(Credits: Apple TV+)
Bono didn’t get into the music industry to be number two in everything.
There are plenty of artists that are content to look back on their heroes and think that they could never reach those heights, but whenever U2 took to the stage, there was no doubt that Bono wanted to go down as the almighty king of the universe whenever he stepped up to sing. Each of their shows have felt like a religious experience in his eyes, but he knew that the passion they had couldn’t equal what true pain felt like.
That’s not to say that there isn’t a lot of anger on U2’s records. They practically made it part of their job to make the more challenging records of their discography, and while that did mean sitting through a lot of onstage speeches that could get more than a little bit old after a while, it’s not like you couldn’t respect that long mane of 1980s hair at Live Aid meant every single word that he said on that stage.
But for all of his love of acts like The Beatles, the reason why U2 blew up in the way they did was due to their fascination with America. Although there are countless pieces of American history baked into albums like The Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum was either a love letter to the bands that made them who they are or an excuse for one of the biggest bands in the world to stroke their own egos for a few hours depending on how you look at it.
Because, really, why should Bono have footage of Martin Luther King Jr’s face plastered over top of the band as they play ‘MLK’? His heart was in the right place, but it does come off as a bit tasteless. When they’re not paying tribute to American icons, though, hearing them jam with the likes of BB King made them look like they were calling their shot as the most important band in the world.
However, Bono would be the first to admit that U2 were never the kind of band to get anywhere near King’s level of prestige, saying, “Though I think U2 are at the peak of their form in terms of our own music, when I look at American music, I mean the Memphis Horns and BB King, on that scale, we’re at the bottom of the ladder.”
And it’s not hard to see why. If we forget about the fact that they are two genres apart, Bono was not the kind of bluesman that King was during his prime. You could feel his sense of anger and compassion for the human race on tunes like ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, but the level of heartache and taste that King put into one of his guitar bends has more soul than most people could achieve.
Then again, Bono did have a few tricks up his sleeve as well. Hearing him sing alongside on ‘When Love Comes to Town’ does feel like an older mentor showing the new kids the ropes, and while no one was asking for The Edge to break out the blues licks and Bono to start singing about all the women that broke his heart, it’s the kind of passion that he was after, which is a lot more evident when listening to them cover tunes like ‘All Along the Watchtower’.
So, really, U2 were right in calling their shots a little bit with Rattle and Hum. They were right about not reaching the kind of legendary status that King had, but whenever you put on those classic records, you can feel that feeling in your gut that all of them felt when they were first falling in love with this music. It wasn’t anything special at the time, but if they kept going, their music had the power to change the world.
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