Vox Populi
It's a way we had over here with living with ourselves. We cut 'em in half with a machine gun and give 'em a Band-Aid. It was a lie. And the more I saw them, the more I hated lies.
4/12/2006
Here is a reprint of a photograph I recently posted on this Blog:
It was the center piece of one of my articles (“Integrity”) which also contained a very mild, rather abstract, critique of the Grammy Award winning U2 front man. I think the picture is self-explanatory but, to my surprise, I have received some resistance to the attitude I expressed in that post.
Several comments I have heard included:
The way I see it, Bono is WORKING THE SYSTEM so he can help people. What’s wrong with that?
Aw, c’mon. You CAN’T be knocking Bono! He is doing so much good for people.
You know when you really think about it, Bono has done a HELL OF A LOT MORE for humanity than John Lennon ever did!
Who are you to talk you fat, cubicle dwelling, drunkard?
Besides from the last line, which I whole heartily agree with, I do have answers for all of these criticisms. But before I explain myself I want to make certain things perfectly clear.
My dislike for Bono has nothing to do with his humanitarian efforts. In fact, I think IT IS EXCELLENT that he is, finally, using the fame and fortune he has amassed over the past two decades to do something…anything…for someone other than himself, his bank account and his huge megalomaniacal ego.
My feelings stem from the fact that he started (and to be fair, the rest of the band) as a “cool” alternative to the shit that the record labels were pushing in the early 1980s. Is anyone out there old enough to remember those truly dark days? When the brain trusts at Columbia, Capital and RCA decided the American public wanted to listen to Journey? The days when grey little men in grey little suits pushed Styx onto young naïve teenagers? When Hall & Oates scored #1 after #1 through sheer repetition perpetrated by men whose idea of a symphony was the clanging of cash registers in their lobbies and the jangling of coins in their pockets?
Well I am.
So out of that Mad Max landscape, came an Irish band that played songs that I would now describe as power-pop but, at the time, I considered edgy, or at least different, especially compared to the tired old feces that was being pumped out by the “music industry.”
Staying above the “Synth-Pop” non-sense that started to catch on around that time, their albums featured catchy romantic feel-good danceable tunes like “A Day Without Me” “I Will Follow” and “Two Hearts Beat as One” as well as harder, more political tracks, like “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” “Seconds” and “Pride” making U2 the group to watch circa 1982-1984.
And then, of course, there was Live-Aid.
At Wembley Stadium in London, during their performance of an obscure song off the Unforgettable Fire LP called “Bad,” Bono, in a stroke of brilliant showmanship, jumped from the stage and into the audience. With the lengthy and moody Edge guitar solo playing on, the large crowd parted so Bono could slow dance with an awe struck female fan. The spontaneity and surprise of this maneuver was extremely dramatic and exciting. Happening live on Television, being broadcast to millions of people around the world, it was truly one of the great moments of the rock era. They absolutely stole the show.
After that exposure, U2 was no longer a hip-kid’s little secret. They became total superstars. Unfortunately, but not unpredictably, the fame and the fortune went straight to their heads. In my opinion, the rest of the band’s musical career can be described as a slow descent into pretentiousness, self importance and cultural irrelevancy.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, I detest the fact that the band, and Bono in particular, are very quick to compare themselves to true Rock Icons, both living and dead.
They ripped off The Beatles with their own version of the “roof top concert” A liquor store in Vegas stood in for the famed Apple Studios in London.
They ripped off The Rolling Stones with their “flat bed concert” drive through Manhattan.
They ripped off Bowie (Who probably ripped somebody else off) doing the “heavy-make-up, cross dressing” glam thing on Achtung Baby.
They made a “trip to Graceland” and stood in front of Elvis’ grave implying that they were channeling the King. Remarkably, that little fiasco was filmed after the hilarious Rob Reiner film Spinal Tap was already popular
God, Part II
But enough about the history of U2. All of these opinions I have stated before both on this Blog and vocally to anyone who would listen to my incoherent ranting and raving. It is also safe to say that I will probably state them again so let me get back to my original point.
Just look at the picture:
(Oh, no…I accidentally inserted the wrong photo!!! Please ignore it and return to the top of the post and look at the correct image…I apologize for any inconvenience.)
On one side you have a completely self-delusional man who feels that because sometimes he plays a guitar and occasionally meets with world leaders who probably do not take him seriously that he is someone of high importance. A man who has convinced himself that he has substance just because international media outlets cow-tow to his every whim and send photographers to every where he goes for meaningless photo-ops. Just who the hell does he think he is anyway? Does he deserve to be listened to just because Time Magazine named him “Person of the Year”? Does the fact that his picture is in the paper everyday, usually next to some important, influential people of all nationalities make him some kind of Head of State?
