U2
Back to where they once belonged
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| Bono |
Inspired
by the old testament tradition of the jubilee year, in which
the indebted should be unburdened every fifty years, Bono teamed
up with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000 to help cancel
the debts of the world's poorest countries. The world was thankful;
his U2 mates were annoyed. Turns out you can't save the planet
and toil in a recording studio simultaneously. So Bono set about
saving his band by completing All That You Can't Leave Behind,
the group's tenth studio album and most exciting work in years.
Finally, as 2000 winds down, heaven and earth have aligned for
the U2 frontman. You
had the notion of this being a jubilee year. Was it a success?
We got
$100 billion agreed for debt cancellation, and that feels
like a lot.
What's
it like working with Kofi Annan?
Kofi Annan,
as it happens, is one of the finest people I've ever met.
But I think the relationship of an artist and a politician
is an uncomfortable one. Because you might not be able to
be so friendly the next time you see them, if they haven't
given you what you wanted.
You
started out with a group of bands that were very activist
in spirit, and there haven't been groups to take the mantle
from you. Are you ready to hand it off?
It's so
boring. No one wants it. They've more sense than I have. It's
so unhip.
This
is the best initial reaction you've had to an album in quite
a while, yet it's the record that's most like your older music.
I see most
of the songs being very unlike anything we've ever done. To
me, the songs feel like overheard conversations.
The
lyrics feel very inspirational. Are they messages to other
people or yourself?
You preach
what you need to hear. You sing your life, and you want it
to count, I suppose. I'm hoping people are tired of singers
whose mouths are filled with words that were written for them
and they don't believe. Their arms and legs move in directions
that other people choreograph.
Yet
there you are with Kofi Annan.
You wouldn't
even believe me, but I tried to avoid it. At a certain point,
though, whether it's Catholic guilt or not being able to walk
by an idea that might have an impact on the world, I end up
getting involved. I feel like pop music tells you everything
is OK, and rock music tells you that it's not, but that you
can change it. Now, we just want it to be very raw and real
and between the four of us. It just seemed that the most radical
thing we could do at the beginning of the twenty-first century
was not to try too hard.
CHRIS MUNDY
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