Behold the wonder that is U2’s Red Hill Mining Town video

We know you have been waiting to see this for the past 20 years. Neil Jordan’s finest moment?

…

We’re speechless.

46 thoughts on “Behold the wonder that is U2’s Red Hill Mining Town video”

  1. is that speechless because the video is not up to the high level of output normally expected of U2?

    It statts off cool with the grainy images & movie clips, but the main portion is Baaaaad. Glad they buried the video. good song though

  2. is that speechless because the video is not up to the high level of output normally expected of U2?

    It statts off cool with the grainy images & movie clips, but the main portion is Baaaaad. Glad they buried the video. good song though

  3. Of course it’s cheesy, aren’t most rock videos cheesy? They all assume chicks want to drool over sweaty lead singers. Is this that much worse than WOWY, One (in the bar), SHFWLF, Streets? I for one would rather drool over bono than watch buffalo run across a field in slo mo, or watch an animated video. I was worried the video would be like the first 30 seconds the entire time.

    I will give them some kudos for cool videos that do not involve watching Bono sweat, such as M Ways and Numb. And I think the prize goes to Windows in the Sky.

  4. Of course it’s cheesy, aren’t most rock videos cheesy? They all assume chicks want to drool over sweaty lead singers. Is this that much worse than WOWY, One (in the bar), SHFWLF, Streets? I for one would rather drool over bono than watch buffalo run across a field in slo mo, or watch an animated video. I was worried the video would be like the first 30 seconds the entire time.

    I will give them some kudos for cool videos that do not involve watching Bono sweat, such as M Ways and Numb. And I think the prize goes to Windows in the Sky.

  5. mgv99– well I guess you’re right about the cheese factor.
    Windows in the Skies definitely wins as most innovative video, hands-down.

  6. mgv99– well I guess you’re right about the cheese factor.
    Windows in the Skies definitely wins as most innovative video, hands-down.

  11. The performance is a bit overwrought to say the least. Great song. Cheesy Video, even for the 80s, and I don’t agree with some of the other comments. All the other JT videos are much better than this. Good to see it after so long, but not one I’ll be rewinding too often.

  12. The performance is a bit overwrought to say the least. Great song. Cheesy Video, even for the 80s, and I don’t agree with some of the other comments. All the other JT videos are much better than this. Good to see it after so long, but not one I’ll be rewinding too often.

  13. OY VEY!

    For so long I wanted to see this video … boy, am I glad it was never released.

    1) If Larry was rumored to have kavetched about dressing up as the “Cowboy Village Person” for “Discotheque” video, then I can only imagine what was going through his mind during this shoot: “I’m gonna bleedin’ kill the director … Why the Hell am I banging on this mine shaft pole?”

    2) Bono looks too pained and earnest

    3) I think they edited Adam as one of the miners during the opening grainy video sequence

    4) I did a classic comedic spit-take when I saw the birds flying in slow-motion at the end

    Other than that, I liked the video 😉

  14. OY VEY!

    For so long I wanted to see this video … boy, am I glad it was never released.

    1) If Larry was rumored to have kavetched about dressing up as the “Cowboy Village Person” for “Discotheque” video, then I can only imagine what was going through his mind during this shoot: “I’m gonna bleedin’ kill the director … Why the Hell am I banging on this mine shaft pole?”

    2) Bono looks too pained and earnest

    3) I think they edited Adam as one of the miners during the opening grainy video sequence

    4) I did a classic comedic spit-take when I saw the birds flying in slow-motion at the end

    Other than that, I liked the video 😉

  17. My response to it was purely emotional and sentimental. I remember listening to the song when it was new. For so long, I wondered about the mysterious video. And now, after 20 years, there it is. Wow.

    I’m a bit freaked by it. Not because seeing it completes some Joshua Tree puzzle for me, but because it reminds me of how long U2 have been in my life. Friends, colleagues, and family have come and gone, but U2 are still there.

    I don’t care if the video is cheesy. Everything in the 80s was cheesy. They were great then. They are great now.

  18. My response to it was purely emotional and sentimental. I remember listening to the song when it was new. For so long, I wondered about the mysterious video. And now, after 20 years, there it is. Wow.

    I’m a bit freaked by it. Not because seeing it completes some Joshua Tree puzzle for me, but because it reminds me of how long U2 have been in my life. Friends, colleagues, and family have come and gone, but U2 are still there.

    I don’t care if the video is cheesy. Everything in the 80s was cheesy. They were great then. They are great now.

  19. Mrs. U2roeli noted that the video looked like some sort of soft-porn.
    I dunno… 😉

    In the meantime U2.com have posted homevideo footage of Anton Corbijn, shot during the Death Valley shoot.

