Bono to Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot: We Need To Talk!

[Susang]

Just thought this would be interesting to post in light of the recent U2/Bono hate I've seen here on DU. It's quite an interesting interview, to say the least.

TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE

Bono: 'We need to talk'

U2's frontman sits down with Greg Kot to 'clear the air' about negative reviews, the band's direction and the role of rock 'n' roll

By Greg Kot
Tribune music critic
Published May 22, 2005

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/reviews/critics/chi-0505220011may22,1,484088.story?page=1&coll=chi-ent_critics-hed

~snip~

BONO: That's a really important point that I want to get across to you. There's this poverty of ambition, in terms of what rock people will do to promote their work. That's a critical issue to me. The excitement of punk rock, in the Irish and UK scene when we were coming up, was seeing our favorite band on "Top of the Pops," right next to the "enemy." That would be exciting. We did talk shows, TV shows, back then. The great moments of rock 'n' roll were never off in some corner of the music world, in a self-constructed ghetto. I don't like that kind of thinking. I know some of it exists, and some of our best friends are part of it. It's not for me. Progressive rock was the enemy in 1976. And it still is. And it has many, many faces. This beast is lurking everywhere. It can describe itself as indie rock. It's the same thing. It's misery. I have seen so many great minds struck down by it. . . . When you suggest we're betraying ourselves by doing TV shows and promotional stuff, to me the Super Bowl was our Ed Sullivan moment. It just came 25 years later. I didn't expect it. But it is one of the moments I'm most proud of in my life.

KOT: Why is the idea of associating a song with a product a good idea?

BONO: I accept that that is alarming. I really do. Our being on TV, I don't have a problem with that -- we should be on TV. But OK, associating our music with a product. You've got to deal with the devil. Let's have a look. The devil here is a bunch of creative minds, more creative than a lot of people in rock bands. The lead singer is Steve Jobs. These men have helped design the most beautiful object art in music culture since the electric guitar. That's the iPod. The job of art is to chase ugliness away. Everywhere we look we see ugly cars, ugly buildings . . . . . . . You're lucky here in Chicago on that front. But you see ugly objects in the workplace. Everywhere. And these people are making beautiful objects. Selling out is doing something you don't really want to do for money. That's what selling out is. We asked to be in the ad. We could see where rock music is, fighting for relevance next to hip-hop. And I love hip-hop. It's the new black entrepreneur. It's about being out there, loud and proud about what you're doing. Selling it on the street corner if you have to. From pent-house to pavement. Advertising the new song in another song. Taking on the world. Meanwhile, a bunch of white, middle-class kids are practicing in Daddy's garage, saying , "No, man, that is just so un-cool." As hard as it is, as ghetto as it is, hip-hop is pop music. It's the sound of music getting out of the ghetto, while rock is looking for a ghetto. We never wanted to be a garage band. We wanted to get as quick as we could out of the garage. The people who say they like the garage usually have two or three cars parked outside. Rock music is niche. We want people who aren't in our niche listening to our music. If you pour your life into songs, you want them to be heard. It's a desire to communicate. A deep desire to communicate inspires songwriting. Rock music was most exciting when it was in the 45 , when it was disciplined into a single. Whether it was the Sex Pistols, Clash, Buzzcocks, Nirvana, the Beatles, the Stones. The 45 is the pure rock to me. That is why I wanted to be in a band.

link to transcript: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/reviews/critics/chi-050521bono-transcript,1,3954298.story?coll=chi-ent_critics-hed

[RandomKoolzip]

1. What an ass.

Both of them.

Kot's a corporate bootlinker who thinks Wilco are as daring and interesting as it gets, while Bono is just a pretentious hack with a shitty superstar band who can't fucking sing (just admit it).

This is like watching puke and snot duke it out. Feh....who cares? "The lame taking on the lame for not being lame enough" is how I'd describe this situation.

[Zomby Woof]

5. We agree fully on this

(Although I like Wilco when collaborating with Billy Bragg, but that's another thread)

Perhaps if Bono was relevant, he would get better reviews, instead of being so defensive over U2's lack of producing anything substantive over the past 20 years. Feh is right.

My eternal message to Bono: SHUDDAFUCCUP!

