Timothy D. Neufeld - U2: Rock N Roll to Change the World

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U2: Rock n Roll to Change the World, by Timothy D. Neufeld

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ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Lanham Boulder New York London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Neufeld, Timothy D., 1963- author.

Title: U2 : rock 'n' roll to change the world / Timothy D. Neufeld.

Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2017] | Series: Tempo, a Rowman & Littlefield music series on rock, pop, and culture | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016036298 (print) | LCCN 2016037520 (ebook) | ISBN 9781442249394 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781442249400 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: U2 (Musical group) | Rock musiciansIrelandBiography. | Rock musiciansPolitical activity.

Classification: LCC ML421.U2 N48 2017 (print) | LCC ML421.U2 (ebook) | DDC 782.42166092/2 [B] dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016036298

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

To my sons:

Michael, Every generation gets a chance to
change the world

and Daniel, Young, not dumb

U2 is an icon now, in 2017, not just in the world of popular music or just in the worlds of celebrity entertainers, humanitarians, or political activists, but in the world. As in, U2 is a global icon. Some call U2 Irelands greatest cultural ambassadors; more would agree it is Irelands greatest commercial export, which is no small feat considering U2s hometown, Dublin, is also the home of Guinness. As with all exports with a global impact, U2 has its passionate devotees as well as its vociferous deriders, both of which attest to the fact that when U2 comes to stay, it changes the landscape and the lives connected to it.

Changing lives was sort of the point for the four teenagers who formed the band in 1976 and have remained the bands only lineup to this day. When Bono, Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., and Adam Clayton met for their first practice, they were looking for a change in their own lives. They all knew the cultural tribulations of Ireland; Bono and Larry also had more personal trials to work through. Their sights were set on bands who inspired them: the already iconic Beatles, the Who, and the Rolling Stones, as well as the iconoclastic punk rockers from London to New York City, from the Clash to the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, and the Velvet Underground. U2s stereoscopic vision put icons and iconoclasts into focus, into one point of view shared equally by four men. The vision in their heads convinced them that with effort, imagination, and ingenuity, a rock band could be a force for change; the dream in their hearts was fueled by faith, hope, and love, such that by starting a rock band it might be more than just fun, it could be a family, and whatever notes they played could take a sad world and make it better.

In the following pages, Timothy D. Neufeld presents one of the most considered examinations I have ever read of the multiple cultural forces that have shaped U2 and that, by engaging those same cultural conversations, U2 has shaped in return. Writing with a personal interest and working as a scholar to assemble the facts to guide inquiry and conclusions, Neufeld has written neither a biography nor catalog of U2s achievements but rather a spirited testament of the core trait in U2 that makes it grow more enigmatic, thematically, the closer one looks. U2 is a changing band. It is known for its sonic, performative, and business experimentations that turned into acclaimed innovations, but at a deeper level it is driven by the belief that there is something better in itself and in us; its discontents arise when it sees inequality and indignity, prompting it to want to change the conditions affecting the lives at stake. Being open to change has served U2 well, internally, and it has made its career based on entertaining everyone around it to accept disruption as a force for good.

While its detractors scoff at the notion, U2 is, in fact, more interested in what you can become than what it can achieve. U2 intended to be big, great, and influentialthere was no shortage of ambition in those Dublin teensbut it didnt know back then how it would all turn out. The picture for the cover of this book is from January 2009, when U2 played in a preinauguration concert for US president-elect Barack Obama, staged in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, in Washington, DC. As a central campaign motif of Obamas was change, it was fitting to have like-minded U2 help usher in his presidency by performing Pride (in the Name of Love), written to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., himself an incredible agent of change whose voice could be in the cultural conversations of the 1960s in part because of the courageous change President Lincoln himself enacted a hundred years prior. U2s involvement in the concert and its pose in front of the Lincoln Memorial reinforces a point about its own stature, but as charismatic performers still thrilling audiences with new music, the band hasnt yet joined a rock n roll statuary hall. Contradictions in U2s career such as this have kept it interesting for fans and critics along the way, and U2 has always realized that the power for change is inherently embedded in a contradiction. What U2 couldnt see in 1976 was that it would get caught in the inevitable irony of success before it was done trying to change the world. All its effort, brains, artistry, and punk spirit worked, bringing the band a massive fan following that was, apparently, waiting for just this bands mix of music and message. The great irony of its career is that it is now iconic, while it still tries to operate within the principles of iconoclasm. Smack in the middle of a contradiction is a good place to be, as Bono is fond of saying.