U2 isn’t exactly practicing what it preaches

Tom says:

07:32am | 02/12/10

Good observation Eric. Bono, Sting, Gore, Geldorf become cult figures because of their material successes. They are followed around by a fawning group of hangers on who wait on their every utterance and pronounce it infallible. The followers enjoy having their messiahs and the whole thing becomes a major exercise in mob-driven group-think.

Hollywood produces the same odious group of sanctimonious w###kers. They always attract enough flatterers to protect them against the truth. I suggest that this is a human condition.

TChong says:

08:12am | 02/12/10

Tom- a bit harsh to lob Geldorf in that group.
Sir Bob seemed to actually try to do something with “We are the world” concerts etc.
The bloated circus that has grown around, what was originally, a pretty decent idea of at least attempting to do something.

Alex says:

09:40am | 02/12/10

The Greenists are similar to the Communists of yesteryear - all comfortably well off, trying to save the world and “educating” the great unwashed.  I am getting wary of this coercive utopianism.

Steely Dan says:

10:51am | 02/12/10

@ Eric

“Do the Bonos and Gores really believe what they preach?”
U2 are purchasing carbon offsets for the tour.  Matt Smith seems to be convinced they won’t stick to their word, though I guess ‘U2 might lie and refuse to practice what they preach’ isn’t a catchy title… So for Bono I guess the answer is ‘yes’.

And Eric, isn’t the low quality of U2’s recent albums because the feminists are oppressing them?

Sentient Being says:

12:02pm | 02/12/10

@Steely Dan
Wow! That was a good one. You’re up there with Monty Python today!

Alyssa KT says:

11:03am | 03/12/10

@ Steely Dan - he didn’t say he didn’t believe they would buy the carbon offsets - he said the planet would be better off if the damage wasn’t done in the first place.
Carbon offsets are a bogan idea anyway. Just an excuse to not take any responsibility in the here and now.

Steely Dan says:

01:06pm | 03/12/10

@ Alyssa

“he didn’t say he didn’t believe they would buy the carbon offsets - he said the planet would be better off if the damage wasn’t done in the first place.”
As long as the offsets aren’t provided by a dodgy dealer, the planet will be exactly the same as it was before the tour - except that thousands and thousands of people will see a show, and a bunch of people will get employed.

“Carbon offsets are a bogan idea anyway. Just an excuse to not take any responsibility in the here and now.”
Paying the $ for the offsets isn’t taking on the responsibility?

Rosie says:

12:42pm | 02/12/10

Wow you beat me to it! Bono lost it all when everytime he appeared on TV for the good cause, Julia Gillard was by his side trying to promote her own agenda. Doesn’t these people realize how off putting it is when someone that seems not to show any passion for the cause is only there to promote an image. It is a wonder the Governor General wasn’t there to help Gillard & Keneally promote the Labor brand.

Ask a stupid question says:

01:57pm | 02/12/10

Why wasn’t he standing next to Abbott and O’Farrell ? Oh ... wait.

Against the Man says:

04:43pm | 03/12/10

Right on AASQ, I mean as PM Gillard is…...........oh wait her party didn’t win a majority, guess fake PM is better than no PM

Ask a stupid question says:

06:21pm | 03/12/10

So if the Prime Minister were a loser, what would that make Tony Abbott ?

yilgahn says:

02:37pm | 02/12/10

I beleive the Irish changed their tax laws a few years back and suddenly U2 were no longer living in a veritable tax haven.

U2 Inc packed up and left the country the next day for warmer climes.

Very publicly minded

Jacob says:

08:55am | 02/12/10

I love how bloggers are always world authorities on musical excellence (and every other issue known to mankind).

I am not a fan of U2, but to describe Bono as a ‘mediocre singer’???

How’s your singing career going thatmosis?

Macca says:

09:28am | 02/12/10

@Jacob, anyone with a bit of music training listening to Bono live would realise he is an average singer. That doesn’t distract from the success of his music, and probably doesn’t make his concerts any less enjoyable.

The only two artists I can think of that I have seen live whose vocals were really impressive were Rob Thomas (when he was part of Matchbox, not solo) and Michael Buble.

Merispod says:

10:00am | 02/12/10

@Jacob   Bono is an awful singer but his pop group have some good catchy tunes only let down by juvenile lyrics.