[RandomKoolzip]

8. Only a professional rock critic who gets paid by THE TRIBUNE,

of all places, would think that taking on Bono was a ballsy thing to do. What a loser Kot is. He and DeRogatis can go fuck themselves with a rolled-up copy of "Billboard" and jump in Lake Michigan as far as I'm concerned. They both make rock critics look like total ass-kissing losers beholden to the PR departments of major labels....they should be out there, in the clubs, bringing new bands to the attention of the Trib's readership, not pretending that taking Bono (of all people!) mildly to the soft, cushiony mat is some kind of Lester Bangs-ian triumph.

Lester wouldn't have pissed on Greg Kot if Kot's dick was on fire.

[mitchum]

14. What RandomKoolzip said...

I couldn't agree with you more.
Remember when U2 said that they formed the band because they were sick of pampered, self-important dinosaur bands? Sure...sure.
That creeping Jesus, spudmunching motheerfucker has never been able to sing. And never will.

[catzies]

15. LOL! "Watching puke and snot duke it out." Brilliant!

and hilarious :D

[Zuni]

16. I LOVE old, pre-1988 U2

the new stuff is, well....lame

[tjdee]

2. Oh my god, I love him so much......

He's right right right.

He is so hot, being right and all. :silly:

[XNASA]

3. "The job of art is to chase ugliness away...........

.....Everywhere we look we see ugly cars, ugly buildings. You're lucky here in Chicago on that front."

At least Bono got one thing right.

:applause:

[ProfessorGAC]

9. He Got Another Thing Right

Greg Kot needs to be set straight by anyone and everyone. He's a complete tool.
The Professor

[RandomKoolzip]

10. Damn skippy.

He's the Anthony DeCurtis of the '00's; in other words: a whitebread chickenshit choad-biter who just loooooves shillin' for the man.

[RandomKoolzip]

11. dupe....no wait....

He's the Anthony DeCurtis of the '00's; in other words: a whitebread chickenshit choad-biter who just loooooves shillin' for the man.

on edit: And this goes for DeRogatis, too.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

4. I've never understood the attitude

of people who start to hate something they formerly liked (or even loved) solely because it became popular.

In fact, I'm usually happy when I see that creative talents that I admire finally get some respect (and money).

That said, a lot of the anti-U2-ness on this board seems to stem from people who never liked them in the first place (why do you care?), people who think they are more talented (go and write a dozen multi-platinum albums then, why don't you?), or people who are bothered by the nicknames the band members got while they were in high school (give me a break!) -- or some combination of the three.

[Zomby Woof]

7. I liked the early stuff

"Boy" "War", etc... not terribly much, but it was okay, if not a little too earnest and pretentious.

The reason many of us do not like them these days is not because of popularity, it is because they suck. I love many popular bands, so that theory doesn't hold water.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

12. I can think of a whooole lot of other bands (and artists in other mediums)

whose quality of work declined as they got on in years.

However, I don't see this board littered with anti-Rolling Stones' threads, anti-Beatles' threads, etc, etc.

As you say, I liked those bands' early stuff, but the stuff they put out now sucks. However, I don't usually feel the need to create entire threads and posts about that.

So what is it about U2 that people hate so much?

Is it because Bono has tried to use his fame to help people less off? I would think that would go over well on a progressive website.

[Blue-Jay]

6. Revised interview:

KOT: Why is the idea of associating a song with a product a good idea?

Bono: MONEY!

[Susang]

13. Hey, now be fair

They were offered 23 million for "Where The Streets Have No Name" and turned it down, so it obviously isn't for the $$$.

How about this:

Kot: Why is the idea of associating a song with a product a good idea?

Bono: WORLD DOMINATION!

[Zuni]

17. Bono will one day rule us all

I for one, will welcome our new rockstar/humanitarian masters, and will help them round up the largest roadcrew the world has ever seen!!!

[Susang]

18. One "Ring of Fire" to rule us all

:scared:

[tigereye]

19. uh huh Bono

sure.

"These men have helped design the most beautiful object art in music culture since the electric guitar. That's the iPod. The job of art is to chase ugliness away. Everywhere we look we see ugly cars, ugly buildings . . . . . . . You're lucky here in Chicago on that front. But you see ugly objects in the workplace. Everywhere. And these people are making beautiful objects."

sounds like a lot of justification to me. Bought and sold. Sucked in by the Steve Jobs "reality distortion field", as we like to say around my house. :)