March 17, 2005

Transcript: Bruce Springsteen Inducts U2 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

text by Bruce Springsteen

Uno, dos, tres, catorce. That translates as one, two, three, fourteen. That is the correct math for a rock and roll band. For in art and love and rock and roll, the whole had better equal much more than the sum of its parts, or else you're just rubbing two sticks together searching for fire. A great rock band searches for the same kind of combustible force that fueled the expansion of the universe after the big bang. You want the earth to shake and spit fire. You want the sky to split apart and for God to pour out.

It's embarrassing to want so much, and to expect so much from music, except sometimes it happens -- the Sun Sessions, Highway 61, Sgt. Peppers, the Band, Robert Johnson, Exile on Main Street, Born to Run -- whoops, I meant to leave that one out (laughter) -- the Sex Pistols, Aretha Franklin, the Clash, James Brown...the proud and public enemies it takes a nation of millions to hold back. This is music meant to take on not only the powers that be, but on a good day, the universe and God himself -- if he was listening. It's man's accountability, and U2 belongs on this list.

It was the early '80s. I went with Pete Townshend, who always wanted to catch the first whiff of those about to unseat us, to a club in London. There they were: A young Bono -- single-handedly pioneering the Irish mullet; (laughter) the Edge -- what kind of name was that?; Adam and Larry. I was listening to the last band of whom I would be able to name all of its members. They had an exciting show and a big, beautiful sound. They lifted the roof.

We met afterwards and they were nice young men. They were Irish. Irish! Now, this would play an enormous part in their success in the States. For what the English occasionally have the refined sensibilities to overcome, we Irish and Italians have no such problem. We come through the door fists and hearts first. U2, with the dark, chiming sound of heaven at their command -- which, of course, is the sound of unrequited love and longing, their greatest theme -- their search for God intact. This was a band that wanted to lay claim to not only this world but had their eyes on the next one, too.

Now, they're a real band; each member plays a vital part. I believe they actually practice some form of democracy -- toxic poison in a band's head. In Iraq, maybe. In rock, no! Yet they survive. They have harnessed the time bomb that exists in the heart of every great rock and roll band that usually explodes, as we see regularly from this stage. But they seemed to have innately understood the primary rule of rock band job security: "Hey, asshole, the other guy is more important than you think he is!" They are both a step forward and direct descendants of the great bands who believed rock music could shake things up in the world, who dared to have faith in their audience, who believed if they played their best it would bring out the best in you. They believed in pop stardom and the big time. Now this requires foolishness and a calculating mind. It also requires a deeply held faith in the work you're doing and in its powers to transform. U2 hungered for it all, and built a sound, and they wrote the songs that demanded it. They're keepers of some of the most beautiful sonic architecture in rock and roll.

The Edge. The Edge. The Edge. The Edge. (applause) He is a rare and true guitar original and one of the subtlest guitar heroes of all time. He's dedicated to ensemble playing and he subsumes his guitar ego in the group. But do not be fooled. Take Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Neil Young, Pete Townshend -- guitarists who defined the sound of their band and their times. If you play like them, you sound like them. If you are playing those rhythmic two-note sustained fourths, drenched in echo, you are going to sound like the Edge, my son. Go back to the drawing board and chances are you won't have much luck. There are only a handful of guitar stylists who can create a world with their instruments, and he's one of them. The Edge's guitar playing creates enormous space and vast landscapes. It is a thrilling and a heartbreaking sound that hangs over you like the unsettled sky. In the turf it stakes out, it is inherently spiritual. It is grace and it is a gift.

Now, all of this has to be held down by something. The deep sureness of Adam Clayton's bass and the rhythms of Larry Mullen's elegant drumming hold the band down while propelling it forward. It's in U2's great rhythm section that the band finds its sexuality and its dangerousness. Listen to "Desire," "She Moves in Mysterious Ways," [sic] the pulse of "With or Without You." Together Larry and Adam create the element that suggests the ecstatic possibilities of that other kingdom -- the one below the earth and below the belt -- that no great rock band can lay claim to the title without.

Now Adam always strikes me as the professorial one, the sophisticated member. He creates not only the musical but physical stability on his side of the stage. The tone and depth of his bass playing has allowed the band to move from rock to dance music and beyond. One of the first things I noticed about U2 was that underneath the guitar and the bass, they have these very modern rhythms going on. Rather than a straight 2 and 4, Larry often plays with a lot of syncopation, and that connects the band to modern dance textures. The drums often sounded high and tight and he was swinging down there, and this gave the band a unique profile and allowed their rock textures to soar above on a bed of his rhythm.

Now Larry, of course, besides being an incredible drummer, bears the burden of being the band's requisite "good-looking member," (laughter) something we somehow overlooked in the E Street Band. (laughter) We have to settle for "charismatic." Girls love on Larry Mullen! I have a female assistant that would like to sit on Larry's drum stool. A male one, too. We all have our crosses to bear.

Bono...where do I begin? Jeans designer, soon-to-be World Bank operator, just plain operator, seller of the Brooklyn Bridge -- oh hold up, he played under the Brooklyn Bridge, that's right. Soon-to-be mastermind operator of the Bono burger franchise, where more than one million stories will be told by a crazy Irishman. Now I realize that it's a dirty job and somebody has to do it, but don't quit your day job yet, my friend. You're pretty good at it, and a sound this big needs somebody to ride herd over it.

And ride herd over it he does. His voice, big-hearted and open, thoroughly decent no matter how hard he tries. Now he's a great frontman. Against the odds, he is not your mom's standard skinny, ex-junkie archetype. He has the physique of a rugby player...well, an ex-rugby player. Shaman, shyster, one of the greatest and most endearingly naked messianic complexes in rock and roll. (laughter) God bless you, man! It takes one to know one, of course.

You see, every good Irish and Italian-Irish front man knows that before James Brown there was Jesus. So hold the McDonald arches on the stage set, boys, we are not ironists. We are creations of the heart and of the earth and of the stations of the cross -- there's no getting out of it. He is gifted with an operatic voice and a beautiful falsetto rare among strong rock singers. But most important, his is a voice shot through with self-doubt. That's what makes that big sound work. It is this element of Bono's talent -- along with his beautiful lyric writing -- that gives the often-celestial music of U2 its fragility and its realness. It is the questioning, the constant questioning in Bono's voice, where the band stakes its claim to its humanity and declares its commonality with us.

Now Bono's voice often sounds like it's shouting not over top of the band but from deep within it. "Here we are, Lord, this mess, in your image." He delivers all of this with great drama and an occasional smirk that says, "Kiss me, I'm Irish." He's one of the great front men of the past twenty years. He is also one of the only musicians to devote his personal faith and the ideals of his band into the real world in a way that remains true to rock's earliest implications of freedom and connection and the possibility of something better.

Now the band's beautiful songwriting -- "Pride (In The Name of Love)," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "One," "Where the Streets Have No Name," "Beautiful Day" -- reminds us of the stakes that the band always plays for. It's an incredible songbook. In their music you hear the spirituality as home and as quest. How do you find God unless he's in your heart? In your desire? In your feet? I believe this is a big part of what's kept their band together all of these years.

See, bands get formed by accident, but they don't survive by accident. It takes will, intent, a sense of shared purpose, and a tolerance for your friends' fallibilities...and they of yours. And that only evens the odds. U2 has not only evened the odds but they've beaten them by continuing to do their finest work and remaining at the top of their game and the charts for 25 years. I feel a great affinity for these guys as people as well as musicians.

