— Ro Newton
It's difficult to imagine now but there was a time when Bono and U2 weren't hugely famous — and one needn't go back as far as the sixties when they were still in primary school. The recording of the Band Aid charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at the end of November,1984 was something the press were all over — and, for once, trashy tabloid coverage wasn't unwelcome. One such journal of "record" carried a photo of three vocalists sharing a mic, naming them in a left to right caption: Sting, Bono of U2 and Simon Le Bon. Everyone knew the lead singers from The Police and Duran Duran respectively but the Irishman in the middle with the silly name? Better remind people who he plays with.
Bono of U2. The Irish foursome hadn't been massive pop stars the way Culture Club, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Wham! had been but they had been coming off their strongest year yet. Having threatened to be hit makers for a while (the group came in fifth place in both 1980 and '81 for Most Promising New Act in the Smash Hits reader's poll, leading one nameless wag to comment "isn't it about time they came up with a really hot single and fulfilled some of that potential?"), they gradually won British fans over before going on to pull the same trick on the other side of the Atlantic. 1984's The Unforgettable Fire as well as hit single "Pride (In the Name of Love)" proved to be a breakthrough but real fame still alluded them.
A three year layover between albums is nothing in the twenty-first century but it wasn't as common back in the eighties. Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen — who both happened to have hotly anticipated new albums on their way in 1987 — could get away with such a delay since their earlier releases had been so overwhelmingly successful but, generally, it was common to remain productive. Both R.E.M. and The Smiths, groups who competed with U2 in terms of cult popularity, would put out an album every year as their fame gradually increased but ver "2" chose to hold off on a follow up for a bit. Ro Newton says that not much has been heard from them since their hit single "Pride" but this isn't entirely true — as she even admits herself. The simple narrative surrounding Live Aid was that Phil Collins kept his fans, Queen renewed them and U2 gained a whole new following. Their ten minute performance of "Bad" was simply epic and star making. You'd think this would be the perfect time to get more product out. Indeed, the E.P. Wide Awake in America reinforced their reputation as a towering live act and sold well despite the fact that the maxi single never really took off in North America. But seeming to capitalize on a charity concert was not the way they wanted to go about their business.
Wisely, the group chose to keep their appearances rare and did so only in high-profile benefit concerts. Following Live Aid, as Newton points out, they also appeared at an Amesty International event and at the (mostly) Irish artists-only Self Aid in Dublin. But when were they going to release something new? Bono did have a top twenty hit with countrymen Clannad on "In a Lifetime", which got him his first Smash Hits cover nearly two years before he did so as part of his day job. It helped that their following extended well beyond fickle young people. Baby Boomers who were snapping up CD's by Collins, Dire Straits and Sade had come to notice this quartet and they liked what they heard and saw. Bono and The Edge had long hair but it didn't look like they fussed over it. Their clothing was simple. Plus, everything they did seemed to mean something. Keeping their Christianity hidden away, they dedicated songs to Martin Luther King, had opinions on the arms race and their willingness to appear at festivals and on compilations for a good cause was such that it clearly wasn't just a passing fancy.
So, then it was 1987 and interest in U2 was still high though they weren't yet megastars. With all their heavy-handed charity work, they were in danger of getting on the wick of the public, which they would start doing before long (I don't know if it's in the movie but on the Rattle & Hum album, Bono goes into a long-winded speech in the middle of "Silver and Gold". Noticing a fan in the front row looking bored, he asks resentfully, "am I bugging you? Don't mean to bug ya"). It was a good move, then, to return with a love song. Yes, "With or Without You" is as serious and as rockist as they would remain for the rest of the decade but one can't help but feel gripped by Bono's underrated powers as a vocalist, those clipped guitars of The Edge (a good move on his part to hold off on his patented "shimmering shards" on this one) and Adam Clayton's pulse-beat bass. A pop obsessed youth of the time may have forgotten all about them (assuming they were ever aware) but they could find it just as enjoyable as an earnest, bespectacled English Lit major and treasurer of the Students for a Free Tibet or the "hip", ponytailed school career's advisor who used to believe in stuff.
Youngsters in the eighties may not be the most natural fans of U2 but they were probably better suited to judging their work based on their own merits. Kids weren't listening to Bobo, The Hedge, Adam "Clear Off" Clayton and the Other One because it was supposed to be good for them or because they gave money to Greenpeace or whatever but because their best songs have something that speaks to angst-ridden teens. "With or Without You" presents a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' scenario that the young can identify with. Far from being a romantic statement, the song casts love as a burden which fails to reduce stress levels. Morrissey may have spoken to awkwardness but the dissatisfied wandering spirit of Bono's lyrics are as much a part of the spotty, go-nowhere loser's listening diet than anything else.
Despite U2's appeal among yuppies and clapped out old hippies and the like buying their back catalog on CD, they were always at heart a singles band. Some of their albums are excellent, others just fine and a couple with little going for them but they always had three or four outstanding potential 45's tucked away even if everything else was of no consequence. The Joshua Tree album had "With or Without You" as well as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Where the Streets Have No Name" and they were all deservedly huge hits even if much of the rest of the L.P. was rather dour and samey. Grown up rock mags like Q and Rolling Stone could have all that rock 'n' roll authenticity and those boring deep cuts. They were never quite at home in the silly, frolicking world of Smash Hits but as long as they put out brilliant singles such as this, there would always be room in the hearts of Hits readers for a bit of U2.
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Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Tom Verlaine: "Cry Mercy Judge"
You can take the girl from the indie but you can't take the indie from the girl. Somehow or other, Newton is hopeful that a record like "Cry Mercy Judge" can help land the former Television frontman a much needed hit. Obviously she's right that it's a fun little rocker but I reckon she's approached it like the Whistle Test host that she once was. Tom Verlaine always deserved a wider audience but his menacing tone and some cool spidery guitar wasn't going to cut it for getting into the charts. We would all have to get into him the traditional way: by seeking out Marquee Moon, playing it whole bunch of times, talking about it non stop and then never bothering to investigate the rest of his stuff.
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