

 

[VertigoGal]

yeah he is- and like other people said, it's where all the anti-Bono sentiment comes from.

and honestly when I heard Bono crooning "House of the Rising Sun" from the TV in the other room last night, I felt a little bit of anti-Bono sentiment myself.

 

[Chizip]

i understand music is a huge part of the new orleans culture, and its vitally important to get it back. but imo there are more vital issues that need to be dealt with first. schools still dont have enough books and are not even sanitary:

"We should not have to spend our day in an unsanitary school," says Josephine Bingler, 13, one of the four kids who flew up from the Big Easy, "or have to use the bathroom with no tissue, no soap, and no doors on the stall. We've got signs in our bathrooms that read 'Don't Forget to Wash.' How can we wash when there is no soap and the water from the fountain is brown?"

bringing them insturments is great, but drinkable water seems like it would be nice too. its almost like slapping a fresh coat of paint on a house before fixing the foundation.

 

[Yahweh]

Face it most people sit on their ass and like to be an armchair critic for anybody that has an opinion or has face in the world and the power to do something. The people that dont like anybody but politicians doing political things need to get out of the 1950s and get into the 2000s.

Maybe these same people should ask the musicians that have actually benefited from Music Rising or the many African communities that have benefited from Bono and Edges involvement before they make such short sighted statements just because they dont want to leave their little bubble and pretend everything is OK just because they are willing to ignore it.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Watching him at the start of City of Blinding Lights live makes me cringe.

 

[Utoo]

and honestly when I heard Bono crooning "House of the Rising Sun" from the TV in the other room last night, I felt a little bit of anti-Bono sentiment myself.

You mean anti-Billie Joe sentiment.......it wasn't Bono who sang that.

 

[europop2005]

as a musician but more as a human being i recognize what the Edge is doing and as long as the people that his program has touched have his name in their heads thats what matters. Not everybody is a Zooropean..and not everyone has to be, but as long as I myself can recognize and admire a single person I don't care what the world outside or what the media thinks. The point is there are always critics and haters...and behind that is a worldwide group of U2 fans who still want to sell out all their concerts and praise them for touching their lives. So in my heart, and my chords, I still have Bono Edge Adam and Larry on my mind as my inspiration for doing what I do and giving me the inspiration to find my talent and find my calling.

 

[corianderstem]

I see nothing wrong with having an organization designed to give specific things. What's the alternative? Donations pour in to some sort of general fund and who decides what it gets spent on?

Sometimes I'd rather give my money to an organization where I know what the money will be going for. I'd be pissed if I found out my donations to help Katrina victims went into rebuilding a sports arena.

But anyway. I do not see any reason to knock any organization or person who is honestly working to help someone else, no matter how specific or small that help may be.

 

[VertigoGal]

You mean anti-Billie Joe sentiment.......it wasn't Bono who sang that.

as I said, I wasn't watching it I only heard it and assumed

anti-Billie Joe sentiment indeed.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

When you're as fat as Bono, it's no wonder that you get overexposed in the media.

lmfao!


and I have no anti Billie Joe sentiment.

 

[cobl04]

Come on, folks, the lead singer in any band is the one who gets all the press. No one knows who the rest of the band is unless you're into music, and you barely know the drummer & bassist unless you're into the band. If the band is really famous, you know the singer & the lead guitar. I bet there are dozens of people on here who can't tell me who the rest of the Rolling Stones are besides Mick & Keith. Besides Steven Tyler, who else is in Aerosmith? Sure, a bunch of us know--but we're all on a band forum. Regular old people who don't give a rat's ass about music can't tell you. How many people in the world can really tell you who on earth Larry Mullen Junior & Adam Clayton are?

To the world, the lead singer is the figurehead of the band.


All that said, I think that U2 in general is a bit overexposed at the moment.

When I first joined this forum, Live8 was just finished, and I realised that Larry was the drummer, not the bass guiatrist, and vice versa with Adam.

 

[Utoo]

anti-Billie Joe sentiment indeed.

 

[Utoo]

When I first joined this forum, Live8 was just finished, and I realised that Larry was the drummer, not the bass guiatrist, and vice versa with Adam.

that's awesome!

 

[~BrightestStar~]

The main thing I get frustrated with is when the media is like "Bono and U2" or whatever...I want to say Bono is a MEMBER OF U2 he is not seperate! They're 4 buddies in a band TOGETHER Bono is not a stand alone figure.

I laughed last night when they said....
"Bono, The Edge, and U2 will be here!"