Well...there I was sitting down on the couch in my pajamas with my eldest son. He was watching TV. I was doing one of my favorite things -- I was tallying up all the money I passed up in endorsements over the years (laughter) and thinking of all the fun I could have had with it. Suddenly I hear "Uno, dos, tres, catorce!" I look up. But instead of the silhouettes of the hippie wannabes bouncing around in the iPod commercial, I see my boys!

Oh, my God! They sold out!

Now...what I know about the iPod is this: It is a device that plays music. Of course their new song sounded great, my guys are doing great, but methinks I hear the footsteps of my old tape operator Jimmy Iovine somewhere. Wily. Smart. Now, personally, I live an insanely expensive lifestyle that my wife barely tolerates. I burn money, and that calls for huge amounts of cash flow. But I also have a ludicrous image of myself that keeps me from truly cashing in. (laughter) You can see my problem. Woe is me.

So the next morning, I call up Jon Landau -- or as I refer to him, "the American Paul McGuinness" -- and I say, "Did you see that iPod thing?" And he says, "Yes." And he says, "And I hear they didn't take any money." And I said, "They didn't take any money?!" And he says, "No." I said, "Smart, wily Irish guys." (laughter) Anybody...anybody...can do an ad and take the money. But to do the ad and not take the money...that's smart. That's wily. I say, "Jon, I want you to call up Bill Gates or whoever is behind this thing and float this: A red, white, and blue iPod signed by Bruce "the Boss" Springsteen. Now remember, no matter how much money he offers, don't take it!" (laughter)

At any rate...at any rate, after that evening, for the next month or so, I hear emanating from my lovely 14-year-old son's room, day after day, down the hall calling out in a voice that has recently dropped very low: Uno, dos, tres, catorce. The correct math for rock and roll. Thank you, boys.

(applause)

This band...this band has carried their faith in the great inspirational and resurrective power of rock and roll. It never faltered, only a little bit. They believed in themselves, but more importantly, they believed in "you, too." Thank you Bono, the Edge, Adam, and Larry. Please welcome U2 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

© Springsteen, 2005.

Posted by Jonathan at 07:35 AM | Comments (3)

Transcript: U2's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Speeches

Bono: Born in the U.S.A., my arse. That man was born on the north side of Dublin. Irish. His mother was Irish. The poetry, the gift of the gab, isn't it obvious? In fact, I think he's tall for an Irishman.

It's an Irish occasion this evening. Paddy Sledge, the O'Jays -- they're a tribe from the west of Ireland. This is a bit of an Irish wedding. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a bit of an Irish wedding -- beautiful girls, beautiful frocks, fights in the bathrooms, managers and clients again, lawyers with bloody noses. It's an Irish wedding. It's a great occasion.

I even like it when it gets dirty. I've seen it get really dirty over the years here -- that's what rock and roll is, the sound of revenge. So make your enemies interesting, I would say, ladies and gentleman. But not tonight. When I, when we look out we don't see any enemies, we just see friends. And this country has taken this band into its bosom all the way. (applause) It's an amazing thing.

Frank Barselona early on, he's a great friend. Chris Blackwell, what an incredible man he was to have looking after you. Can you imagine your second album -- the difficult second album -- it's about God? Everyone is tearing their hair out and Chris Blackwell says, "It's okay. There's Bob Marley and Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, it's a tradition. We can get through it. And I think about what Frank Barselona said earlier about long-term vision because you know without the long term vision of Frank Barselona, Barbara Skydell and Chris Blackwell, there would be no U2 after that second album. It would have been cut. No "Sunday Bloody Sunday," no "Unforgettable Fire," no "One," no "Where the Streets Have No Name," no "With or Without You."

That's what I'd like you to take away from tonight. I would like to ask the music business to look at itself and ask itself some hard questions. Because there would be no U2 the way things are right now. That's a fact. Only friends out here. But still Rolling Stone puts us on the cover, thank you very much. MTV, VH1 still play our videos. College radio still believes in our band and makes our band believe in ourselves. It's an amazing place to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, feeling like this -- feeling like you've just made your first album. It's a great feeling, a very special feeling.

And I see around friends and people that we've worked with for a very long time -- and generally I don't do big Thank You speeches because they're boring and why stop a tradition of a lifetime? It's too many people in the room to thank, but I'd like to thank the really gorgeous women that work for us. Because they're fun to thank. Beautiful, gorgeous women of Principle Management. Ellen Darst, thank you very much. Sheila Roche, thank you very much. Anne Louise Kelly, thank you very much. Keryn Kaplan, thank you very much. Beautiful, sexy, sometimes Irish, sometimes American women, thank you. And lots of bodyguards around here. No bigger bodyguards than Jimmy and Doug. Jimmy Iovine and Doug Morris continue in the tradition of Chris Blackwell, which is pretty much letting us get away with anything we want. So I want to thank them very much. I'm trying to think of what else...The biggest bodyguard of all has to be our manager, Paul McGuinness. You see him right there. The reason no one in this band has slave scrawled across their face, thank you very much.

I'm going to go on and list three Kodak moments over twenty-five years I'd like to share with you. One -- it's 1976 -- Larry Mullen's kitchen. About the size of the drum riser he uses now. It's a bright red -- scarlet, really -- Japanese kit and he's sitting behind it in his kitchen. And he's playing and the ground shakes and the sky opens up -- and it still does, but now I know why. Cause Larry Mullen can't tell a lie. His brutal honesty is something that we need in this band.

Second Kodak moment. It is 1982. New Haven, I believe. Things are not going very well. There's a punk band onstage trying to play Bach. A fight breaks out. It's between the band. It's very very messy. Now you look at this guitar genius, you look at this Zen-like master that is the Edge, and you hear those brittle icy notes and you might be forgiven for forgetting that you cannot play like that unless you have a rage inside you. In fact, I had forgotten that on that particular night, and he tried to break my nose. And I learned a great, great lesson that night. You do not pick a fight with someone who for a living lives off hand-eye coordination. Dangerous, dangerous man, the Edge.

Third Kodak moment. 1987. Somewhere in the south. We'd been campaigning for Dr. King, for his birthday to become a national holiday. In Arizona, they are saying no. We're campaigning very hard for Dr. King. Some people don't like it. Some people get very annoyed. Some people want to kill us. Some people are taken very seriously by the FBI. They tell the singer that he shouldn't play the gig because tonight his life is at risk, and he must not go on stage. And the singer laughs. Of course we're playing the gig. Of course we go onstage, and I'm singing "Pride (In the Name of Love)" -- the third verse -- and I close my eyes. And you know, I'm excited about meeting my maker, but maybe not tonight. I don't really want to meet my maker tonight. I close my eyes and when I look up I see Adam Clayton standing in front of me, holding his bass as only Adam Clayton can hold his bass. There are people in this room who'd tell you they'd take a bullet for you, but Adam Clayton would have taken a bullet for me. I guess that's what its like to be in a truly great rock and roll band.

(Makes way for the Edge...)

Bono: He's got a BlackBerry. (Edge has his speech on a handheld.)

Edge: I am, in the end, the technology guy of U2. Which really, all it means is I can fix the printer. You turn it on. I don't tell them that.

