Bono on cover of 'The Word'

[Jim]

Just got my early subscriber copy of the next Word magazine. Bono's on the cover. No interview, just different people giving different perspectives of him. Some good, some bad, some ugly I'm afriad. nothing we haven't head before though (the tax, the hat etc).

Overall a disappointing article from a usually great magazine.

 

[MikeyJB]

I vowed never to read Word again after that scandulously shite Morrissey article from a few months back. Trouble-making, deceitful rag.

I can't wait for this tour to start just so it can shut wankers up about tax and hats and just be in awe of what we all know is gonna be one of the greatest rock shows in a long time, from a cracking live band doing what they do best. Amen

 

[last unicorn]

They put Bono on the cover to write a crap article about him?

It says: Bono on trial, the Word investigates.

Um, ok.

 

[BVS]

I've never heard of 'World' but it sounds like a crap magazine if they actually used the hat story... that rumor has been squashed a hundred times.

 

[A stor]

I've never heard of the magazine either? Is it religious based?

A few years ago, Bono was in the Catholic Review (Baltimore edition) and they had a very nice article about him.

 

[Galeongirl]

Never heard of the magazine.

 

[last unicorn]

No, it's WORD. It's a British music magazine:

Word Magazine

 

[Scorpionac]

Aw, I thought maybe the band had suddenly covered The Beatles' "The Word". Darn.

 

[MikeyJB]

Its just so pathetic that they use his image as their front cover to draw the fans in and buy it in droves (in the same pathetic way that certain UK mags seem to have Led Zep, Pink Floyd and The Who on a constant rotating cover basis) and then slag him off in it.

Give the guy a break and let the band's tour speak for itself.

 

[BVS]

No, it's WORD. It's a British music magazine:

Word Magazine

Whoops...

Never heard of that one either... sounds like a fine piece of journalism.

 

[Jim]

I think The Word see themselves as the thinking man's Q for a maturer audience.. it's generally pretty good but sometimes way off the mark. I like both magazines though.

It's not all negative but when you get 7 writers to give their take on Bono you're going to get a mixed bag.

 

[BVS]

I think The Word see themselves as the thinking man's Q for a maturer audience.. it's generally pretty good but sometimes way off the mark. I like both magazines though.

It's not all negative but when you get 7 writers to give their take on Bono you're going to get a mixed bag.

True, but the hat story? That's just shit journalism.

 

[Jim]

^ yep it's lazy.

 

[A stor]

Thanks LU, for the link. Goodness, just the caption, next to Bono's picture, try's to make him out to be, a horrible person. As if, Bono were some sort of criminal.

I wouldn't want to read the article, either.

 

[Iskra]

If the hat story is all they've got on the man after 30 years in the biz - big deal.
And I'm pretty sure he's done more than enough to balance it out.

 

[A stor]

I agree

 

[BonoFox1]

There was a Work issue with The Edge on the cover around 2004 and it was a good article great pictures of The Edge-though I did find the magazine kind of cheap and grammer errors

 

[BonoFox1]

Just got my early subscriber copy of the next Word magazine. Bono's on the cover. No interview, just different people giving different perspectives of him. Some good, some bad, some ugly I'm afriad. nothing we haven't head before though (the tax, the hat etc).

Overall a disappointing article from a usually great magazine.

 

[last unicorn]

If the hat story is all they've got on the man after 30 years in the biz - big deal.
And I'm pretty sure he's done more than enough to balance it out.

Yes, that's true. It actually speaks for Bono that certain media has to take the same lame story for years because they cannot find much other stuff to bring up against him.

If I had enough money I'd propably let my favourite teddy bear flown in to wherever I am.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

I haven't seen the article, but Word is usually a stellar magazine. It does definitely skew toward an older market, but is way better than most (all?) of the larger music mags.

 

[JCOSTER]

If the hat story is all they've got on the man after 30 years in the biz - big deal.
And I'm pretty sure he's done more than enough to balance it out.

OMG, give it a rest already with the hat story. He probably doesn't know he's on the cover.