Jacob says:

11:43am | 02/12/10

I rest my case!!!!

Horthy says:

12:25pm | 02/12/10

Bono Vox my left potato!

Henrietta says:

03:20pm | 04/12/10

@thatmosis

Agree wholeheartedly!....and I really don’t know what all the fuss is about their music

Jason says:

08:43pm | 04/12/10

Put Bono next to Eddie Vedder on stage and that superstar sheen would fade pretty fast.  The band is great, they have written some great songs (in the past, when they believed in something more than money), but Bono’s voice isn’t something that takes you to another place.

Legend says:

08:55pm | 29/06/11

when has bono done all this waffleing about saving the world..? do u mean world hunger ... dont know if you getting him confused with someone else like bill gates..? maybe you just dont like him.. i never him so cant judge him as much as you .. all these bloody rich stars are all the same though arent they

Steely Dan says:

10:54am | 02/12/10

@ K

“I can’t name a song past Vertigo (2002?) U2 rely on older hits to pull fans to their shows.”
The Rolling Stones are pulling the same scam.  Hacks, the lot of them.  Wouldn’t go to a concert if you paid me.

Mattact says:

03:18pm | 05/12/10

@Steely Dan

‘The Rolling Stones are pulling the same scam’.....what crap. The Stones don’t pretend to be anything else than what they are….ie. old rockers playing the same old hits that the paying public continues to want to hear. They don’t pretend to be world savers like U2/Bono.

Geoff says:

10:37am | 02/12/10

Sorry TChong it’s “This is not a rebel song. This song is Sunday, Bloody Sunday.” Under A Blood Red Sky - 1984.

Scarlett Street Rocker says:

12:14pm | 02/12/10

Be the hokey! Will yiz leave the little fella alone. Sure he’s only tryin’ to show yiz ‘the truth” with 3 chords, a red guitar and no strings!

Kate says:

03:13pm | 02/12/10

You’re right, but that’s like saying a chocolate ice-cream is better than a turd sandwich. It’s just obvious.

DH says:

04:54pm | 02/12/10

Only to those with all their senses intact, Kate. Some on here might just see brown mush, without taking the time to smell or taste the musical goodness.

In other news, Muse are also bringing their biggest gig set-up to Australia this week. I’d be interested in finding out just how many planes they require for their stage. Not that it’ll stop me going and enjoying the hell out of it. But I’d be curious. Can they out-offset U2? Over to you, Matt…

Jill says:

02:09pm | 02/12/10

.....not many - but they’re going to get preached at anyway…..

Legend says:

09:02pm | 29/06/11

been a fan of u2 since mid 80s. Im only interested in the music and how it has helped me cope with lifes difficult moments, inspired me to take up guitar. I cant save the world- I can only save mine. If bono wants to influence others to do certain things thats up to him. He wont stop me from using my car, flying off to new york ..and I wont judge them. they employ hundreds and pay far more tax than 10 yrs ago. If people criticise someone like this is seems like jealousy to me..

Rob says:

11:39am | 02/12/10

Corey Hart?

John Dark says:

02:31pm | 02/12/10

I see what you did there Rob. Well played.

Anne71 says:

08:19am | 03/12/10

“I wear my sunglasses at night so I can so I can…”

Well done, Rossco! I’m going to have to listen to that one now.

Bruce says:

07:31pm | 02/12/10

daft: Agree: I think Bono means well, but unfortunately comes accross as a “little”  wanker. As for their music, only liked their version of the Beatles Helter Skelter. A very adequate version !

Ryan says:

04:19pm | 02/12/10

@Dave: and yet he is still a millionaire, living it up lush as.. Oh I get it he wants us to give them OUR money, NOT HIS.
He can come and preach when he has the same debts as the average Australian including a big ole mortgage, has to live under the tyranny of this Labor governments excessive utilities, food and interest rates.

Steely Dan says:

11:37am | 02/12/10

@ Dr Platon Zeindt

“Carbon is not a pollutant.  Call me crazy but all organic life is carbon based.”
Water’s not a pollutant either.  But like carbon, you can have too much of it.