Above all else what U2 have tried to avoid over the last twenty years is not being completely crap. But next on the list down from that was to avoid being typical and predictable and ordinary. Because it's so very hard to avoid the cliches. Everyone else's of course, but more than that your own. It's hard to keep things fresh and not become a parody of yourself. And if you've ever seen that movie Spinal Tap, you'll know how easy it is. It's a parody of what we all do. The first time I ever saw it, I didn't laugh. I wept. I wept because I recognized so much in so many of those scenes. I don't think I'm alone amongst all of us here in that.

You know, we're all guilty of taking ourselves and our work way too seriously. And we've all gone to hang out in a hotel lobby like we were doing something really important. But the reason we're all here tonight is that in spite of all the cliches which do exist, you know, rock and roll, when it is great, it's amazing. It changes your life. It changed our lives. Witness, for instance, tonight. The O'Jays, Percy Sledge, Bo Diddley, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, the Pretenders. I mean, Amazing. Really magic stuff.

People break it down. You can study it all you want but you can't just dial it up. It doesn't work like that. And as far as U2 goes, I've stopped trying to figure out how, or more importantly when our best moments are going to come along. But I think that's why we're still awake. And that's why we're still paying attention. We know in the end, see...we know that it is magic. And so we end up waiting around. Like we all do sometimes. Like actors in some Beckett play, just like they did in that movie, in the lobby, waiting around for some magic to happen. And we've done a lot of that over the years. I have to say...I've done a lot of waiting with Bono, with Adam and Larry and Paul for those moments to come along.

And we've had some great people with us during those times those times. (muffled) Brian Eno, Steve Lillywhite, Danny Lanois, Jimmy Iovine, Nellee Hooper, our great engineers, Principle Management. The team that was talked about. Flood. Our show collaborators -- Willie Williams and all his team. A crew of fantastic people. Joe O'Herlihy. Bucky, Jake, Dallas, Frasier who isn't here, Stuart. Incredible people that we couldn't have come through the last twenty-five years without. And tonight it feels like it's just about half the room has been along with us on that journey. So I just wanted to say thank you to my family for being so patient. The main guy for showing me how. The rest of the band particularly, and tonight, you know, all of you for this evening and most of all, I guess, for making space for me as we always wait together for something magic to happen. Thank you.

Larry: I promise I'll be brief. Thanks for this tonight. We really appreciate it. It's very special. I feel like we've cut the line or jumped the queue along the way, someplace along the way. And we never would have got out of my kitchen in our town in Dublin had it not been for people like the Sex Pistols, Tom Verlaine and Television, Roxy Music, Patti Smith. These people are in our rock and roll hall of fame. Thank you.

Adam: The bass player approaches the microphone. What's he gonna say? I feel bassless. Okay, yesterday, it was my 45th birthday. That's a fine age to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That means twenty-five years ago we released our first recording. That means twenty-nine years ago we all met and formed our band. Thirty years ago I got my first bass guitar, or as I thought, a guitar with only four strings. I had no idea what bass was. I had not heard of James Jameson, Doug Dunn, Jack Bruce, John Entwhistle, or Bootsy Collins. I just needed a weapon and a shield to take on the world.

When we all got together in Larry's kitchen we didn't know about the great traditions of American music. We didn't know the blues or soul or R&B or country but we did know that together we had a chance to change the world by making a noise. This was punk and it saved my ass. We needed someone to get us gigs and to pay for demos. We met Paul McGuinness and he became our manager. Next we needed a record deal. We were turned down by many people until Nick Stewart offered us a deal at Island Records. This was the start of a long relationship with Island. Many people along the way helped us develop and grow. Rob Partridge and of course Chris Blackwell. We made three records with Steve Lillywhite, came to America and Frank Barselona and Barbara Skydell were our U.S. agents. They introduced us to a network of promoters. Ellen Darst and Keryn Kaplan ran our U.S. office, and they taught us how radio and promotion worked.

As we were learning all this about the music business, we were also learning about American music and the kind of artists that are honored her by the Hall of Fame. John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Hank Williams, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan. Now our generation is being inducted and our time has come to join those we did not know 25 years ago. I hope that in 25 years when this room is full of hip-hop and pop artists that they will enjoy joining the diverse list of talents that the Hall of Fame recognizes.

It took many people to get this band here tonight and I'd like to thank some of them personally. Paul McGuinness and Kathy, Anne-Louise Kelly, Ellen Darst, Sheila Roche, Keryn Kaplan, Regine Moylette, Barbara Galvin, Susan Hunter, Trevor Bowen, Gavin Friday, Chris Blackwell, Anton Corbjin, Steve Lillywhite, Danny Lanois, Brian Eno, Jimmy Iovine, Doug Morris, Arthur Fogel and Michael Cole, Denny Sheehan, Joe O'Herlihy, Willie Williams, Dallas, Sammy, Stuart and Terry.

But in the end the people who really got me here tonight and who I must thank for everything I have, are Ali, Ann, Morleigh, Suzie, Larry, Edge and Bono. And I'd really like to thank Bruce for what he said, and I fortunately can remember the names of everybody in the band as well.

Bono: We've about 35 songs to play. Won't be long.

(band plays)

© U2, 2005.

Posted by Jonathan at 07:31 AM | Comments (1)

November 05, 2002

U Asked U2!

from MSN Chat, November 5, 2002

Band answers fan questions in an exclusive interview

Bono called in from Rolling Stone's offices in New York City. Adam Clayton took a break from his trip in the Himalayas. Larry Mullen and the Edge dialed in from separate locations in New York.

In celebration of their new album, The Best of 1990-2000, U2 came together to answer questions from their fans all over the world as asked by the BBC's Jo Whiley. The band discussed politics, dreams, responsibility, their best concerts ever in the last 20 years, and the price of fame.

Bono even tried to imagine a life without music. "I wouldn't know what to do. It would be awful."

JO WHILEY: We have tens of thousands of questions coming in from all over the world. The first one says, Dear Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam, I absolutely love "Electrical Storm," and was wondering if you could tell me what inspired the lyrics to this song.

BONO: It's hard. When I'm writing the lyrics to songs, I try to put into words what the band are doing musically. You know, the lyric tends to grow out of the melody, and the melody grows out of the chords. The title "Electrical Storm" came to me as a sort of just a suggestion about the nervous times that we live in, and post 9-11, and all that, but actually it ended up being a song just about lovers trying to clear the air, really. And I just left it there.

JW: This is from Jamal. He says: Hi, U2, I'm an African living in the UK, and I just want to let you know, I think you're the best band in the world. You have very big hearts for the underprivileged people around the world. My question is, what prompted you to start the fight against poverty? It's a bit of a big one, bit of a big question. Who wants to go with that one? Edge?

EDGE: Well, Bono should probably be answering it. But I think you could say that the band over the years have had a kind of interest in taking advantage of our situation. And I suppose the reason why we have gotten involved with these different issues, and been part of movements, is really a sense within the band that with the great success that we've had comes a great responsibility to do something, to give back something.

JW: Do you think every band who happens to become a success should have that kind of responsibility? Do you think enough bands actually realize that, recognize that, and get on with the job?

EDGE: Well, I don't think it's just related to the bands. I think it's relating to people who, like we, live incredibly privileged lives. And I think that there's great examples of people who do have those kinds of epiphanies, and decide to do amazing things. Somebody like Bill Gates, who I know gets a lot of bad press, but I mean the work that he has done over the last three or four years is absolutely astonishing.