And on the other side, you have Bono.
I am not going to mention the ridiculous rose tinted glasses Vox is wearing. Nor will I mention his whole “Man in Black” outfit. I think making fun of his hopelessly cliché attire would be childish, even if he does look like a cross between Johnny Cash and Tinkerbell. No. That would be too easy.
What puts this shot in the “over the top” bin is the whole fist pumping “We made it baby!” pose. After you are done digesting that, take a look at the ultra serious facial he is sporting. Now couple those two things with the absolutely ridiculous Slap-Happy-Local-Yokel look the Leader of the Free World has across his face.
So I reiterate:
Pretentious Cloths + Fist Pump + Ridiculous Facial + Dopey from Snow White = Intellectual Debasement.
It is actually quite good. I want to formally nominate the photographer for a Pulitzer Prize. In what category, do you ask?
Photo that best captures the incredible depths that a free society can fall under six years of Republican Domination.or
Assholes gone wild.
Heads you win - Tails I lose.
As I guess you all know by now, Time Magazine has picked Bono, Bill and Melinda Gates as the “Persons of the Year” for 2005. A totally meaningless position that was once held by Adolph Hitler, George W Bush and Joseph Stalin (twice).
All three of the current recipients are well known for their philanthropical work. The Gates’ for example give away a whole lot of money every year and Bono goes around to the different western governments begging for third world debt forgiveness which helps a lot of people who are right now in the crapper. It is all together fitting that this kind of work receive some sort of recognition.
What, you may ask yourself, can I possibly find wrong in the selecting of the little leprechaun who sang “In the Name of Love” plus an absurdly wealthy geek and his wife? Not much, really, except that it is a good barometer of where we stand in social evolution and human development.
As I mentioned at the beginning, it was once said to me that Bono did more for humanity than John Lennon. I would like to suggest the exact opposite.
Monetarily speaking there is no argument. Bono has raised large sums of money for less fortunate people. For the last five years, or so, he has applied his pathological need for attention and outrageously oversized ego for good purposes as compared to the shameless self-promotion of his middle career. As a result of him “working the system,” less fortunate people are receiving some aid and their standard of living is being raised. That’s great. I really mean that.
But “The System” is not being changed, is it?
The status quo is the problem and as long as the totally arbitrary situation of winners and losers exists and is supported by THE PEOPLE, then other people are going to be screwed. With shipments of grain, an influx of medicine or even the ultimate goal of forgiveness of debt, I am sure many lives are being dramatically affected immediately…but temporarily. In ten years time they will probably be back in the same shit hole they find themselves in now, starving in pig shit awaiting the next rock star to grow a conscious.
I mean, are these people “less fortunate” because God wants it this way?
Kind of like our own ridiculous “war on drugs” that Ronald Reagan supposedly started in the 1980s. The theory being, if the US government used military means to knock out drug lords in foreign lands, then the substance abuse problem in our country would go away. So we knocked out all of these South American dealers with dramatic flare and zest. Guess what the results were?
That’s right.
Others just took their place and American cities turned into dens of human degradation, gun violence and crack use. You see, the problem was not that Pablo Escobar sold us cocaine by the ton. The problem was that WE wanted to snort it by the ton. THAT part of the equation was barely addressed in the Government’s waging of that first ambiguous, unwinnable war.
Using that analogy, Bono’s good deeds have a positive effect in the short term, but in a larger sense, are actually reinforcing the current status quo, which is the root of the problem in the first place.
John Lennon, when he was “working the system” would have pointed that out.
So, did Bono do more for humanity than John Lennon? It all depends on your point of view. If you believe that the most important thing that will help the truly wretched masses of the many underdeveloped countries around the world is to give them sporadic deliveries of first aid and food, then there is no contest. Bono Vox is the undisputed master.
And for all the people who are directly and indirectly affected by his charity work, I will understand why they would think I am crazy for even questioning his place in the pecking order of great humanitarians.
But, I believe, the first step to human equality and true social justice is the freeing of the human mind from the box it is currently locked in by an inhumane system that favors conformity over spiritual understanding. As long as we are mental prisoners, any amount of money we throw at “the problem” is essentially a band aid over a hemorrhaging wound, that threatens the health of the body entire.
I read somewhere that he is even being considered for a Nobel Peace Prize this year. Good for him.
But, there is a reason why thousands of people show up in New York City’s Central Park on December 8th every year. I think that reason is a hell of a lot more substantial than thinking that “Come Together” was a catchy tune.
After he is dead...
I doubt that Bono will have the same response.
Larry
posted by Larry B | 12:11 PM
3 Comments:
I have to agree with 'sara' that you could spend some money on the template pack.