Stephen Putnam says:

08:40pm | 02/12/10

I first saw U2 way back in ‘79 as the first band on the bill for Talking Heads at The Electric Ballroom in North London.(What a venue!) They were called in at the last moment to replace Human League, who were in their early experimental phase. They had wanted to film a set and mingle with the crowd while they watched themselves as a the curtain raiser. Talking Heads didn’t like the idea at all and as a result Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were moved up one with U2 brought in to kick things off.
They were pretty basic in those days sounding very much the three chord punk band. I met Bono after the gig handing out Christian pamphlets in the street and explaining the band’s mission statement (for want of a better way of putting it). Then as now they had an agenda which went well beyond being superstars.
When Talking Heads toured the UK in 1980 they had U2 as their curtain-raiser at the Hammersmith Palais. By they had attained their mature sound with The Edge’s echoing guitar very much to the fore.The following year they had their first big hit (Gloria) and the rest, as they say in the classics, is history.

Steely Dan says:

10:46am | 02/12/10

@ Star Struck

“Remember when Geldof introduced Bono at one of the Live8 concerts…”
No, but I remember that time when a horse walked into that bar and the barman asked ‘why the long face?’
http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/bono.asp

Star Struck says:

11:24am | 02/12/10

Steely Dan, I can’t believe that you looked this up on snopes. Did anyone ever believe this was anything other than a joke? Next you’ll be exposing the myth about the talking duck who couldn’t understand why he’d been offered a job in the circus, (”...WTF do they want with a plasterer?”). Anyway back to the hypocrisy of our attention seeking celebrities…

Steely Dan says:

12:45pm | 02/12/10

@ Star Struck

I didn’t need to look it up, I just wanted a source to link to!  Glad to see you didn’t buy it either, but ‘there’s a sucker born every minute’...

jf says:

01:15pm | 02/12/10

There is a vast difference between the self indulgence of such gross unecessary carbon output as this verus feeding your children.

As to the self-indulgence of your vege patch, you are a not only a hypocrite but a stupid hypocrite. If you genuinely cared about reducing your carbon footprint (rather than just improving your “environmental credentials”  you would source your veges from a farm where each lettuce leaf, each carrot and each bean is produced with vastly less impact on the enironment than each lettuce leaf, each carrot and each bean in your wasteful, grossly carbon emitting vege patch.

As for your large suburban home - why? If you were fair dinkum, you’d live in high-density accomodation.

It is the self righteous than indulge in self indulgent, self promoting past times that have very little practical impact on their own comforts and lifestyles.

Rich socialists are the worst of the worst. Expecting everyone else to make genuine sacrifices whilst living indulgent, consumer lifestyles.

Your navel gazing, self-important piece has only highlighted the hypocrisy in the article, not rebutted it.

But your own phrase says it all - you are only interested in improving your own image (your credentials). Much like Bono.

Kate says:

03:21pm | 02/12/10

Yes, it’s great that you do all that. But what people tend to resent is when someone does a few good things, and then goes out of their way to endlessly brag about it and make other people feel like crap for not going to the same extent.

Bono has developed the image of a whiny pain in the arse who can’t do one good deed without ringing 45 different media outlets to inform them of just how awesome he is. That’s why people don’t like him.

Happy Hypocrite says:

05:39pm | 02/12/10

I did not intend to rebut, instead make the point that we are all hypocrites to some degree,  no matter our conscientious actions or good intentions. Would you propose to have us all return to subsistence economies or nomadic tribes?  You do however, help make my point that attacking those attempting to do better is a cheap and easy shot.

jf says:

07:30am | 03/12/10

But my point HH is that you are not trying to do better. You are happily part of the problem whilst yelling from the rooftops “fix the problem plebs”. And even worse, through tokenistic, usually pointless, gestures you place yourself on a pedestal for general acclaim and songs of praise.

Not one thing you do, in the name of the environment, involves sacrifice on your part (and in fact some of the gestures are more damaging then not doing them – vege patch).

You are the person screeching for carbon pricing, whilst gobbling it up every night in front of your ludicrously large flat-screen in our massively carbon gobbling home. The same carbon pricing that will have almost nil practical impact on your life and yet have a dramatic impact on the lives of those for whom a small increase in the price of electricity will mean the difference between school camp for their kids or not.

As for attacking ‘those attempting to do better” well doesn’t that just sum up the smugness. You’re not trying to do better. You are trying simply a middle-class, suburban trendy. Jumping on the latest fad and making a big person of yourself.