BONO: No single person has done more than Bill Gates.

JW: Really?

BONO: Yes, for the people in Africa, and the developing world. It's kind of extraordinary.

JW: A lot of people would be quite ignorant of that.

BONO: Yes. He is spending fortunes, billions and billions, trying to research ... supporting the research, and then putting into practice these programs to immunize kids from malaria, all kinds of things. Yes, it's amazing.

And then there's just people on the street, just regular people, mothers who got involved in the Jubilee 2000 Campaign, and it wasn't student activists, people got out on the street in large numbers, just regular Joes, and I think that, in a way, they're the ones that the politicians are afraid of. They're not afraid of me, or the regular student activists. When people get on the streets whom they don't expect, like mothers, and say look, it's not acceptable that an accident of longitude and latitude can decide whether you're going to die of AIDS. If you lived in London or New York, you can live because you can get access to the drugs. But if you're in Africa, you can die because you don't. I don't think that's acceptable anymore, and people are getting out on the streets to say it.

JW: Okay. Bono, another one for you, this is from Nicky Cotus. Nicky is curious if you constantly talk to yourself.

BONO: That is a great question. I mean, I'm too busy ranting to get time to listen to myself. I wake up in the morning, I must say, I wake up in the morning with questions that I try to answer over the day, and that's as close as I get.

JW: Okay. Do you dream very much?

BONO: Yes, I do. The most exciting dreams for me are the waking dreams, you know, the ones that you have when you're walking down the street, and you get a big idea in your head, and you figure out a way of trying to realize that idea. They're the best ones. Again, some of the political work we've done over the while had felt like waking dreams. And you have to then make this abstract idea you've got into concrete. I really like that. I don't believe in wishful thinking. You know, "Imagine," that John Lennon song, it's my least favorite of his songs. And he's the man for me, but it's like I don't believe that imagining is enough. First, you have to imagine, but then you have to build it, and with concrete, and scaffolding, and the sort of unromantic aspect is to me now more interesting than it was, say, when I was younger, and I thought just having the dream was enough.

JW: Question here from Nevid, we'll go with this one. I was wondering which of your many concerts that you've done over the past 22 years has been your favorite, for each of you then. Larry, do you want to go with your favorite gig ever?

LARRY MULLEN: I think that there have been a few moments that are really outstanding. The first time playing in Slane Castle, the first time playing in Coral Park with U2, and the first stadium in the U.S., and then it goes on. But, the one that probably stands out more than any other one is Sarajevo, we played there on the Pop tour. There's no doubt that that is an experience I will never forget for the rest of my life. And if I had to spend 20 years in the band just to play that show, and have done that, I think it would have been worthwhile.

JW: Is that the same for the other two, Edge?

EDGE: Yes, Sarajevo, I have to say, is hard to beat. We did the show at a time when most of the people who lived in Sarajevo were really trying to persuade themselves that the war was really over, and so for a long time afterwards we were told in Sarajevo they would refer to before and after the U2 concert, like it had become some kind of weird milestone, some sign that the war was really over. And even people who didn't really know what the band was about, or didn't know music, or had never heard of U2, there was something resonant about the fact that a concert had gone on at that moment in time. And every person we spoke to, all the U.N. troops, all the locals, everybody was just so delighted that this was possible. And it was only possible because of all the hundreds of people, both on our crew and people that work in the city itself, that really some of them put their lives on the line to make it happen.

BONO: They ran trains into Serbia and into Croatia, they put on a special train. The railroad lines had been down, and they were reopened for that, to get the three main [ethnic] groups.

JW: Bono, is there another gig that means an awful lot to you, or meant an awful lot to you in your career?

BONO: Maybe Belfast, the Water Front hall, and to try and help the campaign to pass the Good Friday Peace Agreement. I think that was a great moment for us, again. It looked like it was a potential prat fall, and we're from the South of Ireland, not from the North of Ireland, and I think people in Belfast, that they were very generous to let a southern band be on stage. We were on with Ash, who are an extraordinary band. They're from that part of the country, and they had a real reason to stand there. We had a reason, too, because everyone would benefit or suffer if the peace agreement was to pass or not. But, it was a very, very emotional moment. We brought the leaders of the Catholic community, and the leaders of the Protestant out, and I asked the two politicians to do something that would be almost impossible for a politician to agree to. I said, I'm going ask you to walk out on the stage and not say anything. This is about a photograph. We're going to ask you to shake hands, in public, because they'd never done that before. It was really a great moment.

JW: What will be the theme of the next album?

EDGE: Well, we don't really know ahead of time. You don't sit down and say, I'm going to write one about Thursday afternoons. When you're writing a song you sort of, as John Lennon put it, you sit down with your guitar and open a vein, and whatever comes out comes out.

JW: Okay. So when do you think you'll be sitting down to record it?

EDGE: Well, we're actually -- we're working on it at the moment, I'm putting some music together on my Macintosh. I know Bono is working on lyrics.

BONO: I have to tell you this, because Larry and Adam haven't heard it. Edge brought around a CD of a new tune. It's just a provision title, "Full Metal Jacket." It's the roughest, it's the mother of all rock and roll tunes. I don't know where it came from, but it's a remarkable guitar thing. You want to hear it. It's a reason to make a record. This song is that good.

JW: Wow.

BONO: Unfortunately, Edge is singing on it.

EDGE: We're at the great early phase where it's all about possibilities and nothing has to be -- it doesn't have to be finished right now, we can just try out all sorts of things and see where it takes us.

JW: It must be one of the most exciting times?

BONO: Yes. It's the best thing to be in a band, to wake up in the morning with a melody in your head, or to be in the studio when the band stumbles onto a great song, and it forms in front of your eyes. It is the most exciting thing about being in U2.

JW: Are there people that you still want to work with, be them vocalists or producers, have you kind of got a wish list at the moment?

EDGE: We've been very lucky, we have worked with some of the greats, we think. But, Ralph Harris would definitely be high on my list.

BONO: Well, Steve Lillywhite, who produced our first few albums, and then has always come in at the end, from the Joshua Tree to All That You Can't Leave Behind , he said one of the most innovative people he's ever worked with in the studio was Ralph Harris. And Ralph Harris was famous for the song -- "Two Little Boys." In fact, on occasions Edge and myself are known -- with some drink taken -- to sing it. But, apart from that he's Australian, he used to play the didjeridoo, and he had a wobbly board. And Steve Lillywhite said in the studio, he was just one of the most innovative people, he was always looking for ways of making new sounds and everything.

JW: Where is [music] going in terms of the landscape ... new bands that are genuinely exciting? Do you think it's a good scene at the moment?

EDGE: Well, I do actually. I think like always, like for as long as I can remember, there's a lot of really impressive music out there. But in amongst the dross, there is, I think, a lot of very exciting things going on. And I have to say, there's a lot of vitality and a lot of life in the rock-and-roll band kind of scene right now.

BONO: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is a great example.

JW: Queens of the Stone Age, have you seen them?

EDGE: Yes. You know, it's just great to see bands coming through.

BONO: Mooney Suzuki, have you checked them?

EDGE: Yeah, they're great too.

JW: And these are kind of biting at your ankle.

EDGE: Yes. Things go in cycles. I think we've had as many really awful, disposable records as we've had over the last five or six years, it's time for rock and roll to come back and just blow it all out, and that seems to be what's happening.