Also, I have to disagree with you about who stole the show at Live Aid. It was Queen all the way! Queen, who never made any social or political poses, just good, over the top, rock and roll. And by being the best at who they were, better than anyone else that day, they fed starving people in Africa. If I understand your argument correctly, Bono and Co. should have stuck to making heartfelt expression, like Lennon, and their message would have been coming from a deeper place all these years. But they chose to ride the wheels going round and round and become shallow pop stars. Then again, Phil Collins did ride the Concord to play BOTH continents in one day. Doesn't that qualify him for an award? Biggest Douche, perhaps?
On one side you have a completely self-delusional man who feels that because sometimes he plays a guitar and occasionally meets with world leaders who probably do not take him seriously that he is someone of high importance...
That was a good joke. You had me
But on to the rest of your interesting blog. I understand what you're saying since we have already discussed this but I just wanted to point out a couple of things.
I think you need to prove your point more about the role of Lennon. Just because many people visit Strawberry Fields each year on Dec 8th, doesn't neccesarily mean he was a man searching for higher ground-as many people visit Graceland each year on Elvis' birthday and deathday.
The Bandaid thing
Good analogy with the war on drugs fiasco. But are you sure that all Bono is doing is just trying to have debt forgiven etc. I can't say I do, but there have been people throughout the years who have. One person, Kavita Ramdas heads an organization called Global Fund for Woman, which is about helping and assisting woman arounf the world, mostly in some of the most poorest countries. The idea is to help give woman voice.
How do you change the system? It's a, long, ardous, dangerous road. One only needs to look at the civil rights movement to understand that. The system or status quo is corrupt, greedy and not really interested in the well-being of people. Maybe we are already on some kind of path towards changing the awful lives of many of the world's people. Maybe part of the plan with Bono and others is to first forgive debt, while encouraging other things that could help sustain a people.
Like I said, I don't know what exactly Bono is doing other than what you have decribed. I certainly agree that most people probably don't think beyond, forgiving debt or feeding people. Bono, as the spokesperson, certainly could at least talk about changing the way things are done-which would probably raise the ire of the Status quo, who believe they'll have less dollars in the Swiss bank acounts. I believe that Bono is being very diplomatic, in trying not piss off people that have the power to forgive debt. But if his only doing it so he can be the boy wonder in everyone's eyes-well of course that's wrong.
This subject is certainly something that needs a lot more discussion... and even more action
Hey Sara – Those Weblog templates are looking hot...real hot. I am liking what I am seeing! Call my people...we’ll do lunch.
Hey Si – I do remember Queen being very impressive at Wembley and, if I were there, I might agree with you. But the power of their performance, to me, was all in the fact that I was completely shocked at how much they were loved by the crowd. Over here, they were pretty much pariahs after their release of “Another One Bites the Dust” which became a HUGE hit but alienated many of their core fans who were well steeped in the “Death to Disco” mindset. That single was considered a betrayal.
So by 1985(?) they were an afterthought, at least in the crowd I ran with, so it was quite the shock when Freddy Mercury was leading 80,000(?) people in a sing along of “Radio Ga Ga” a song that was on the soundtrack for the new “musicalized” version of the silent classic Metropolis at the time. There was scattered radio airplay in America but it really didn’t catch on as a hit. To many of us the Queen was dead.
Queen’s stage presence was always undeniable. I remember them performing at the Paul McCartney organized 1979(?) “Concert for Kampuchea” which featured a line up that was pretty much a who’s who of English/European late 1970s new-power-punk. Acts like Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, The Specials and The Clash were all there, and, in energy and power, Queen held there own right with them. So, although I am not a fan by any stretch of the imagination, I have a respect for them and with the thousands swaying back and forth to the power chords and Freddy Mercury’s loud thunderous vocals, Live Aid somewhat cemented it.
But less is more.
The subtlety, eerie mood and somewhat muted tone of the U2 performance was superior. And if you want to talk about jaw dropping drama, my vote goes to Bono. Again, if I was actually there and not watching it on my television, I might have a different opinion. As it stands, when the relatively obscure Irish group U2 did the relatively obscure song “Bad” which including the relatively obscure lead singer, Bono Vox, jumping into a crowd to slow dance with a fan on live television literally in front of hundreds of millions of people, it left this 17 year old kid saying, “These guys have incredible balls.”
And, in the end, isn’t that what Rock and Roll is supposed to be all about?
One last thing on Live-Aid. I DO vividly remember that ridiculous Phil “Susudio” Collins spectacle. I don’t particularly recall any of the songs he played except for “In the Air Tonight” because someone I was watching it with was pissed that the signature drum riff was not there because Phil decided to do the song solo with just him playing the piano. If I remember correctly, his exact quote was “Aw Man… That’s so fucking lame!!!” I have to admit that right now the thought of someone thinking that it would or could have been any other way is bringing a little smile to my face.