    I remember this footage being used live during streets (Zoo-tv)

  20. Mrs. U2roeli noted that the video looked like some sort of soft-porn.
    I dunno… 😉

    In the meantime U2.com have posted homevideo footage of Anton Corbijn, shot during the Death Valley shoot.

    I remember this footage being used live during streets (Zoo-tv)

  23. I have watched it only once and my initial impression is what was the director thinking?
    Wise decision to let this one rest for a few years. I must admit I was curious to see why they shelved it, now I understand. There were moments when Bono was restrained in his movements that he was great eye candy. They are still my favorite band and will always love their music. But, cross our fingers the directors they choose in the future stop the heavy handed, overwrought eye rolling and hair flipping, etc.etc…. U2’s music is so good they need to choose more creative directors. Maybe the next twenty years of good music videos will balance out the last twenty years of so so product. Let’s all hope Original of the Species (Catherine Owens) Electrical Storm (Anton Corbijn) and Windows in the Sky (I forget the names of the directors) are signs of better videos to come. Fabulous videos will only showcase their music and make it more memorable.

  24. I have watched it only once and my initial impression is what was the director thinking?
    Wise decision to let this one rest for a few years. I must admit I was curious to see why they shelved it, now I understand. There were moments when Bono was restrained in his movements that he was great eye candy. They are still my favorite band and will always love their music. But, cross our fingers the directors they choose in the future stop the heavy handed, overwrought eye rolling and hair flipping, etc.etc…. U2’s music is so good they need to choose more creative directors. Maybe the next twenty years of good music videos will balance out the last twenty years of so so product. Let’s all hope Original of the Species (Catherine Owens) Electrical Storm (Anton Corbijn) and Windows in the Sky (I forget the names of the directors) are signs of better videos to come. Fabulous videos will only showcase their music and make it more memorable.

  25. Like the Pop album, there is alot of great stuff going on here but the end product falls short.

    What exactly is the message of the video? Look how hard these people worked so that we could someday dress like them while throwing ourselves about in a replica of their workplace?

    The photography is great and a bit more editing could have made this something special.

  26. Like the Pop album, there is alot of great stuff going on here but the end product falls short.

    What exactly is the message of the video? Look how hard these people worked so that we could someday dress like them while throwing ourselves about in a replica of their workplace?

    The photography is great and a bit more editing could have made this something special.

  27. My stream of conciousness as I watched the video:

    1.) Read the comments before watching the video. It made me expect the worst, and left the video not looking nearly as bad as I feared.

    2.) If there is anything that can break the machismo-infused fantasy of 4 hard-working, sweaty, 5ft. tall Irish miners, it’s the “tuck-hair-behind-the-ear” move. The “I-don’t-know-what-else-to-do-with-my-hands” move. I’m proud of Bono. He only had five hair tucks/grandeos tosses through the video. That’s quite restrained of him.

    2 1/2.) Only two awkward outstretches to the audience, a la the poor cameraman that was groped on the rooftop for the “Streets” video. Also quite restrained for Bono.

    3.) Loved Bono’s heart-felt interpretation of “hanging on”…when he “hung on[to]” the chain. Brilliant. Must take lessons…

    4.) Maybe Edge and Adam should have left the canaries in the mine. Bono was looking a little stumbly afterwards.

    5.) Ah…Window in the Skies. SO GOOD.

    Of course, I footnote all of this with a tiny * that suggests from the greatest criticism comes the greatest love.

  28. My stream of conciousness as I watched the video:

    1.) Read the comments before watching the video. It made me expect the worst, and left the video not looking nearly as bad as I feared.

    2.) If there is anything that can break the machismo-infused fantasy of 4 hard-working, sweaty, 5ft. tall Irish miners, it’s the “tuck-hair-behind-the-ear” move. The “I-don’t-know-what-else-to-do-with-my-hands” move. I’m proud of Bono. He only had five hair tucks/grandeos tosses through the video. That’s quite restrained of him.

    2 1/2.) Only two awkward outstretches to the audience, a la the poor cameraman that was groped on the rooftop for the “Streets” video. Also quite restrained for Bono.

    3.) Loved Bono’s heart-felt interpretation of “hanging on”…when he “hung on[to]” the chain. Brilliant. Must take lessons…

    4.) Maybe Edge and Adam should have left the canaries in the mine. Bono was looking a little stumbly afterwards.

    5.) Ah…Window in the Skies. SO GOOD.

    Of course, I footnote all of this with a tiny * that suggests from the greatest criticism comes the greatest love.

  29. Jordan is not an actor’s director. He probably left the boys fending for themselves while he measured camera distance.

