Knetsch, Robert ([email protected])
Thu, 3 Dec 1998 11:12:33 -0500
>Ok who cares if U2 do drugs or not... You like them for their music... What
>they do on their free time is their business not ours :)
Sorry to pick on this particular person, but I want to repeat myself as this
asinine statement is so typical of what I am hearing. This statement is not
only superficial, it is full of assumptions and (to sound like Spock)
illogical. First of all, who told YOU that I like U2 for their music only?
In fact, it is precisely for the fact that U2 stood up for something that
made them so well known in the 80s. It was not as common for a rock band to
make political and social statements (yes, there were exceptions, I know).
The raw energy that they displayed and their stance against the violence in
Ireland in SBS was a testament to their beliefs. Now, given that U2 were
very much against Ireland's violence, don't you think that as a fan I would
be appalled if they then said at, say, a press conference that all the
members of the IRA, or of the Unionists, or some other political group in
Ireland be shot and killed for their stand? Such a statement would tear
down my walls of trust and identification with their struggles. Similarly,
if Bono were to be so casually doing hard-core drugs (which I must
distinguish, by the way, from such other vices as alcohol and, perhaps, weed
or hash) I would simply think that they were two-faced and inconsistent.
That would affect how I view their music. And that makes it my business,
because their music, by being sold publicly, is made up of public
statements.
In the end, perhaps Bono DID, or IS doing drugs....but, if so, I do care and
I WOULD think less of him. And I think whoever makes the statements like
above should respect fans a bit more for their concern. I like them more
than their music only, so don't tell ME why I like them.
*Composing myself*
And YOU J, I was about to rail against you for so misappropriating the
meaning of U2's lyrics in their songs. Then I realized you MUST be joking.
I mean, I almost forgot that you must understand the meaning of imagination
and creativity, which Bono has, and which he could use to presume what doing
drugs must be like, what being high is like. I mean, he HAS been high on
alcohol. I realized that you must know that when he sings in Desire "over
the counter, with that shotgun" that he never necessarily HAD to buy a
shotgun in order to sing that. And I realized that you were just being
facetious when you thought that by breaking his shoulder, he must be on
drugs. I mean, I almost believed that when I broke my wrist while slam
dancing I almost thought I too must have been on drugs, but then I realized
that you were just being ironic. Right?.....RIGHT? You almost got me!!!
Rob Knetsch
"She suffers the needle chill...she's running to stand still"
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