His unbound, untethered, always pushing forward ambition is quite off-putting. Think of the shark in Spielberg's movie. It may be that Bono's constantly striving for more, his rarely ever being satisfied, may have been a big reason U2 became a monster success, and also propelled Bono into the corridors of power around the world, but I find myself turned off by his glad-handing, over-driven, bible-verse-quoting, pumped up Evangelist, and knock down every last door Salesman. I couldn't help asking myself: "Who the fuck does this guy think he is?" Even if his intentions are good, (and they usually are), his over-heated methods leave me cold. Bono is a world champion name-dropper. He has rubbed shoulders with pretty much everyone. You get the sense he is always measuring himself against the famous figures he meets. Not pretty, a total turn-off.
Turns out the answer of who he thinks he is, was revealed in a session with a hypnotist. Bono has a huge, life-long crush on Jesus. In fact, it's obvious Bono has his own, self-admitted Messiah Complex. The way Bono tells it, Jesus is his special "best friend." I think it's clear Bono thinks he and Jesus ARE EQUALS! Ha. Ha. Ha.
So funny. Dig deep enough into the molten core of Bono's psyche, and you find the inconsolable pain of losing his Ma at young age, and the unremitting rage in his life-time war with his Da. They drive his audacity and his risk-taking. He is fundamentally a melodic, raging, holy fool. A blessing and a curse.
So, yes, artistically, musically, poetically, Bono's drive has paid off big time. There is just an after-taste of distaste when you observe how he sees himself, and how he leverages (often admirably), his fame & celebrity, the Full-Metal-Jacket Bono, propelling & promoting himself, and his causes, out into the wider world. Bono is no hypocrite. He does put his energy and his $ and cultural capital where his mouth is, he just can't stop himself from over-flowing, relentlessly. A river runs thru him.
These songs titles from other artists popped into my head while I was reading the Gospel According to Bono: "I Want to Be Adored," (Stone Roses), "It's All Too Much" (The Beatles), "Everyone Wants to Rule the World," (Tears for Fears), "Amazing Journey" (The Who), "Who are You" (The Who), "Mr. Big Stuff" (Jean Knight).
Luckily. I can separate this man from his work. My conflicted feelings about the man, do not put me off from U2's best work: "The Joshua Tree," "Unforgettable Fire," "War," "Achtung, Baby," "Zooropa," "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," "All that You Can't Leave Behind.," "No Line on the Horizon." A pretty damn amazing discography. Some of the finest music ever recorded. No doubt. I still often, even obsessively, spin these discs, and I do enjoy them immensely. A fucking great band. Bono is lucky (he admits it), to be making music with Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton. It's the sum of the parts that creates the bigger magic. U2. Yes. Quite the journey & story. But for me, the best of U2 is to be found in the grooves, not in Bono's wooly, never to be satisfied mind.