JW: You haven't made contacts with The Neptunes at all, have you?

EDGE: I'd love to work with The Neptunes. And they've done some very, very innovative work, usually in R&B and they've worked with Lauryn Hill , I think, on a couple of things. But their name keeps cropping up whenever you hear something that feels fresh on the radio. They're really something. I like some of the new country as well that's coming through. And even in the U.K., Richard Ashcroft, that album has some really powerful songs and a kind of Glen Campbell vibe. I'm really into that.

JW: Charlene says, are there any songs that you've worked on that now make you cringe?

LARRY MULLEN: The U2 songs that make me cringe don't make me cringe because I think they're not very good, thankfully. I cringe sometimes -- I mean, I hear them, "Who is Going to Ride Your Wild Horses" ... I happened to be in a drinking establishment, and they were just all playing some U2 music, and this came on. I thought, what a brilliant song, and how we -- how, well certainly from my point of view, how I screwed it up, how it could have been so much better, potentially so much better. I cringe because we weren't smart enough, or proficient enough at our job to actually bring that to its conclusion. So, there are several songs that I feel like that about.

JW: Are you generally the most critical in the band with what you're doing?

LARRY MULLEN: No, not by a long shot. No, we're all as critical as each other, and that's the beauty of being in U2, is that everybody has got very deep roots in the best things, and the consensus in the band is only if it's great. If it's great, you know, that's the consensus, everybody moves ahead. And if it's not great, there's going to be fighting. Someone is going to get a dig.

EDGE: There were a few early on, I think, that have not stood the test of time. And I would quite happily never hear a song called "Jerusalem" from the October album again. It's not that it isn't without any merit, it's just so over the top, which was one of our great talents early on was to be over the top, but it's more over the top than even we were normally capable of.

JW: Bono, what about your favorite song?

BONO: I heard the other week "Miss Sarajevo," and it just kind of blew in like a breeze, you know, the way it rolls in, and then this volcano erupts in the middle, having Luciano Pavarotti sing: Dici che il fiume. Just the most extraordinary thing, and that's my favorite.

JW: And the opposite?

BONO: I think ... if a song doesn't make you cringe, it can't be that good. I think the great songs do kind of make you a little nervous, and certainly the more emotional songs should always make you feel embarrassed. And I can remember being at a stop light in Dublin when they played "MLK" on the national radio, which is the tiny sort of song in the middle of The Unforgettable Fire album, and I thought I just sounded like a girl singing that. Actually, I got embarrassed. And it was at a stop light, and there's people looking at me, and I was purple. But the truth of it is, when you sing, you have to open your ... you have to open yourself up, you have to be raw. And you have to reveal yourself, and sometimes it's very difficult for me to listen to that back, because it might not be as macho as you see yourself.

JW: Bono, what kind of stuff do you do in your free time? You have no peculiar habits, or obsessions?

BONO: I have a load of peculiar habits and obsessions.

JW: Do you want to share them?

BONO: Unfortunately, I don't have time to enjoy them. I really enjoy actually hanging out with my kids. I'm doing some painting with them, Jordan and Eve, my two girls, we're doing Peter and the Wolf, we're painting for the new edition of that book Peter and the Wolf , which is about teaching. It's about waking kids up to what musical instruments are, and what they're capable of. It's an old fable, and Prokofiev did the music originally, and now my friend Gavin Friday and Maurice Caesar have done the music, and the book aspects myself and my two girls are going to do the painting for. I like that sort of stuff. I like hanging out with my kids.

JW: A question from Cath, who says, do you ever wish you weren't famous?

LARRY MULLEN: I don't have the profile that Bono and Edge particularly have, because I'm not out front. I mean, I was in a bar the other night, and sure, some people came over to say hello, but I know if Bono walked into that place he wouldn't have been able to sit down and enjoy a pint, Edge probably the same. Maybe Adam would have. I enjoy a large amount of anonymity, and I really enjoy that. My first priority is to protect my family, and I do that vigorously. So I don't really have a lot of the problems of fame, I mean, the discomfort is sometimes you might be there sticking your fork into your vegetarian risotto, and somebody comes over and asks if they can take a photograph of you, and before you actually get your head out of the plate someone is taking a photograph. There are some uncomfortable moments, but in general, the rest of the guys, I think, take much more flack for the fame thing than I do. And I didn't join a band to be famous. And for a celebrity I think there are certain things that are cast upon you. I joined a band to hit things.

BONO: It's fair to say Larry has hit a few autographs. The fork went from the risotto into the eye ...

LARRY MULLEN: I'm a little intolerant of the fan, and when I say fan I mean the fanatic, like hanging outside studios, or hanging outside people's houses. I just think that's a waste of time.

JW: And do you tell them?

LARRY MULLEN: I just try to just avoid, I really do avoid, because what happens, I think people become a little ... it becomes more of an infatuation than somebody who is interested in music. People become too interested in you. And I often think of Bono in these situations, when I see these people hanging outside, and I think I wish those guys would go and spend the afternoon writing letters to different presidents and let Bono back into the studio, and do what he really wants to do.

BONO: I have to say the other side of that, though, is that when I first went to America, when I was 19 and we arrived in Los Angeles, I wanted to go and see where Bob Dylan lived and Brian Wilson. And I went to where Brian Wilson lived. Brian Wilson was the genius songwriter from the Beach Boys , and I wanted to just pay respect. So I often see it as that, I see it as people just wanting to pay respect to music that has meant something to them. And I was like that. Now, that's a different thing from climbing your wall and kind of breaking and entering your private life. And I think that's different.

JW: Are there occasions when you really wish that you were completely anonymous, and you despise the fame that you have?

BONO: Yes, and I have -- of course, in Africa, where I've spent a fair amount of time now, people don't know that I'm in a band. ... And so you find yourself walking in some -- you know, sort of the north of Ghana, and these rice fields, or what used to be rice fields, and you just completely forget that you're in a band. I enjoy that a lot. And in Dublin I forget that I'm in a band, believe it or not, because I just hang out with the same people, and go to the same places, and they're nicely bored with me there. But, I love in New York, it's an amazing thing, because I'm walking down the street and people always say hello to me, they beep their horn as I'm walking down. They don't stop you, they just nod.

JW: So that's good, you actually enjoy being recognized.

BONO: If people don't get in your face it's a nice feeling of people saying, we're with you, we're with you. And, in fact, I've just had a lot of that just today, in New York City, and that is an amazing feeling, that the city has taken you to heart ... When cops start nodding at you, usually just from where I come from it usually makes you nervous. But, in New York, because of 9-11, and because a lot of them were from Irish families, American Irish families, it's just an amazing thing. The NYPD are just so good to you if you're in U2, and I mean, I haven't tried -- I haven't tried their patience in any extraordinary ways, but it's just nice to get that nod as you're crossing the street.

JW: What would you be doing if you weren't involved in music?

BONO: You know, outside of my family and friends, I can't think of anything more that I want to do with my life than writing music, and singing for this band. The political work that I do, I do because there's no one else that's doing it. It's not that I want to do it, there's just not enough people doing it. I think there should be people who are better qualified, and I do get an incredible satisfaction out of, you know, getting money out of governments, but it's not like writing a song, and not like being in U2. I wouldn't know what to do. It would be awful. But, you know, two crap records and you're out.

