Sunday, 30 June 2013


That's Entertainment : U2 (The Nineties)


Ever been stuck in a moment you can't get out of?  Well, here's a whole decade for you.

In 1989, I fell in a love with an epic song called All I Want Is You.  It was a soulful, mournful tale of love and despair and the video clip has to be one of the most amazing pieces of pop 'art' ever filmed.  At this time, I knew of U2 but this was 'my' song.  Anyway...that was the tail end of 1989...just as the Berlin Wall fell, Communism ended and McDonalds set up camp in Moscow.  At the time, U2 were probably close to being the biggest popular band in the world.  They seemed tired, jilted and this was the last hurrah before something had to change.  Luckily for U2, between Rattle and Hum and Achtung Baby, the whole world was about to change as well.

Decamping to Berlin...a city split in two and now reunified, trying to find it's way in this new world paradigm, U2 tucked themselves up in a recording studio, also trying to figure out themselves.  It seems amazing now, that U2 were at the crossroads.  While they were ensconced in the studio, metamorphasising, the world changed so much.  We take it for granted now.  I often say to Lee that that Cold War climate no longer exists - which was normal to me as my father was overseas in Eastern Europe at the time.  And in 1991 as the bright new world dawned, the 24-7 TV coverage in the Gulf War and the cult of personality creating instant celebrity for Stormin' Norman Schwartzkopf and Colin Powell begat the 24-7 instant world we now inhabit.  Grunge was coming, changing the cultural landscape of the USA and the shackles were being released throughout Europe, South Africa and Asia.  Late in the same year of 1991, U2 finally delivered.  I recall having read somewhere in OTS [On The Street - street press- long since defunct] - that U2's master tapes had been stolen and bootlegged and what not, but finally, U2 had a new song.  Back then, two years was an eternity (now it feels like a blink of the eye) and I distinctly remember watching telly in the common room with heaps of other people as they aired U2's new song The Fly.

If ever there was a polarising shift then here it was...though after the brief initial flirtation with the song, it was discussed and accepted that this was the 'new' U2.  I loved it from the get go.  If a person could fall in love in a heartbeat, well with The Fly, I did it then and there.  Scoring the CD single, The Fly, backed with Alex Descends Into Hell For A Bottle of Milk/Korova 1 and The Lounge Fly (remix), this single, along with Nirvana's Nevermind, and Queen's Greatest Hits II, were my summer of 1991.  The Fly debuted at #1 on the ARIA Chart, a mean feat in the days before it became commonplace for 'event' singles.  And it was a statement of intent.  Superficially, it didn't sound like U2, but when you concentrate, it does.  It has all the U2 trademarks - Bono's voice, The Edge's jangling guitars, Adam Clayton's chugging bass and Larry Mullen's precise beat.  For mine, and it will always be, The Fly is one of the greatest rock songs ever.

Not long after, Achtung Baby came out and the 1990's were officially U2's.  Even now, the breadth and depth of Achtung Baby is startling.  The singles continued.  Mysterious Ways, with it's sexy swagger and  pulpit guilt; Even Better Than The Real Thing with it's bombast and pleas.  Of the singles, it is One that has the lasting legacy that could fit on any of their 1980's or 2000's output.  With that smoky bar-room, whiskey drenched feeling of longing, loneliness, emptiness and redemption of the soul...the song rises to an elegiac finale...and could possibly be one of Bono's finest vocal deliveries.  Then of course there's Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses which meshes the pomp rock with the finesse of the beautiful moments.

Scanning the album, you'd think they were crazy not to release Until The End of the World or Tryin' To Throw You Arms Around The World as singles.  Each holds its own against any other single, and taking the album as a whole, Achtung Baby's tracks are 12 gems in a jewellery box.

By 1993 and already owning the decade with the leering alt personality of The Fly and MacPhisto, the wrap around glasses and mega-event concert tours and wall to wall video airplay, U2 released Zooropa.  It is gleefully synthetic, instantly disposable yet possesses a classic durability.  The electro sparsity of lead-in single Numb proved a point, that they could release a piece of s#it and people would buy it.  This is my 2nd U2 moment after The Fly.  Disgusted to this day that this was a video single only (not released on cassette, CD or 7 inch), Numb is one of those songs that probably sounds like a novelty to the uninitiated and mostly forgotten by many.  Even at the time, many cocked an eyebrow and said WTF?  With The Edge providing stream of consciousness vocals, Numb encapsulated the whole Zoo TV era of throwaway consumerism and doublespeak dumbed down sound bytes which we take for granted 20 years later as it happens every 10 seconds.  Of course, the ship was righted with another slew of singles - Lemon and Stay (Faraway So Close) *****.  Thinking about it now, Zooropa is kind of the forgotten U2 album; even the band has mixed feelings about it.  Case in point: the 1990-2000 Best Of contains Numb (remixed and crap) and no other singles from this era.  Babyface and Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car and Some Days Are Better Than Others are all classic U2, worthy of your time

Then of course there was the Passengers album, which I discovered only quite recently was a U2 album in all but name.  It is something I am set to review and absorb in to the U2 canon, when I get a chance.