    The bits that have me breaking out laughing are the Adam and The Edge’s slomos. My hilarity is caused more by the choices the director and whoever scripted this thing made – I mean, we already know Bono’s a ham.

    Also… what’s his (Neil Jordan’s) thing with our feathered friends? Canaries in this one, the birdies in Breakfast on Pluto…

  30. Jordan is not an actor’s director. He probably left the boys fending for themselves while he measured camera distance.

    The bits that have me breaking out laughing are the Adam and The Edge’s slomos. My hilarity is caused more by the choices the director and whoever scripted this thing made – I mean, we already know Bono’s a ham.

    Also… what’s his (Neil Jordan’s) thing with our feathered friends? Canaries in this one, the birdies in Breakfast on Pluto…

  31. Canaries in a mine is pretty obvious, Caroline. I remember Bono saying that they need a canary whenever they’re in a car or room with Adam. 😉

    Edge definitely needs his handlebar mustache for this clip.

    And it’s good Larry’s banging on a steel pipe. That’s what drummers do, they hit things. 😛

  32. Canaries in a mine is pretty obvious, Caroline. I remember Bono saying that they need a canary whenever they’re in a car or room with Adam. 😉

    Edge definitely needs his handlebar mustache for this clip.

    And it’s good Larry’s banging on a steel pipe. That’s what drummers do, they hit things. 😛

  33. 20 years… and then this! Hmm.. It’s a legendary video, but i think it would have survived much much longer as a legend if they kept it shelved. The Mystery of the Red Hill Mining Town video was so much better then the actual video..

    I guess it is now all over…

  34. 20 years… and then this! Hmm.. It’s a legendary video, but i think it would have survived much much longer as a legend if they kept it shelved. The Mystery of the Red Hill Mining Town video was so much better then the actual video..

    I guess it is now all over…

  35. “Canaries in a mine is pretty obvious, Caroline.”

    Thanks for explaining it to me, Jedi, I wouldn’t have known otherwise.

    *raspberry*

  36. “Canaries in a mine is pretty obvious, Caroline.”

    Thanks for explaining it to me, Jedi, I wouldn’t have known otherwise.

    *raspberry*

  37. The Rattle and Hum backlash would definitely have kicked in a lot earlier if this had been released at the time – can you imagine what NME would have made of this in ’87? Presumably even Bill Graham at Hot Press couldn’t have let this one go without at least some critical comment. Bono looks like he’s in T’Pau but at least sings like a canary, I guess Larry was still a miner in those days, Adam’s ‘moment’ is laugh out loud hilarious although Edge’s Quaker/Shaker chic suits the mine stage set. I guess the song attempts to say something universal in the context of the 84-85 miner’s strike in the UK, but it fails terribly and – even worse – winds up being extremely patronising towards the real life struggles of miners. I guess Billy Bragg’s between the wars EP is the place to look for the real thing; or Dick Gaughan singing the blackfaced miner; or Ken Loach’s film about police kicking the shite out of striking miners. U2 look totally up their own arse on this one and more concerned with their own worthiness and earnestness rather than saying something about the world of the striking miners that they were ostensibly trying to comment on.

  38. The Rattle and Hum backlash would definitely have kicked in a lot earlier if this had been released at the time – can you imagine what NME would have made of this in ’87? Presumably even Bill Graham at Hot Press couldn’t have let this one go without at least some critical comment. Bono looks like he’s in T’Pau but at least sings like a canary, I guess Larry was still a miner in those days, Adam’s ‘moment’ is laugh out loud hilarious although Edge’s Quaker/Shaker chic suits the mine stage set. I guess the song attempts to say something universal in the context of the 84-85 miner’s strike in the UK, but it fails terribly and – even worse – winds up being extremely patronising towards the real life struggles of miners. I guess Billy Bragg’s between the wars EP is the place to look for the real thing; or Dick Gaughan singing the blackfaced miner; or Ken Loach’s film about police kicking the shite out of striking miners. U2 look totally up their own arse on this one and more concerned with their own worthiness and earnestness rather than saying something about the world of the striking miners that they were ostensibly trying to comment on.

  43. Thanks for posting this video! I love the way Edge was walking around the corner, just something about it… 🙂

    Sooo glad Bono doesn’t have long hair anymore!

  44. Thanks for posting this video! I love the way Edge was walking around the corner, just something about it… 🙂

    Sooo glad Bono doesn’t have long hair anymore!

  45. Caroline, didn’t Bono call his yellow automobile (a Torana wasn’t it?) the “Canary”? I think the B-Man might be the one who has a thing for birds.

  46. Caroline, didn’t Bono call his yellow automobile (a Torana wasn’t it?) the “Canary”? I think the B-Man might be the one who has a thing for birds.

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