Copyright (c) 2002 MSN. All rights reserved.

Posted by Jonathan at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)

September 20, 2002

Bono on Oprah

Copyright 2002 Harpo, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Prepared by Burrelle's Information Services which assumes sole
responsibility for accuracy of transcription

THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW
The Oprah Winfrey Show (4:00 PM ET) - BNO
September 20, 2002 Friday

ROCK STAR BONO'S MISSION TO SAVE THE WORLD

HOST: Oprah Winfrey
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Dianne Atkinson Hudson

Announcer: Today...
OPRAH WINFREY: He gave me his glasses.
Announcer: ...U2's Bono.
WINFREY: Cooler than cool.
What makes you the most comfortable?
BONO: I'm feeling pretty good right now.
WINFREY: Smarter than smart.
BONO: America's more than just a country, it's an idea.
WINFREY: I love that. I'm want to cry right now.
Announcer: The rock star on a crusade to help save millions.
BONO: I'm just doing what everyone else would do if they had the time and the money.
Announcer: And the star of "Rush Hour," comedian Chris Tucker.
BONO: No one who--knew who the hell I was in Africa, but they knew who Chris Tucker was.
WINFREY: What was it like traveling with Bono, Mr. Rock Star?
Mr. CHRIS TUCKER: Bono is my buddy, man. I--I love Bono.
Announcer: Oprah, Bono.
WINFREY: I am blown away by this man.
Oh, how'd you get so lucky? Have a seat. He is a one-name rock legend known to millions of adoring fans, Bono. The lead
singer of the rock 'n' roll band U2 is here for the first time--I've never met him--and he may surprise you with what he has
to say. He's a rocker with a conscience.
(Excerpt from U2 music video)
WINFREY: He's known around the world as the charismatic singer of the band U2. Time magazine called him the world's
biggest rock star. And last year, Spin magazine named U2 band of the year. Out of a handful of elite, one-name superstars,
there's only one Bono.
(Excerpt from videotape)
(Footage of U2 performing)
WINFREY: As a teen-ager, Bono auditioned for a high school band in Dublin and he's been rocking non-stop ever since.
(Excerpt from Live Aid concert)
WINFREY: His electrifying performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert propelled the band into the international spotlight.
Two years later, U2 released the amazingly successful album "The Joshua Tree." It went platinum in just two days,
catapulting Bono to stratospheric stardom.
(Excerpt from U2 video)
WINFREY: Not only has U2's album sales continued to surpass the $100 million mark, but over two million people
attended their Elevation Tour last year, selling out more than 100 arenas worldwide.
(Footage of U2 performing)
WINFREY: Spin magazine raves U2 had one of the most successful tours in history. Through the years, the band has
taken home 14 Grammys, including record of the year for "Beautiful Day."
(Excerpt from U2 music video)
WINFREY: And this year, they won a Grammy for best rock album for their latest CD, "All That You Can't Leave
Behind." And music critics agree, Bono's passion is as strong as his voice. For more than two decades, U2's lyrics have
inspired spiritual growth and social change. In honor of his hero Martin Luther King Jr., Bono wrote their huge hit "Pride
(In The Name Of Love)."
(Footage of U2 performing)
WINFREY: And after September 11th, U2's music became a healing presence in the world. At this year's Super Bowl,
Bono captivated millions with his moving halftime performance saluting the thousands who were lost in the attacks.
(Footage of U2's Super Bowl performance)
WINFREY: Today, this international rock star-turned-rock 'n' roll activist mixes entertainment with politics and is on a
mission to help save millions.
(Footage of Bono in Africa)
(End of excerpt)
WINFREY: Please welcome Bono! Ho!
BONO: ...(Unintelligible).
WINFREY: Wow.
BONO: ...(Unintelligible).
WINFREY: Yes, yes, yes! It's an honor. Thank you.
BONO: Thank you. Thanks a lot. Wow!
WINFREY: It is really good to see you, finally--finally. You know, I heard--so we're in Chicago taping this, obviously,
and I heard that you went to the Rolling Stones concert last night and got up on stage and rocked the house?
BONO: Yeah. Well, you know, their singer obviously lacks a little self-confidence, but I think--I think they could go
very far, actually.
WINFREY: But what I've read and what I've heard is that you are unlike any other celebrity in that you don't try to
promote your celebridom.
BONO: Well, I'm at the capital of, you know, doing--this is not the right show to keep a secret, is it? I mean...
WINFREY: It is not.
BONO: But I thought if I--you know, if there's a reason for--if you want to speak to America, speak to Oprah.
WINFREY: I appreciate that. I think that we are now moving into an area in our own lives where we know that taking
care of other people is how we can best take care of ourselves.
BONO: Yeah. It's probably post-9/11.
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: It's just--there's a new mood in the world, I think. You know, people accused America of being a continent
behaving like an island. And I don't think that's fair. I think Americans really, really care about what's going on in the
rest of the world.
WINFREY: How did you--you know, we've done on this show over the years something called Use Your Life, and I
talk about using your life and we give out awards to people who use their lives. What happened that you decided that
being a rock star--because I'm telling you, being up on the stage and performing at the Super Bowl for 130 million
people, that's gotta be its own little high.
BONO: It's pretty...
WINFREY: I mean--and also in describing you--and I--in that tape, I was, like, listening to myself, like he's reached
stratospheric proportions. That's gotta be--What does that feel like?
BONO: Well, you know, I think--you--you know this more than anyone, but that, you know, celebrity is a bit silly...
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: ...but it is currency.
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: And you just want to--you want to spend it well, you know? And...
WINFREY: Yeah. My favorite quote on celebrity comes from John Updike, who says "Celebrity is a mask that eats
up the face"...
BONO: Oh, I like that quote.
WINFREY: ...which, if you're not--if you're not aware of it and conscious of it, it will eat up your face and your life.
BONO: That's it.
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: I just want to just do--I've got--you know, we've got a spotlight on us. You're doing incredible things in Africa,
and I have to talk to you about that. But, you know, I'm doing and I've--I--I'm just doing what everyone else would do
if they had the time and the money. You know, because people--U2 fans have given me a great life. I'm a spoiled rotten
rock star. My kids, they don't have to worry about where they're going to school or paying their medical bills. In
return--there's kind of deal, I think. One, don't bend over, and two, you know, use this spotlight to shine on--on--on
bigger problems that we--that they can...
WINFREY: Yeah. Use your life.
BONO: Yeah.
WINFREY: Well, Bono says that the true spirit behind his music and his mission in Africa was really greatly influenced
by his young days as a lad growing up in southern Ireland--as a lad. Take a look.
BONO: Oh, dear.
(Excerpt from videotape)
WINFREY: Before there was Bono, there was Paul David Hewson. He was the youngest of two boys raised by a
Protestant mother and Catholic father in Dublin, Ireland, a place where religion divided a country. Early on, Bono's
inspiration for dealing with Ireland's political problems came from his idol, Martin Luther King Jr., and other cultural
icons like Muhammad Ali and Bob Dylan.
Tragedy struck when Bono was just 14 years old. He suffered the devastating loss of his mother when she died suddenly
from an aneurysm at the funeral of her own father, and last year, Bono lost his father to cancer.
BONO: He had a good life, and I still think about him every day.
(Excerpt from U2 song)
WINFREY: A fortune teller once reportedly told his mother that she would have a famous son. That prediction came
true shortly after Bono joined a punk band in high school. They called themselves Feedback, but they would eventually
become the world-famous U2.
