Читать книгу Thanks Be to Bono - Brent Barton - Страница 14

The birth took place in a common garden shed, not a manger. The place was Dublin. The year was 1976. The Earth was blessed with a very special gift. An image of stars, rock n’ roll stars on a stage playing mind-blowing music, appeared in the dreams of a young Larry Mullen Junior, a high school student and aspiring drummer in a local marching band. With a pa-rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum, the little drummer boy pinned (or possibly pasted, stapled or taped – I have never heard it verified) a note on the school bulletin board, inviting other aspiring young musicians to join him in the formation of a new musical band.

And so it was.

And so it came to be.

A wannabe singer, an untrained guitarist and the most magnificent poser of a bass player met in the Mullen family garden shed to discuss the sound of the future. This future world is an unknown world! It is filled with many, many questions. It’s a frightening world, but exciting. It can be driven, with a pounding bass. This is a world that can be propelled along, with a steady drumbeat. This is an interactive world that can be carved up and sculpted with the icy notes of an echoing guitar. It’s a world united, with a voice that leads a song. A voice that leads us into the unchartered territory of infinite space.

This space exists and it is filled with a never-ending wonder.

There are four. Bono (born as Paul Hewson) on vocals, the Edge (born as Dave Evans) on guitar, Adam Clayton on bass, and Larry Mullen Jr. on percussion. With little to no formal musical training, only their passion for the music, a band of awkward teenagers evolved into internationally acclaimed recording artists, and their songs reached out to people by the billions and billions and counting. Touching hearts, touching minds. Like no others before them, they’ve been destined for a cosmic collision course of changing our world. For the better! Creation has unfolded as an evolution, from the Post Punk New Wave New Age into the New Millennium and new beginnings. The idea of U2 grew to become the original, unstoppable world force here to light the way for humanity.

Number one, they’ve topped the musical charts and filled the largest of our planet’s stadiums to capacity, night after night, year after year, all while championing human rights, social justice, environmental causes, and inspiring movements of positive change in all lands. Incredible things have been done for people and places around the world. They’ve rocked and rolled a real wave that has brought enormous help to people, real people, millions of people, desperate for assistance. Desperate for help.

I state the truth here boldly: U2 are the greatest.

Ah hah, you say!

You say, ah hah.

What about the Beatles, you should most rightfully and logically inquire. Surely they are a greater band than U2?

A compelling argument can no doubt be made that the Beatles are a better band, with their catalogue of classics, each and every one mind blowing. And all created, in what, their barely ten years together as a band? Crazy. Incredible. Pure genius. A stroke of creativity of a mysterious and universal magnitude, no question. I would argue that the talents of the Liverpool quartet surpass those of Dublin. In many, many areas. Even U2 would argue that the Beatles are greater than U2. But of course they would say that. This band of four are rather humble and down to earth, despite all of the speculation that has been made about the size of Bono’s ego.

The Beatles are great! One can only wonder what they could have accomplished if they could have kept it going, as a creative force of four, a band together. Imagine what dreams could have been realized if they could have kept their friendship going. I, and many others, humbly make the proposition that the Beatles have served as inspiration for an even greater greatness: the musical and humanitarian legacy of U2.

Blessings be upon us, U2 have remained together, like brothers, a post nuclear family, for over 40 years! Still alive, still kicking it. Healthy (knock on wood), clean and sober. Or sober enough. My, oh my! 47 Grammies and countless other awards. Playlist upon playlist, filled with songs that have gone on to become international cross-cultural anthems. The world found in the wake of U2 finds itself transformed to a better place. What waves for us all to splash and play in!

As artists, they are masters of invention and re-invention, living in the present yet constantly moving forward, onwards and upwards. They’ve performed live before the billions and billions of the Earth. Their tours smash all records. Calculations must include the volume of joy that’s been realized through the music, as it plays on at weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs, boardroom presentations, graduation ceremonies, dances, and all the world’s parties we humans hold to mark the major milestones of life. They have a finger on the pulse of the planet. How they are active in life and living! They are global leaders for social justice in all lands. Thanks be to Bono, so many lives (actual lives, people) have been saved! Anti-malarial mosquito netting, sanitation upgrades, the distribution of food and medicine. Here are measurable improvements –these are real, scientifically measurable improvements – in the lives of whole communities. Here’s a real superstar and here is what he’s chosen to do with his time.

All around the world, this, here, is the voice of greatness.

This is what greatness sounds like.

Thanks be to Bono!

Who else has done these things?

Good God, I tell you, I love the Rolling Stones. Richards and Jagger, their music blows my mind. And they, among many other fantastic artists throughout the Ages have been great supporters of charity and social justice. Of course you can hear lots of great songs, by lots of great artists, being played loudly over and over again. U2 is outnumbered on that front, they might not stand out on the greater playlist for you. But we’re talking about the greater and the grander. It’s U2 that aims for above and beyond. They have kicked the meaning of actioned powered rock star up a notch. Empowered a whole world they have. They quench a great thirst for real love and real peace. The homeless sheltered, the hungry fed, more and more healed and emancipated, thanks to their good works.

These here are just the facts. There are many people alive today, because of U2.