trevgreg
Rock n' Roll Doggie
This was my exact initial thought too.
In the course of all those interviews, I guess there are things we might not know yet.
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This was my exact initial thought too.
In the course of all those interviews, I guess there are things we might not know yet.
HansaTonImbiss
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This was my exact initial thought too.
In the course of all those interviews, I guess there are things we might not know yet.
Best case:
- Reveal about health issues
- more depth about relationship with father and how it shaped him, artistically and personally
- more insight into his politicking during Jubilee 2000, and the resistance he faced (although his Harvard speech did this too)
- Talk about Sarajevo Pop show in 1997
- Dish on all things Berlin during AB, highs and lows
- Inside story on some the band's strategic missteps and commercial failures, like Pop, NLOTH, Apple thing, Spider-Man
- Discussion of commercial comeback between 1999-2000
- Insights on his friendship with Hutch and writing of "Stuck"
- Settle the debate about what Steve Lillywhite actually adds
- Explain his affinity for Will.i.am
Worst Case:
- Fanboy gushing of run ins with other bands and celebrities
- Talk about his campaigns and travels
Honestly, with a few exceptions I am unclear of what hasn't been said from the list above. Happy to be surprised, but unsure what the loyal audience who would buy this would find
that they haven't already found.
Growing up in Ireland during The Troubles
His mother dying at his grandfather's funeral
Growing up as a teenager with a single, disengaged parent
The band origin story from his perspective
Meeting Ali
The street gang stories
The heroin epidemic in Dublin
The band getting rejected at the start
Boy
The story of the religion crisis that nearly broke up the band during October
Recording October with that going on and Bono losing the damn lyrics
Shifting to more political content with War
The IRA threats from Sunday bloody Sunday
Red Rocks
Making the first creative shift on Unforgettable Fire and first working with Eno and Lanois
Live Aid
Going to Africa for the first time and the start of his activism
The Joshua Tree and becoming the biggest band in the world
The Pride / MLK death threats
Rattle and hum and their first major misstep
Berlin
The massive shift that was Achtung Baby
ZooTV
Getting involved in the US presidential election
Sinatra
Recording Zooropa whole touring
Adam's addiction leading to missing a show
Fuck I haven't even gotten to Pop yet.
The idea that there isn't a highly interesting memoir there is laughable and one of the most ridiculous takes on this place in a long long time
If it's poorly written or he glazes over the good stuff? Are we just assuming the worst on everything now?
And what memoir isn't filled with 80-90% of stuff that fans already knew? Ya think Born To Run was so we'll received because people didn't know Bruce's backstory?
His mother dying at his grandfather's funeral
Growing up as a teenager with a single, disengaged parent
The band origin story from his perspective
Meeting Ali
The street gang stories
The heroin epidemic in Dublin
The band getting rejected at the start
Boy
The story of the religion crisis that nearly broke up the band during October
Recording October with that going on and Bono losing the damn lyrics
Shifting to more political content with War
The IRA threats from Sunday bloody Sunday
Red Rocks
Making the first creative shift on Unforgettable Fire and first working with Eno and Lanois
Live Aid
Going to Africa for the first time and the start of his activism
The Joshua Tree and becoming the biggest band in the world
The Pride / MLK death threats
Rattle and hum and their first major misstep
Berlin
The massive shift that was Achtung Baby
ZooTV
Getting involved in the US presidential election
Sinatra
Recording Zooropa whole touring
Adam's addiction leading to missing a show
Fuck I haven't even gotten to Pop yet.
The idea that there isn't a highly interesting memoir there is laughable and one of the most ridiculous takes on this place in a long long time
If it's poorly written or he glazes over the good stuff? Are we just assuming the worst on everything now?
And what memoir isn't filled with 80-90% of stuff that fans already knew? Ya think Born To Run was so we'll received because people didn't know Bruce's backstory?
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Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
Chapter 13: A Chilly Night in Chile After a Big Bowl of Chili: The Story of Leo's Conception
Worth the price alone.
LadySpinHead
Refugee
I get the cringe, I really do, but I generally dig Bono’s writing style and I would read the shit out of this.
elevated_u2_fan
Blue Crack Supplier
To think he isn't capable of writing a really fascinating story of his life is stupid.