You are worse than those that don’t believe in man-made global warming. At least they have a conviction and are there to be convinced.

And as to us all being hypocrites, sure, but at least most of us endeavour not to be and don’t see it as a virtue.

Not only are you a stupid hypocrite. You are a smug, stupid hypocrite.

jf says:

01:21pm | 02/12/10

U2 are a pretty mainstream band and yet “mainstream Australia doesn’t get on board”.

It seems to me that Bono may not be achieving to much after all.

DH says:

03:33pm | 02/12/10

Sara, while its great Bono can usually found to be doing something positive (unlike a lot of musicians these days), I think the point is: can he not do it on a slightly smaller stage?

Peter says:

10:56am | 02/12/10

I meant ‘loud” as opposed to load. I have to watch my langauge on this thing..

Dave says:

11:37am | 02/12/10

it was the first song on Rattle and Hum

Lemon says:

05:40pm | 02/12/10

Phil,

Yep saw that as well - $850K per day =  $310M.

Taking $123M. Ouch

I will give the author the benefit of the doubt and blame a typo.

me says:

04:07pm | 02/12/10

spot on james

BT says:

12:58pm | 02/12/10

Agree. What world leader is going to meet with some muso strumming his guitar in some little pub in Ireland? Bono’s campaigns are heard only because he maintains his status as a mega celebrity - that’s the ticket to gaining access to those in the top seats. It also means the message he broadcasts remains current. I am a massive fan, have been for 20 years. My only criticism of Bono is not that he campaigns for these issues, but that the issues he raises are not well communicated. People don’t want to be told they should give money to a cause when they don’t have a lot of cash themselves. They also don’t see why they should give money when it is world leaders who make the decisions that cause poverty in the first place, the poverty that keeps us in the west living so nicely in comparison to those in the third world. Bono should campaign against the World Bank, IMF and others, then people might support his cause more.

Cate P says:

01:28pm | 02/12/10

oh well ,maybe the engines will fall off.  OMG is he wearing leather clothes?  Cruel on so many levels.

majid says:

07:06pm | 02/12/10

I hope the A380 will be much safer in 2011, Cate… Because we want Bono to come back and stay at the Versace with his entire family (As he did 2 years ago) because the Gold Coast Tourism need his money to survive… Especially since the Japanese tourists are not anymore opting for the GOLD COAST as a holiday destination(Too expensive and very much red neck)!!! I think if I was his PR, I will certainly add this to his CV: Wherever Bono goes, tourism flourish…

DH says:

02:36pm | 02/12/10

Petty? I actually like the premise. U2 aside, if you promise to offset your carbon footprint, does that mean you can go all out to make your footprint as big as possible?

Also, how exactly does one offset a carbon footprint? Is it really just about planting trees, or do we have to go see the climate priest who we’ll pay to tell us he’s relieved us of our carbon sins, without actually being able to prove it either way?

Martin G says:

04:06pm | 02/12/10

Albums don’t sell here because Australian music shops are blatant ripoff merchants.

Albums also don’t sell because record companies are too busy trying to push talentless garbage like the ‘artist’ in the article.

Lemon says:

05:11pm | 02/12/10

Martin,

I do agree that Music shops are a ripoff. Also its a very vicious circle for the musician and bands.

The large retailers can’t sell the CD Format music, because no one wants to buy it, so therefore don’t dedicate the shelf space for the Music anymore, therefore the majority of bands don’t get to advertise on the shelf or sell their music in the shops anymore. Thus the vicious circle.

Its full of DVD’s - old format and now the new and improved Blu Ray. So we can “rebuy” the Predator movie series etc and all the old fav’s all over again, again !!!. (and probably again, again when they bring out the next format”).

Also probably agree that the record companies not signing anywhere near as much new talent as they should but they are truly struggling with how to make money out of anyone !!.

Look at the “Artic Monkey’s’ for instance, no record company orginally, made it on “You Tube” and social networks. The record companies and retailers are really struggling here with this concept.

I do like to read Drum media etc, Spin.com, nme.com and others as they will give the indie bands a good opportuniity

Personally do like U2 - but have other favourites as well. Have a listen to Titus Andronicus - That Rocks !!!