Bono/Larry/Letterman/1997

[The_acrobat]

U2 on Letterman 1997 - Bono & Larry Mullen - YouTube

Here's an awkward interview in 1997 of Bono and Larry on Letterman. Interview only. Any idea why the band didn't just play on Letterman? They did nothing to promote Pop at all. You'd think that after the POP album wasn't selling as well, they'd have hit the TV promotion a little bit. Letterman was probably the biggest late night show on television at the time. I'd think the band would've just played, as they were all in New York anyway, instead of just having this interview of standard generic late 90s era responses.

 

[Nick66]

They did nothing to promote Pop at all.

You mean, besides the K-Mart roll-out, the videos, the six international singles (the most for any U2 album, ever), the countless media appearances, the one-hour ABC Network primetime special, the PopHeart Live EP, and what was at the time one of the expensive and ambitious world tours in rock history?

Yeah, I'm sure playing on Letterman (who was #2 at the time) would have made that records fortunes much better.

After all, look what being on Dave's show 5x for a week straight did for NLOTH...

 

[The Panther]

Isn't this the one where Bono keeps going on about how they want to give rock'n'roll a kick up the arse, or words to that effect?

If it had been 1986, Letterman would have said: "Who needs a kick up the arse...?"

 

[The_acrobat]

You mean, besides the K-Mart roll-out, the videos, the six international singles (the most for any U2 album, ever), the countless media appearances, the one-hour ABC Network primetime special, the PopHeart Live EP, and what was at the time one of the expensive and ambitious world tours in rock history?

Yeah, I'm sure playing on Letterman (who was #2 at the time) would have made that records fortunes much better.

After all, look what being on Dave's show 5x for a week straight did for NLOTH...

Playing on there 5x was a huge mistake, although I certainly enjoyed it! The ABC special was on a Saturday night at like 8pm, of course it's ratings were horrible. The K-Mart special was stupid and doesn't get enough credit for the damage it did to U2's reputation at the time (although it did give us a live version of Holy Joe). As far as the singles (in the US), Discotheque was popular for about 2 weeks, Staring at the sun had a short run, and the rest of the singles did absolutely nothing. IGWSHA was on the City of Angels soundtrack, which was HUGE, but because of "Iris".

Maybe U2 should have gone on Letterman and played "Gone" or "SATS", to show that they in fact didn't "SUCK", which was the public opinion at the time.

 

[Globo14]

You mean, besides the K-Mart roll-out, the videos, the six international singles (the most for any U2 album, ever), the countless media appearances, the one-hour ABC Network primetime special, the PopHeart Live EP, and what was at the time one of the expensive and ambitious world tours in rock history?

Yeah, I'm sure playing on Letterman (who was #2 at the time) would have made that records fortunes much better.

After all, look what being on Dave's show 5x for a week straight did for NLOTH...

I'm pretty sure the OP was referring to only this interview.

 

[Tinaphps]

If it had been 1986, Letterman would have said: "Who needs a kick up the arse...?"