However, the chances of him writing some half-assed, rose-tinted, pile of platitudes covering only a small amount of his life is also very possible so I'm kind of torn on this tbh...
However, the chances of him writing some half-assed, rose-tinted, pile of platitudes covering only a small amount of his life is also very possible so I'm kind of torn on this tbh...
The_acrobat
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Pop and Popmart will be glazed over in one regrettable paragraph.
trevgreg
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Oh, for sure. I don't think there's a lack of material he could tackle (far from it, like others pointed out). But it'll be interesting to see what ways he goes about it or what we (as the hard core base) learn in the process. This isn't exactly a guy who's flown under the radar over the years, but I'm sure there can be some interesting anecdotes in there.
Plus, I will be curious to see how his particular writing style translates into a whole book. Interviews or mostly oral hiatory bios like U2 by U2 can be a different type of animal.
Rachel D.
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
This was my initial thought. Although Bono has always been very outspoken about a lot of things, he’s also been very private about many aspects of his life. I think his health scare and the fact that he’s about to turn 60 might be the reason he is doing this now. There will probably be a lot of things that will make us say, “Ohh, so that’s why....!” We don’t know everything about Bono, and there have been quite a few issues that we have speculated on over the years concerning U2 and the choices they’ve made and have had no definite answers. I’m optimistic about it not being horrible. Maybe there will be some shocking revelations that will make us think Bono is a huge douchebag and we’ll burn all our U2 albums.
Literally almost everything you listed is covered extensively in the band's songs or existing publications, so forgive me if I really couldn't care less about Bono going over well-worn ground.
Now if any of the other band members want to write a memoir, that could actually be interesting.
Iggy Fizz
War Child
yup exactly
I know it would be so boring you guys are totes right. There's no chance there could be any more interesting information. Thank God you've changed my mind.
People also never write books about known things that are interesting. That would be sooooooooo stupid.
People also never write books about known things that are interesting. That would be sooooooooo stupid.
Irvine511
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CosmoKramer
Rock n' Roll Doggie
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My first thought is most of you were spot on in that we have heard almost everything Bono has had to say at least 10x over from the repetitive and often rambling concert speeches, the various written and recorded material and the vast interviews he has done over the years.
However, this guy has met, hung out with and partied with likely every interesting person of the past 30 years and if his memoirs focus on those encounters and his honest thoughts on the encounters, then it could be incredibly interesting.
2 stories I always thought were funny/cool were the one when Freddy Mercury grabbed him at Live Aid and Sacha Baron Cohens story when he was impersonating Noel Gallagher and Bono happened to be there and basically saved Sacha from being hit by Noel. There must be a thousand more stories like that.
I would buy a book filled with those stories.
However, this guy has met, hung out with and partied with likely every interesting person of the past 30 years and if his memoirs focus on those encounters and his honest thoughts on the encounters, then it could be incredibly interesting.
2 stories I always thought were funny/cool were the one when Freddy Mercury grabbed him at Live Aid and Sacha Baron Cohens story when he was impersonating Noel Gallagher and Bono happened to be there and basically saved Sacha from being hit by Noel. There must be a thousand more stories like that.
I would buy a book filled with those stories.
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
Museums of the World by Adam Clayton. Foreword by Bob D. Whaler, curator of the Kunstmuseum.
How to Tinker With Something Until Kingdom Come by David Evans
I Am Not On Board by Lawrence Mullen Jr.
Would buy the shit out of this.
The_acrobat
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Yeah. I'd love to hear his side of things. We've all heard Bono BLAH BLAH BLAH-ing for years. Edge and Adam have given us plenty of insight into their POV. I'd pay good money for a tell-all book by Larry.
david
ONE love, blood, life
Bono just needs to go on the Joe Rogan podcast for 5 hours.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Mack_Again
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
oh man I cant wait to see Bono taking DMT with Joe
I fall somewhere between Headache and Axver. On one hand, there are a ton of interesting stories to discuss. On the other, it remains to be seen how much interesting detail can/will be added.
However, as I reflect, the reality is that I have a 100% chance of buying them and reading them, so it’s basically irrelevant what I think of the idea now.
However, as I reflect, the reality is that I have a 100% chance of buying them and reading them, so it’s basically irrelevant what I think of the idea now.
