follower
Refugee
Thanks to a very nice friend from the other side of the world I finally got the book Race of Angels The Genesis of U2, by John Waters, which I?m currently reading. What a great book! Highly recommended.
So...in the end of chapter thirteen named It Is October over all Our Lives, I found this interesting part I?ll transcribe below for you to read and maybe discuss. It?s about what the author calls the U2 paradox. Very interesting theory IMO.
The Edge goes a little further, to the heart of the U2 paradox. You might say that the seeds of the later music were contained in the make-up of the band from the beginning. The U2 mix of personalities ensured that nothing was given, nothing could be taken for granted or accepted at face value. The band?s range of identities always made them question everything. Adam?s rock?n?roll agnosticism kept the others as safe from fossilising as their faith kept him from complete unbelief. The two forces worked in a creative symbiosis which ended up as the gritty spirit of Achtung Baby. If they had been four straight Irishmen, they might have ended up as a rhythm?n?blues quartet; if four Christians, as Cliff Richard?s backing band. Their differences made them whole.
"That?s a very good theory", enthuses The Edge. "Yeah, I?m sure. I mean it was critical that Adam did not believe the same things that we did. So that the paths that we took were...It?s true. I?ve never thought about that. I would agree."
That Achtung Baby might never have happened if there had been four Christians instead of three?
"Yeah. Probably it would never happened."
That?s it. Thoughts?
So...in the end of chapter thirteen named It Is October over all Our Lives, I found this interesting part I?ll transcribe below for you to read and maybe discuss. It?s about what the author calls the U2 paradox. Very interesting theory IMO.
The Edge goes a little further, to the heart of the U2 paradox. You might say that the seeds of the later music were contained in the make-up of the band from the beginning. The U2 mix of personalities ensured that nothing was given, nothing could be taken for granted or accepted at face value. The band?s range of identities always made them question everything. Adam?s rock?n?roll agnosticism kept the others as safe from fossilising as their faith kept him from complete unbelief. The two forces worked in a creative symbiosis which ended up as the gritty spirit of Achtung Baby. If they had been four straight Irishmen, they might have ended up as a rhythm?n?blues quartet; if four Christians, as Cliff Richard?s backing band. Their differences made them whole.
"That?s a very good theory", enthuses The Edge. "Yeah, I?m sure. I mean it was critical that Adam did not believe the same things that we did. So that the paths that we took were...It?s true. I?ve never thought about that. I would agree."
That Achtung Baby might never have happened if there had been four Christians instead of three?
"Yeah. Probably it would never happened."
That?s it. Thoughts?