The Judas-Jesus song
To mark the 50th anniversary of the ‘rock revolution’, the Santa Cruz Sentinel discusses some of the popular songs of the last half-century. This week’s song is U2′s Until the End of the World.
Mark Setz, pastor of the Holy Cross Catholic Church in Santa Cruz, starts off with: “You could call it “The Passion of the Christ” according to U2 and Judas.” and continues to compare the song with Gibson’s film: “While Mel Gibson
Kevin Shields: lost and found
My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields disappeared from the music scene after his band’s early 90′s successes. Re-emerging after a decade of fiddling with never released MBV material and stints with Primal Scream, his comeback on the Lost In Translation soundtrack has earned him a Bafta nomination.
Shields talks to Peter Murphy in the latest issue of Hot Press magazine. It is his first full length interview in 12 years. He talks about the early days, sings the praises of The Virgin Prunes, admits to ‘losing it’ after MBV’s stunning album ‘Loveless‘ and he comments on his band’s apparent influence on U2.
Kevin Shields: “Only when U2 did interviews and stuff, and they talked about My Bloody Valentine having an influence on Achtung Baby. That was kinda nice,
The Last Word
You’re sick of it, we’re sick of it, Bono’s sick of it, the FCC isn’t. But here’s an eminently quotable Bono on the subject of his linguistic naughtiness, in a New York Times piece by Frank Rich on America’s new obsession with “indecency” –
The Truth Sets Bono Free
Bono: When I’m playing with the band.
Bono is interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in the April issue of O magazine. In the interview, which was conducted in South Africa after the 46664 concert, Bono discusses music making (It’s much easier to be successful than it is to be relevant…I don’t know how U2 will stay relevant), performing with U2 (As a soloist, I’m average at best. But with the band? There’s nothing better…), life with Ali (why I have the life I have…is because of my wife Ali. She is just really so cool), and the source of his creative talents (The truth is at the root of every piece of creativity).
Bill Carter’s psycho-geographic hot point
US writer Bill Carter, who we all remember from the Zooropa Sarajevo link ups, is interviewed by Peter Murphy in Hot Press magazine. Carter is in Europe to promote his book ‘Fools rush in‘.
He reminisces about the late Bill Graham, talks about grief, altered states, the path that lead him into working with U2 and the role of comedy in the art of survival.
Fixing a Hole (so the aid gets in)
–Bono
Referencing a Beatles song, Bono made an appeal to Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to be the champions of a financial proposal that would combat poverty and disease in the Third World at a conference in London today. Via satellite link, Bono addressed the “Making Globalisation Work for All” conference as a keynote speaker. Proving himself to Beatles savvy, Brown replied, “I believe we can work it out.”
Bono, Jim Sheridan on NPR
Jim Sheridan and Bono spoke with NPR’s Alex Chadwick recently about working together now and in the past. Bono explains how the song came out of the main theme as composed by Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer. Jim’s just full of stories. This is a fun in-depth interview. Listen at NPR.org.
Time Enough to Talk
–Bono, describing his experience writing songs for film
Bono and Jim Sheridan describe their long-time relationship and experience working together on Sheridan’s film In America in an interview with the Associated Press (via USA Today).
What Have We Done To Deserve This?
While browsing the excellent Pet Shop Boys fansite PSB Song-By-Song today, we came across this entertaining blurb about the duo’s satirical cover of “Where The Streets Have No Name,” which they blend with the soul classic “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You:”
To read more — there are also some references to Bono’s inspiration(s) for the song’s lyrics — select “Where The Streets…” from the “Pick A Song” pull-down in the site’s sidebar. And if you’ve never heard the Pet Shop Boys’ cover of “Streets” — the only charting single release of a U2 cover* — well, we tried very hard to find you a sample on the web, but we got nowhere. So we ended up having to make our own (1 minute sample, MP3, 944K, posted for a limited time). The song is available in the UK on the PSB’s most recent Greatest Hits compilation, PopArt, and in the US on their older hits album Discography.
*Ah, smacked down — a reader reminds us that The Chimes’ cover of “I Still Haven’t Found…” made it to #6 on the UK charts. Whoops.
Irish in America
“…even though the song failed to take home a Golden Globe and was shut out of the Oscar nominations, the group is thrilled by the film’s three Oscar mentions — for leading actress Samantha Morton, supporting actor Djimon Hounsou and original screenplay by Sheridan and his daughters Naomi and Kirsten.”
Hollywood Reporter meets Clan Sheridan and Co discussing the film ‘In America’.
Bono: “The film takes an unpopular position because it’s pro-American and pro-working people.”
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U2 News Links
- U2 Fan Survey 2012: Third Set of Results Available May 23, 2012The third set of results from the 2012 U2 Fan Survey is now available, and it takes us through your votes on U2's albums and songs. As a reminder, the survey was open from April 5th through April 30th. We received completed responses from 3,530 fans in 79 countries this year, both of which are down from 2010. We think that's likely due to the band […]
- A Look at My U2 Framed Album Cover Wall (PHOTOS) May 22, 2012How would you like to have a wall in your house covered with perfectly framed U2 album cover art? You could just have your favorite U2 albums on the wall or, like me, you could go all the way and put every U2 album on display in order — like this: That’s one of the [...]This is a post from the @U2 blog.A Look at My U2 Framed Album Cover Wall (PHOTOS) […]
- The Resource Miracle May 22, 2012[Note: This essay appeared in the May 28, 2012, edition of TIME magazine.] It's become the go-to cliché of modern economics. Natural resources are a "curse." When a nation is over-reliant on one or two commodities like oil or precious minerals, corrupt government ministers and their dodgy associates hoard profits and taxes instead of properly […]
- Bono Pays One More Tribute to Steve Jobs May 22, 2012Bono made an appearance via video tonight at the Webby Awards, contributing to a tribute to Steve Jobs. A host of tech legends and celebrities each paid tribute to Jobs in five words or less, a Webby Awards tradition. It looks like Bono’s contribution was recorded within the past week, but that’s just a guess. [...]This is a post from the @U2 blog.Bono Pays […]
- Billboard Music Awards: U2 Top Touring Artist May 21, 2012Gestern Abend wurden in der MGM Grand Garden Arena von Las Vegas die Billboard Music Awards 2012 verliehen. U2 wurden dabei - wie bereits im Jahr zuvor - in der Kategorie Top Touring Artist ausgezeichnet. Neben U2 waren in dieser Kategorie auch noch Bon Jovi, Taylor Swift, Take That und Roger Waters nominiert. ... […]