(Excerpt from U2 video)
BONO: We were just a bunch of kids really. We formed a band before we could play our instruments.
WINFREY: Bono also formed a lifelong relationship with his high school sweetheart, Allison Stewart. They married in
1982.
BONO: I'm lucky. I have an extraordinary friend that I've been married to for a long time, it seems like since we were kids.
WINFREY: Bono first got involved in Africa in 1985 when he and his wife worked for a month in the mountains of
Ethiopia. They took these dramatic pictures in the camp where he says every day they would wake up and count bodies
of dead and orphaned children. As the father of four, Bono says looking at his own children makes his mission to help
those suffering around the world the most important thing he can do.
(End of excerpt)
WINFREY: You say that having a Protestant mother and a Catholic father in Ireland taught you many lessons?
BONO: Well, a few probably, but maybe, one, to be suspicious sometimes of religion, you know. I'm--I'm a believer, but
sometimes I think religion is the thing, you know, when--when God, like Elvis, has left the building, you get religion. But
when God is in the house, you get something else. And I'm happy in a Catholic cathedral or a tent show, you know,
down in--in--in the South, you know, and gospel music. I'm just--I'm as comfortable or uncomfortable in either of those
locations.
WINFREY: Really? And what makes you the most comfortable?
BONO: Well, I'm feeling pretty good right now.
WINFREY: That's good. That's good. That's good. When you're up on the stage, are you the most--does it feel like home
to you or is it another dimension?
BONO: Look, it's a strange thing to need 20,000 people screaming your name to--to feel normal, but that's probably the
truth. In an odd way, you know, I do feel completely myself when I'm in those--when--when I'm in the songs. I just--I
feel--it's like--it--it feels--it feels very easy for me to be in songs. A lot more difficult--other aspects of being a--a rock 'n'
roll star are a lot more difficult for me.
WINFREY: Like what?
BONO: Once--well, like--before, if--you'd see me throwing up in the dressing room before I came out here--I--I'm not
comfortable with a lot of the stuff, but--but...
WINFREY: Even after all this time?
BONO: Oh, yeah.
WINFREY: Really?
BONO: Oh, yeah. I--I--see, I'm kind of really part time on this, you know. I go home and live in Ireland. I live a kind of
fairly under-the-radar life in--in--in Ireland.
WINFREY: Because you can just pop into a pub and nobody--it's no big deal.
BONO: Well, yeah, depending on the pub. It's a--you know, in Ireland--in Ireland, people are a little--they have an
interesting attitude to success. They--they look down on it.
WINFREY: Really?
BONO: No, ho--honestly, I--I've--I've often told this, but it's like, you know, in America, you look up at the house on
the hill, the mansion on the hill and say, 'One day I'm--that--that could be me.' In Ireland, they look up at the mansion
hill and go, 'One day I'm gonna get that bastard.' You know?
WINFREY: OK. So when you go home, you're just dad--you're just dad and husband? You're just doing normal stuff like
regular people?
BONO: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, I'm a little eccentric in--in--in that department.
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: I've got four kids, and they're pretty...
WINFREY: You just had a baby again.
BONO: Yeah. Yeah, I've got a baby, John. But, you know, people think having children makes you, you know, kind of
a--well, they thought that would chill me out. Made me more angry, more pissed off.
WINFREY: It did?
BONO: Yes. Because you think about the world that they're inheriting and you think about the way things are, and it
makes me--makes me--it made me angry. I--I mean, I started to understand all kinds of things, why people fight wars.
WINFREY: Really?
BONO: I understood when a--when I saw my child being born, I just--you--you--you have a feeling that, you know,
you would do anything to protect that life and--it's a dangerous feeling that you have to--you have to--you have to
watch. But you can put it to use in terms of, you know, just getting politically active and not lying down. I think that's
the message that your show puts out, that we--we most view--your viewers most respect: Don't like down. Get up.
You can fight against what's coming at you. You know, you can be on top of your life.
WINFREY: Well, we're gonna come back and talk about that a lot. Coming up, how Bono is trying to lift what he calls a
death sentence for millions of people. A lot of you might not even be aware of this. Also ahead, actor/comedian Chris
Tucker is going to explain why just a week with Bono in Africa was life-altering for him. Wouldn't you want to be on
that trip? Chris Tucker, Bono, Africa. More with Bono when we come back.
(Footage of U2 performing)
(Announcements)
(Excerpt from U2 music video)
WINFREY: And Bono is here. He's from the legendary rock band U2, of course. Bono says being a rock star is just a
part-time job for him because what he wants to do is to use his life, to really turn his celebrity into something more
serious. Let's look at that.
(Excerpt from videotape)
WINFREY: Bono is more than just a mega-rock star selling out stadiums worldwide. He's a rocker with a conscience.
His goal: to cancel multimillion-dollar debts owed by poor countries so they can focus on their own health care and
education. Bono has become the most well-respected rock 'n' roll ambassador of the world. From presidents to prime
ministers and even the pope, he has impressed top leaders with his genuine concern for world problems. Even the most
reluctant politicians met with the Irish rocker and many of them had never even heard of him. Bono moves easily
between sold-out rock concerts and political power meetings. Earlier this year he attended the World Economic Forum
with Bill Gates, and just days later he hit the stage at the Super Bowl for a TV audience of 130 million.
BONO: Bye.
Mr. TUCKER: See you later.
BONO: Bye.
WINFREY: Bono's efforts to help poor nations was highly publicized this spring when he toured Africa with US
Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill.
BONO: For 7 cents out of $10, you can change millions of lives. That's what it would take a year to transform the world
that we live in.
Secretary PAUL O'NEILL (US Department of the Treasury): We've spent trillions of dollars on these problems and we
have damn near nothing to show for it.
WINFREY: Despite some differences of opinion on their trip, the two shared a passion for their mission to help struggling
African countries. Bono continues his crusade to bring an end to the crisis of poverty, AIDS and foreign debt in Africa.
He hopes the United States and other wealthy nations will stop and listen.
BONO: (Singing) 'Cause we still haven't found what we're looking for.
(End of excerpt)
WINFREY: Well, since Bono began talking to the White House about debt, President Bush signed a bill promising to give
$5 billion a year in aid to poor countries. But the bill still has to pass through Congress.
Did you think that was progress, though?
BONO: Oh, yeah, I think we are making progress. I mean, right across, you know, both sides of the aisle, there's--there's
people who are actually waking up that--that this is actually an issue that might--that--that is not just--has a moral force,
but is actually--it's just--it's--it's also the right, you know, smart thing to do. I mean, Afghanistan, as an example, you
know, there's probably another 10 Afghanistans in Africa if we let that--that continent go.
WINFREY: So what was it about Africa that grabbed your passion that you decided, 'I'm going to now not be silent
about it'?
BONO: Well, I don't know. I mean, I--Irish people probably, we have a history of famine ourself. I mean, in the middle
of the 19th century the population of Ireland was halved from eight to four and, you know, two million people died and
two million became policemen in New York City. But, you know, it's--so it's whatever--the thing is--if there's such a
thing as folk memory, I think we have it on us. But also I worked there. After Live Aid--you remember the "We Are The
World" thing, all that?
WINFREY: Right. Yeah. Yeah.
BONO: I went there to just work with my wife, Ali, and we went, we spent a month there. And...