 

[A stor]

I googled Word Magazine UK and they had people respond to "Bono's stupid sunglasses."

Not what I would think, would appeal to a mature reader. If Bono wants to wear sunglasses, that's fine. For whatever reason. It's a bit mean spirited to make fun of him.

 

[MikeyJB]

I haven't seen the article, but Word is usually a stellar magazine. It does definitely skew toward an older market, but is way better than most (all?) of the larger music mags.

You have to be joking. Its far worse than Q or Uncut magazine. Maybe I'm just biased because I was so pissed off with their Morrissey article that they later had to retract. But I since vowed never to read it, and this just supports it. Who the fuck cares about his sunglasses?? P Diddy, Jay-Z, Liam Gallagher, Marilyn Manson, Johnny Marr are all music stars you see all the time wearing sunglasses. Get a fucking life!

 

[MikeyJB]

I haven't seen the article, but Word is usually a stellar magazine. It does definitely skew toward an older market, but is way better than most (all?) of the larger music mags.

You have to be joking. Its far worse than Q or Uncut magazine. Maybe I'm just biased because I was so pissed off with their Morrissey article that they later had to retract. But I since vowed never to read it, and this just supports it. Who the fuck cares about his sunglasses?? P Diddy, Jay-Z, Liam Gallagher, Marilyn Manson, Johnny Marr are music stars you see all the time wearing sunglasses. Get a fucking life!

Edit: sorry for doublepost

 

[PookaMacP]

I haven't seen the article, but Word is usually a stellar magazine. It does definitely skew toward an older market, but is way better than most (all?) of the larger music mags.

My sentiments exactly. Its reviews, articles, in fact pretty much everything about it is better than the competition. Uncut used to be good, but now it's just, well, boring really. And to me the Word is actually, wait for it, an interesting read in which they don't necessarily have to toe a party line (see Q). Hence Bono 'on trial'. I've never wished to read something that I'll always agree with, just something that makes me think, so am intrigued to see how they handle a Bono story.

For the record, The Word's weekly podcasts are also excellent and well worth the listen.

 

[Salome]

I love The Word
The Word hates U2
at least they hate just about all U2 have ever done, not just certain areas

I'm a bit surprised they wasted pages to point this out

 

[MikeyJB]

I'm a bit surprised they wasted pages to point this out

And yet used him on the front cover in order to boost sales figures. Hypocrites.

 

[PookaMacP]

I love The Word
The Word hates U2
at least they hate just about all U2 have ever done, not just certain areas

I'm a bit surprised they wasted pages to point this out

I'm not so sure about this. I've heard Mark Ellen on the podcast talking about how he likes U2 - especially latter-day U2 - and the review of NLOTH was quite good as well. It's only Dave Quantick - who also writes for a few other magazines - that really has something against them; for what reason I don't know.

And yet used him on the front cover in order to boost sales figures. Hypocrites.

I have no idea how that is hypocritical. It would be hypocritical if they said that Bono gets too much coverage and too many cover stories and ran with that as the main story inside, but to include a picture of him on the front and have a debate about the man inside certainly doesn't strike me as being hypocritical.

 

[MikeyJB]

I have no idea how that is hypocritical. It would be hypocritical if they said that Bono gets too much coverage and too many cover stories and ran with that as the main story inside, but to include a picture of him on the front and have a debate about the man inside certainly doesn't strike me as being hypocritical.

Ok well if you insist on splitting hairs - a portion of the criticism may be that Bono 'gets too much coverage and there are too many cover stories on him'. Look at the BBC backlash. We've not seen the specific qualms they have so we can't confirm nor deny that.

Maybe hypocritical was the wrong term.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Reliable Neil McCormick wrote a good backlash against the article.

Bono - a case for the defence ? Neil McCormick

I haven't read the Word article myself, so I won't say anything, although my understanding is that, if nothing else, it's just not very good journalism. Also, the cover is fucking hilarious, it makes him look like the biggest cold-hearted bastard-arsehole of all time. I'm sure that if I sent in my proposed cover on time, they wouldn't have hesitated using it.