Of course, there was the diversion of Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me for the Batman Forever soundtrack.  Another #1 hit, the cool anime film clip depicted Bono a la his MacPhisto character as Batman's nemesis and remains one of the best soundtrack hit songs of many a year.  I don't even care for the film, the song is a corker and wickedly cool.  By now, U2 were dating supermodels, entertaining the Pope and Presidents, spruiking their ideals (something not forgotten from their 80's earnest years) and travelling, touring, filming, playing, gracing magazine covers non-stop.  Imagine if the internet age was fully with us back then.  The band members did their own things (the Mission: Impossible soundtrack for Larry and Adam).  

By 1997, U2 were big and bloated.  The post Communist, consumer heyday, Clinton years were in full swing.  Blair was coming to power in the UK and the Spice Girls were tearing up the charts.  So what does U2 do...they say fug it and release the most self-indulgent album of their careers.   Discotheque - all camp Village People aesthetics and in your face guitars - it kickstarted the Pop album era and this time, there was a backlash.  Your snooty muso types lambasted the band for taking advantage of their global image and audience.  The rebukes were strong and loud, but I don't think U2 cared to much.  The 1990's party was waning and this was the comedown album, because life, even as popstars has repercussions.  There's an emptiness to Pop.  Whilst the cover is all shiny (of it's era of pop music), slick and full of eye candy, scratch the surface, dig deep and you find apologetic gems in Staring At The Sun or Last Night On Earth.  

And yet, there is something almost more tangible to this last hurrah album Pop compared to what was delivered on 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind.  By 2000, Clinton was out, the Republicans were in.  The Wall Street vultures who had feasted on the consumers were about to get their comeuppance.  Sept 11 was around the corner.  Perhaps, for the 1990's, U2 had adapted to their audience and led them on a hedonistic march.  Perhaps realising a new conservatism was upon them, U2 returned with a more Joshua Tree sounding album full of hope and grace.  In the months after Sept 11, many needed to clutch to something and U2 provided something warm to embrace, a light in the darkness, something familiar.  For U2 were also burnt by management embezzlement and lost finances, leaving them financially stricken - hence the 2 best ofs 1980-1990 and 1990-2000.  Not saying U2 are sell outs or cookie cutter, paint by numbers but they are in the business of selling you music, and they do it well.  They also had to recoup their losses.  And since the mid 2000's, it's almost as if the music doesn't quite matter like it used to and perhaps they've conceded they are now my generation's Rolling Stones...the endless carnivale where they give the plebs exactly what they want.  In this age of back catalogue and content, I'm sure U2 are content to mine their back catalogue.  For me, I'm a bit "I like your old stuff better than your new stuff".  And whilst I liked U2's 2000's output, they are now a 'safe' global brand with a global audience that gets what it pays for.  And why not, that audience sustained them through the lower sales of the last album in 2009 and it is without doubt  that U2 are one of the biggest touring acts out there at the moment.

Anyway, as a child of the 80's and a boy-man of the 90's, U2's output in their second decade may not has as much 'meaning' to their first decade.  But it will never be this exciting again for U2.  That moment when one door permanently shuts, where you can't go back and when you think about it, you can smell it, taste it, breathe it, re-live it...U2 1990's is me stuck in a moment that I can't get out of.  


The Fly


Mysterious Ways


One


Even Better Than The Real Thing


Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses


Numb


Lemon


Stay (Faraway So Close)


Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me


Discotheque


Staring At The Sun



***** The film clip for Stay (Faraway, So Close) was directed by Wim Wenders, who directed Wings of Desire and it's sequel Faraway, So Close.  Both films inspired me with it's contemporary angels and black & white look.  If one day I pull my finger out, the fruits of my labour inspired by this era might be read-worthy,  LOL!  Sadly, Wings of Desire was re-made in 1998 as City of Angels and is to be avoided at all costs.
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