Every poster is a cannibal...

[TheFlyOnTheWall]

Hi!
I'm not premium so I can't search the threads, so I'm gonna ask a probably very old question. Anyway,
the line: "every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a tief, all kill their inspiration then sing about the grief."

I never fully understood that (though only Bono knows what he meant). Somebody?
Thanks!

 

[BVS]

They all "steal" from each other, feed off each other they can't find their own muse. Then the sing about the misery and grief in life instead of the joy. I think it was just Bono's commentary on the state of music and art in general at the time. There didn't seem to be anything new, nothing fresh or exciting.

 

[TheFlyOnTheWall]

Interesting...

Could be it! Thanks!

 

[Pearl]

Who do you think Bono was refering to when he wrote that?

Because the early 90s were exciting, at least compared to today's music scene. There was grunge, hip-hop was evolving, and Achtung Baby was inspired by electronica developing in Europe. I remember in Flanagan's book the band was excited by all this, and sought inspiration from it. Is the "cannibal" the band or other artists?

 

[BVS]

But Achtung Baby was written before any of this exploded.

Although liking it, Bono also admitted that the whole grunge movement wasn't new and took a lot from 70's rock.

 

[Lewis12]

Hi!
I'm not premium so I can't search the threads, so I'm gonna ask a probably very old question. Anyway,
the line: "every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a tief, all kill their inspiration then sing about the grief."

I never fully understood that (though only Bono knows what he meant). Somebody?
Thanks!

Here's the scoop on all of that. That is actually a direct quote from John Lennon. John used it in the early seventies in interviews. John was referring to borrowing of artistic ideas (he actually elaborated on it quite extensively in an interview). He was saying that nothing is as original as people might think, that artist borrow, steel, and eat the ideas of others. It's the natural process of song writing and art in general. You might even call inspiration.

Finally, Bono is a huge John Lennon fan; you can find numerous instances of Lennon’s words popping up in U2's work, album art, etc. I think it's great that Bono used the "every artist..." quote in a song, and U2 still is one of the most original bands ever. If you want to know more about some of Bono's philosophy, also put some JL on your reading list. Bono sure did.

Hope this helps with your question?

 

[Ellay]

Re: Re: Every poster is a cannibal...

Here's the scoop on all of that. That is actually a direct quote from John Lennon. John used it in the early seventies in interviews. John was referring to borrowing of artistic ideas (he actually elaborated on it quite extensively in an interview). He was saying that nothing is as original as people might think, that artist borrow, steel, and eat the ideas of others. It's the natural process of song writing and art in general. You might even call inspiration.

Exactly right