This is what I do think understand from the reaction in here.
Let's take Bono's mother dying. If we combine all his speeches or interviews on his mom dying, even with Bono's long-windedness, it's not filling a chapter. It's barely making it to two pages. Half the stuff he says publicly is just the same lines over and over again.
A 5 minute speech averages 750 words. 2 pages of text averages 1000 words.
If you've seen Springsteen On Broadway - his intro to Promised Land is basically a retelling of Chapters 17 and 18 of his book. What's on the recording is 11 minutes long, with pauses for effect and laughter and such - so around 1000 words give or take, or 2 pages. Chapters 17 and 18 in Born To Run total 23 pages.
And Bruce living in a surf shop in Asbury Park before driving cross country to San Francisco to try and make it out west is a story that's been told numerous times before. It was still incredibly well written, interesting, and provided stories and insight that we hadn't heard before and/or hadn't had this kind of detail on.
OF COURSE he's going to have to to into further detail. No publisher is going to pay big bucks for a memoir that glosses over the pivital moments in his life. And he's not going to be able to just fill the remaining 8 pages with platitudes, which I guess is the Bono insult du jour. He's going to have to go into detail on the incident itself, the days and weeks after, his mindset, how his father and brother reacted, what it was like in that house... and do it with specific, detailed examples - not simply a general description. That's maybe one or two chapters. Bruce's book (not that everything needs to be like his book but it's the most recent and obvious comparison) is 79 chapters long.
This idea that omg he's told us everything, nothing could be interesting, this is dumb is absolutely ridiculous.
Could he just fuck it up? Sure. If you simply have no faith that Bono is capable of writing coherent, interesting sentences than you probably shouldn't buy it (if it's actually a thing beyond a single tweet).
Let's take Bono's mother dying. If we combine all his speeches or interviews on his mom dying, even with Bono's long-windedness, it's not filling a chapter. It's barely making it to two pages. Half the stuff he says publicly is just the same lines over and over again.
A 5 minute speech averages 750 words. 2 pages of text averages 1000 words.
If you've seen Springsteen On Broadway - his intro to Promised Land is basically a retelling of Chapters 17 and 18 of his book. What's on the recording is 11 minutes long, with pauses for effect and laughter and such - so around 1000 words give or take, or 2 pages. Chapters 17 and 18 in Born To Run total 23 pages.
And Bruce living in a surf shop in Asbury Park before driving cross country to San Francisco to try and make it out west is a story that's been told numerous times before. It was still incredibly well written, interesting, and provided stories and insight that we hadn't heard before and/or hadn't had this kind of detail on.
OF COURSE he's going to have to to into further detail. No publisher is going to pay big bucks for a memoir that glosses over the pivital moments in his life. And he's not going to be able to just fill the remaining 8 pages with platitudes, which I guess is the Bono insult du jour. He's going to have to go into detail on the incident itself, the days and weeks after, his mindset, how his father and brother reacted, what it was like in that house... and do it with specific, detailed examples - not simply a general description. That's maybe one or two chapters. Bruce's book (not that everything needs to be like his book but it's the most recent and obvious comparison) is 79 chapters long.
This idea that omg he's told us everything, nothing could be interesting, this is dumb is absolutely ridiculous.
Could he just fuck it up? Sure. If you simply have no faith that Bono is capable of writing coherent, interesting sentences than you probably shouldn't buy it (if it's actually a thing beyond a single tweet).
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I think I would read a Bono book still knowing most of the stories and the like but I think they're be some fresh perspective on all of the old saws. Also, as Edge once called him "the best two people he's ever me." I may have gotten the quote a bit wrong but I think it calls out Bono's differing personalities. If some one here could say exactly the right quote I would be grateful.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Rachel D.
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Are you thinking of “Bono is a nice bunch of guys”?
Rachel D.
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Whoah.
Exactly. Bono in Conversation was a really long interview in which someone else was steering the conversation. This will be Bono, unsupervised, writing whatever he wants and telling things from his perspective (come what may). It won’t be limited to just U2 history, like U2 by U2 was, so it’s not like we’re getting a carbon copy of what we’ve read before. The rumors are that there won’t be a ghost writer and that Bono is writing the whole thing himself, unlike a lot of other artists who have done this sort of thing.
That's it! Thank you!
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