[email protected]
Fri, 13 Nov 1998 17:06:02 EST
Cover story: U2 - The Best of 1980-90 has already generated advance sales of
100,000 copies in Ireland alone. With the band firmly back in the spotlight,
Adam Clayton talks about the past, present and future in this compelling
interview with Olaf Tyaransen. Topics include the peace process, appearing on
The Simpsons, and the journey from Boy to man
>From the Baggot Inn to The Simpsons, from 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' to Trimble
and Hume, from 'I Will Follow' to follow that, from boys to men, from the end
of the '70s to the end of the millennium - this is how 20 years of U2 looks
through the eyes of Adam clayton, a man who has experienced his own share of
highs and lows and lived to tell the tale. Interview: Olaf Tyaransen.
"Do you think maybe that's a bit too loud? I'll get them to turn it down a
little." Mega-rich rock star or not, Adam Clayton is a real gentleman, make no
mistake. Not only does he helpfully ask a member of staff to turn down the
music playing in the front lounge of the Clarence Hotel in order to facilitate
a clearer recording of this interview, but he also accepts the small gift I've
brought him with far more politeness and grace than the gesture probably
deserves. "Gosh!" he exclaims, examining it closely through his trademark
spectacles (today's are sharkskin grey). "Er, I really don't know what to say
. . ." "It's for your collection," I explain helpfully. "Yes, I figured that,"
he deadpans in his distinctively pronounced not-quite-Dublin accent. "Thanks!"
The gift in question is a small silver (plated) coffee spoon, liberated 20
minutes earlier from a trendy George's Street bar in a moment of journalistic
inspiration. So why am I giving one of the world's most famous bass players a
coffee spoon as a gift? Well, regular viewers of Matt Groening's The Simpsons
can answer that one. In the satirical cult cartoon show's 200th episode, Adam
and his bandmates make a guest appearance, bringing their Popmart Tour to
Springfield and getting stage-crashed by one Homer J. Simpson in the process.
For some strange reason, the animated Adam is portrayed as the U2 geek, a
spoon-collecting nerd who's only just barely tolerated by his bandmates.
Not only do Larry and Edge refuse to allow him to accompany them to Moe's
Tavern for a pint but, during the show's hilarious end-credit sequence, Bono
delights in torturing the beleaguered bassist by stealing his Springfield
spoon (thus reducing his collection's size to eight!). "I don't know why they
decided to pick on me," the real life Adam smiles, carefully placing the
plundered piece of cutlery down beside his car keys on the table. "But it was
quite funny the things they picked up on. It was actually quite hard to do -
you know, being a voice actor. I thought it would've been easy but it wasn't."
Even so, it was definitely worth the effort. An appearance on The Simpsons
isn't like an appearance on just any old TV programme. It's a cultural moment,
a zeitgeist seal of approval. When Adam, Bono, Edge and Larry made their
second ever animated appearance (their first being in the Hold Me, Thrill Me,
Kiss Me, Kill Me video), their images were permanently engraved onto the Mount
Rushmore cliff-face of popular culture. It was a final
confirmation, the ultimate acknowledgement of their superstar status. Fuck
being on the cover of Time magazine - The Simpsons is where it's at these
days! Their cartoon cameo meant U2 were huge, huger than huge. Even bigger in
the '90s than they ever were in the '80s.
But then, you probably already knew that. To those of us who were adolescents
in Ireland during the '70s and '80s, U2 and their music were as culturally
significant as Gay Byrne and Bobby Sands. More even. We grew up with them and
they grew up with us. Love them or loathe them - and let's face it, there's
never been much middle-ground when it comes to this particular band - U2 have
had a more serious impact on Irish youth consciousness than almost anyone
else, playing a constantly evolving soundtrack to the dramas of our lives,
threading together those difficult teenage years with memorable gigs, albums
and occasionally bombastic statements.
We all have our U2 moments, whether we want them or not. Maybe you had your
first kiss to 'Bad'. Or had the crap kicked out of you at one of their gigs.
Or listened to The Joshua Tree endlessly on your headphones when you were
supposed to be studying for your Leaving Cert. For my own part, I lost my
virginity to the strains of The Unforgettable Fire (that's the whole album,
incidentally, not just the song!). And given that the band have sold more than
75 million albums over the 20 years since they first formed in Dublin's Mount
Temple High School, chances are that as you're reading this, somebody,
somewhere, is losing theirs in exactly the same way. You see, U2 are part of
what we are. We all have a little U2 DNA inside us.
To see the cover and probablay what is an inside photo, point your sparky
browser to:
http://www.iol.ie/hotpress/2222u2.htm
des
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Fri Nov 13 1998 - 14:10:22 PST