The moment that I still remember is when Phil arrived in America a few hours after playing in London. There were cameras on the runway as he left the plane. I remember Collins walking dramatically towards the camera as a graphic was on the bottom of the screen announcing the situation. I think they were cutting back and forth from whoever was performing at the time to give us this very important “NewsFlash.” The scene was grotesquely silly.
And that is not hindsight. I remember saying it back then.
But, his piece de resistance, of course, must be considered playing drums for the newly “reunited” Led Zeppelin that night. It was the first time that band played together in public since the death of their original drummer John Bonham five years earlier. The fact that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were both decked out in “Miami Vice” gear and well quaffed must have been a disappointment to the legion of fans that held their lighters up in all those arenas and air guitared countless times to “Whole Lotta Love” during the 1970s.
But it must have been downright insulting to have the camera cutting to a serious facialed Phil Collins, fresh off of recording tracks like “Illegal Alien,” “Against All Odds” and “Billy Don’t You Lose That Number,” pounding out the back beat to “Rock and Roll.”
Hey POC – You are so right when you say that this subject probably needs more discussion and even a lot more action. And since Si got me talking about Phil, Live-Aid and Mercury I find my “response comment” growing way to long, so there is no way I can properly “make a case” at this time.
In general, all of this stuff is completely subjective, so it is whatever “speaks to you” that is the most important. I used the Strawberry Fields example because I thought that was a good illustration of Lennon’s appeal. It goes beyond tangible and crosses over to what I would describe as the spiritual.
In his songs and interviews, and in reality that is all I could ever really know about him no matter how many biographies I could read, he seems to consistently hammer home one idea:
Think for yourself.
Do your own thing.>
I remember the scene in the film “Gimme Some Truth” which was a documentary about the recording of the 1973 album Imagine. An obviously confused strung out drifter shows up at Lennon’s door asking essentially for the answer to the meaning of life. The drifter asks Lennon about some song lyrics and says something like,
When you wrote the line “Boy, you’re going to carry that weight,” did you mean that the weight of the world was on your shoulders and we all have to carry the weight?”
After Lennon corrects him by saying those lyrics were actually Paul’s, he responds,
...everything I wrote, I wrote for me. It had nothing to do with you. It was what I felt. They were my thoughts. If you got something out of it that’s cool, too, but it wasn’t for you at all.
He then invites the drifter in and gives him something to eat. I have no doubt if there wasn’t a camera there, Lennon would have probably just curtly said goodbye and shut the door.
In those words, I believe John Lennon defines the term “artist” and gives you a basic template that you could use when defining art. I use the word “define” which is radically different then the act of “enjoying.” I could say that I really liked the Genesis song “Land of Confusion” but would I call it is art? I would not.
I would call it “commerce.”
But, Lennon’s larger point, which he was consistent about his entire adult life, was to stop looking to him for answers because he has none for us. I bet incidents very much like this one that was captured on film happened to him regularly and he became pretty much sick of it. I have no doubt that is one of the reasons why he spent the last five years of his life in relative seclusion.
The answers have to come from within us all and I believe people like John Lennon (but certainly not limited only to him) represent that path which is the way We, as human beings, have the chance to realize our true potential and ultimately change this world into a much better place.
All I’m saying is that before we can run we have to walk and I think our first steps have to be freeing the human mind from the shackles that are keeping us down in the first place. Without this very basic change all of our reforms are cosmetic.
Now Bono is very practically working the system and again I commend him in his attempt to help. And you make an excellent point when you ask if the charity aspects of his work are all that he is doing. He is possibly attempting to convince world governments to make more substantial reforms than the “throw money at the problem” way I described it. I don’t know so I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
I think of others, in the past, who also engaged in philanthropical work. They also saw themselves as trying to help society and thought of themselves as “progressive.” They would build museums, libraries, hospitals, etc. But besides a street sign or a building bearing their name what is left of their legacy? Do they inspire the drive or passion that will truly lift us out of the gutter? When it comes right down to it, spiritually speaking, aren’t we just poor boys living in a rich man’s house? And no matter how golden the bars, isn’t it still a cage?
In the final analysis, I believe Bono will be remembered in that way AND THAT IS NOT A KNOCK.
I say he should keep up the good work but in the end All Things Must Pass.
But, Across the Universe, ideas can live forever.
I know in our state of social evolution my view is, at best, impractical and, at worst, completely whack and I open myself to some obvious criticism. But I believe it to be true and one day, maybe in the distant future, the obvious criticism will be aimed at the idea that humanity’s problems stem from lack of material and not the state of oppressive conformity.
Thanks for the comments guys!!!
Especially you, Sara...
Meow!!!
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