4The Daily Tar Heel Thursday,
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U2's Bono
February 1 1, 1938
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Arpcrica is a nation In which even
a group iiko the Ceastia Ceys can
becomefcrnous and successful.
Clearly. American pep music lovers
want to fightfcr their right to party, music ecl lections
But they have also mad e room in their meatier messages
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Tar Heel file photo
THE
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and politically charged lyrics.
Several-artists who have
gained
usp
pillar support in the past
y'
--r h
:,ve re'es
craiDums containing
rpolitical themes.
They have els
ttmcted huge audien-
ccs m pe
in this area.
) -I
i he nsh auartetiu de nahted
opacity crowds at Hampton. Va..
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u J.
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in mid-December. The
concerts v
ere .nothing less than
JsnttiCjJe. music was about
turmoil in Central America and
Ireland, economic decline among
British mining communities and
political prisoners.
R.E.M.. the Georgia band widely
credited with initiating the wave of
Southern progressive music, played
two shows at Duke's Cameron Indoor
Stadium in early October. With the
release of Document the auartet.
reached a much broader audience .
than ever' before, and as theories i
became more distinguishable listen- j
ers could discern statements about !
U.S. interventionisnvfh Central and ;
South America and'a new McCarthy-;
ism at home.' ' V
Former" Police frontman Sting
played to aft enthusiastic crowd at
the Smith Center in January in
support of his album . . . Nothing Like
the Sun. Along with, his sophisticated
borderline jazz, he included a wealth
of literary and historical allusions as
well as pointed statements about the
repressive Pinochet regime in Chile
and corruption and violence in the
disturbed Central American nations.
Such internationalist political
outlooks are certainly a stark con
trast to the tripe offered by pop stars
such as Bon Jovi or L.L. Cool Jay. Buts
does the public's acceptance of
political statements by musicians
with broad visions have any real
meaning, or are these lyrics being
played but not heard?
International political action is
becomina established as a nrnnpr
channel for rock musicians, with this
decade seeing the Band Aid and Live
Aid projects, as well as the Amnesty
International Conspiracy of Hope
Tour. Amnesty is vocally supported
by both Sting and U2. In fact, the
Hampton arena was bedecked with
vbanners espousing freedom for pol
itical prisoners and related causes,
erd Bono brought a pair of banner
holdiftg fans onstage with him as he
rrde ch appeal for everyone to join
mnrsiy tables in the lobby.
XildklVli actions make politics
difficult to Ignore as an intrinsic part
of U2's personality. Bono himself is
an extremely charismatic figure who
has even been compared to Christ.
1
Former Policeman Sting brought his pcullccl fdec'oy to th3 Cmi:'i Center Jsn. 2
V t tin v vi
the r.
ness
-du
corx, '
atlyc -ofat.:
. A3 :.
reiigic i
music i
mess:"
cop.ee. t
arison is far-fetched.
ide an aura of aood-
int of a better word
concert, and his political
.Tied to be unquestion
is he described his vision
yorld.
frent American politics.
i ally of U2's politics. U2's
jiways contained Christian
I In fact, the famous
ider "40" is biblical text
direct:;
tianity of U2's music does nnt ipad
to, rightfwing fundamentalism but
rather tp a global peace-and-justice
liberalism.
Perhaps one of the reasons for U2's
growth in popularity in the United
States is this international approach.
Much of the band's earlier material
seemed to focus more on the prob
lems of the British Isles. Americans
can more easily relate to the powerful
"Bullet the Blue Sky." describing
America s imperialistic efforts to the
auuui i can see those
fighter
planes.
Sting s political tactics do not
blatantly involve religion, but he does
mix in nis psychological beliefs in
CUS masculine and feminine
? f;es Psyche. On . . . Nothing
LiKe tne bun, he sometimes targets
hPv,CnanJectsA of criticism' as
relates how the female relatives of
I
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1 - .. A 1 . 'i " x , -
political prisoners in Chile protest by
silently dancing with photographs of
their loved ones. Other times he is
more vague and moralistic, as in
"History Will Teach Us Nothing." in
which he says to "convince an enemy
. . . that he's wrong is to win a
bloodless battle ... to blow up his
children will only prove him right."
Children were a powerful political
motivation in "Russians," a song
from The Dream of the Blue Turtles
which rejects the notions of nuclear
deterrence and limited nuclear war
("We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology What might
save us me and you is that the
Russians love their children too"). A
far cry from the Evil Empire brand
of politics in Reagan's America.
The music of U2 and Sting is.
however, not American; it promotes
visions articulated by observers, not
natives, of a superpower. R.E.M. is
a homegrown band, and partly
because of this, the band's messages
come across differently. Much of the
political content of the album Lifes
Rich Pageant is aimed at immediate
domestic problems, such as water
pollution, acid rain, and political
apathy. They are. in their own words,
"young despite the years. . . . con
cerned despite the times."
R.E.M.'s messages are apt to be
more satiric and sometimes more
cryptic than those of the other two
artists. "Exhuming, McCarthy" on
Document, for instance, takes a
cynical look at yuppie values ("You're
beautiful, more beautiful, than me
You're honorable, more honorable
than me Loyal to the tenk of.
America") and compares the result
ing intolerance to that of Joseph
McCarthy.
R.E.M.'s style is a far cry from the
others'. Lead singer Michael Stipe Is
an enigma who. in turns, broods and
becomes hyperactive. His complex
lyrics have become more discernible
over the years. (Perhaps R.E.M.'s
earliest albums were highly political,
but nobody could tell).
While albums and concerts by these
three musical giants have become
more appealing to the general Amer
ican pop music audience, it is unclear
whether the fans consciously flock to
hear politics or not. After all. R.E.M.
broke onto the Top 40 with "The
One I Love." probably the most vapid
set of words ever to emanate from
Stipe's mouth. And Sting's major hit
from the new album. "We'll Be
Together." is a well-done song, but
hardly political. Maybe the standard
pop songs are the spoonful of sugar
to make that political medicine go
down.
On the practical level, the question
is whether or not audiences absorb
the political messages in pop music,
especially when they are in album cuts
rather than hit singles. On a norma-
The
13 CiTi.ui Cev..er Jen. 23
, the question is whether or
not popular musicians should be so
blatantly politicalAfter all. pop stars
are the heroesof today's younger
generation. Whata figure such as
Bono sevs for siriosfto feTfiaUsrrts..
liable to be taken to heart more than N
to use one's status as a musical star
to propagate sometimes controver
sial political views? -
sial political stances. K'eny p:cpie feel
that this is an abuse of the power
of av pulpit Is it not a similar abuse
to preach politics to an adoring crowd
of youncj rock fens?
The answer is no. of course. Rock
stars do hot generally claim to have
divine authority, and they do not
throw God weight behind their
messages. Popularity as an artist, or
even as a personality, is a legitimate
tool for advancing politic"! causes.
It seems that there Is little to fear
from the recent popularity cf groups
with intelligent anb substantive
lyrics. Those who understanding
appreciate the messages are the same
people who will more than likely be
discriminating in ideology and will
not blindly embrace ideas, even if they
are put forth by their favorite
musicians. Those who would uncrit
ically swallow politically charged
content probably won't notice or
understand it anyway.
Daily Tar Heel Thursday, February 11, 19835
DTH Elizabeth Morrah