WINFREY: In Ethiopia.
BONO: In Ethiopia, right in the sort of--right there in--in--in the middle of the famine. And I just--I saw stuff there that
kind of certainly reorganized the way I saw the world, and I didn't know quite what to do about it. And, you know, you
can throw pennies at the problem.
WINFREY: Right.
BONO: But at a certain point, I just felt, you know, God is not looking for alms, God is looking for action. And--and
there's a--you know, there's problems--you can't fix every problem, but the ones that you can, we've got to. There's
people--two and a half million people are going to die of AIDS next year. We have the drugs. And I want to say, 'Look,
these are in Europe or America.' These are--these drugs--see them as advertisements for American innovation and
technology. And if you get those drugs to the poor places and you save lives, I think you're gonna make it a lot more
difficult for extremist groups to whisper, you know, evil-minded ideas about America.
WINFREY: OK, so that's a start, but--OK, so I'm watching at home right now. We have an audience, say, t--w--10 million
people watching now.
BONO: Wow! Hi.
WINFREY: A lot of--Hi, everybody.
BONO: Bono.
WINFREY: A lot of--a lot--a lot of them are women at home with their own children, worried about them coming home,
their husband coming home for dinner. What does this have to do with her life?
BONO: Wow. See, there's the country of America...
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: ...which you have to defend.
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: But there's also the idea of America. America's more than just a country. It's an idea, OK? That's why...
WINFREY: I love that. I want to cry right now. I do. I love that.
BONO: I mean--no, I'm a fan.
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: You know, I'm a fan of--I--Irish love--love America. It's not just because it's, you know, land of the opportunity,
it's because it's an idea, an idea that's supposed to be contagious. And--and I just--you know, there was--there was two
shocks in--in the week of--of 9/11. Of course there was the attack on America and the shocking loss of life. But the second
one hasn't been talked about as much, but I think it was very important for America. And that was watching people
jumping up and down in Jakarta and Jalalabad, around the world, celebrating as the twin towers turned to dust. And I
think Americans just went, 'Stop right there. How did that happen to us? We liberated Europe in the Second World War.
This is America. You know, are--we--you know, the--we're--we're--we're not--how did this happen to us?'
WINFREY: Yeah, I know. That was the question. I even did that show. People wanted to know, why do they hate us
so much?
BONO: Well, because we--we have--and it's true in Europe as well--we've made it easy--we've made it easy for people.
You know, as wealthy as we've gotten over the last 20 years, unimaginable wealth in the West, we're giving less and less.
Did you know that? People don't know that. People don't know that. You know, recent poll, they asked, you know,
Americans, 'How much do you think you're giving to the--you know, the poorest of the poor?' They said, 'Oh, maybe
10 percent, between 10 percent and 20 percent of the, like, GDP.'
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: You want to know how much it is?
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: It's .1 of a percent.
WINFREY: Really?
BONO: OK? And Americans--or as you said and we said earlier, this is--this is a generous place. The only reason that
Americans are not--are not leading the world in this is because the politicians don't think there's a vote here, and they're
wrong.
WINFREY: Yeah. Right.
BONO: They're wrong. But to--you know, just to answer your question about, what does it mean?
WINFREY: Yeah. What does it mean?
BONO: See, I--I--a mother--you don't have to explain to a mother that the--the life of a child in Africa has the same
value as her child. You don't have to explain that. You might have to explain--you might have to explain, you know,
people who come to--you know, people who buy CDs. You might have to explain to--you know, to--to men, but not
to women. This is the right show to say that.
WINFREY: That is good. So as I mentioned--Bobby Shriver had mentioned this to me a c--a year or so ago. Explain the
drop--the debt idea.
BONO: Oh, it was a great idea. Look, there was the millennium, all right? It was going off.
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: OK? Everyone wants to throw a big party, OK?
WINFREY: Correct.
BONO: I like parties.
WINFREY: Yeah. I do.
BONO: But no one quite knew, you know...
WINFREY: What to do.
BONO: ...like, what to do. So I--I went to Bill Clinton and I said, 'Look, there's this idea going around which is, you know,
make this the opportunity to cancel all the old debts,' because a lot of these countries, you know, the poorest of the poor,
they're paying, like, ridiculous sums to us every week.
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: I mean, we were involved in Live Aid.
WINFREY: Live Aid, yeah.
BONO: We raised $200 million. Wow! We thought we cracked it. Africa's paying $200 million a week to the richest
countries in the world, you know, in Europe and in America. We said, 'Well, you know what? Let's make this a chance--let's
stop that and let's start again. Let's begin again.' And--and so we made progress with that. And actually, you know, Bush
and Clinton came together on that one, and this is a thing that we've got to make above politics.
WINFREY: But I think Americans would say, 'But at what cost to us?' We drop their debt, then what?
BONO: Well, you know, we don't--first of all, here's the way to make--make it work. We've got to be tough-minded about
this. Let's not--I'm not a winging liberal, by the way. I'm no hippie with flowers in my hair. I come from punk rock.
WINFREY: OK.
BONO: We--Got it? OK?
WINFREY: I got that, I got that, I got that.
BONO: OK? So, you know, I've got an organization s--that--we're involved in called DATA.
WINFREY: DATA.
BONO: OK. And it's debt, AIDS, trade. That's the big issues facing Africa. But in return--the acronym works both ways--
in return for democracy, accountability, transparency--if these African countries are corrupt, if they won't play ball, they're
not getting these breaks.
WINFREY: Debt, aid, trade. That's it.
BONO: Yes. They're not getting these breaks. So it's tough. So what you're saying is, you know, where there's a new
democracy coming in, there's good government and, you know--and they're open to civil society, then we say, 'OK, now
we'll cancel your debts.' OK.
WINFREY: One of the things--one of the things I've heard you say is that this generation's gonna remember--be remembered
for the Internet...
BONO: That's right.
WINFREY: ...the war on terror and?
BONO: And how we let an entire continent, Africa, burst into flames while we stood around with watering cans, or not.
And I think it's exciting to be part of a generation that actually says, no, now in--with--the world is a smaller place, distance
cannot decide who is our neighbor to love. You know, love thy neighbor. It's not about distance anymore. And we can't
afford not to. The world is too close, but there--the fires that start in--in Afghanistan, they reach our door.
WINFREY: Yeah. Don't we know now.
BONO: OK.
WINFREY: Don't we know now.
Coming up, actor/comedian Chris Tucker traveled with Bono to Africa. In fact, Bono says Chris was really the rock star
on that trip. Everybody knew him.
BONO: Sure.
WINFREY: And we'll talk to Chris Tucker when we come back. We'll be right back.
(Announcements)
(Excerpt from U2 music video)
WINFREY: Rock 'n' roll star Bono is here. The entertainer-turned-activist is on a mission to bring attention to the millions
of people needlessly dying right now in Africa. And Bono said in a recent interview that 'It's an everyday holocaust. We
must always remind ourselves of the situation in Africa because I think history and indeed God will judge very harshly if
we continue to ignore it.' Bono says that one of the most profound moments on the trip for him was a visit to an
orphanage in Ethiopia, where he met Sister Benedicta. MTV filmed the visit for a new documentary called "The Diary of
Bono and Chris Tucker: Aiding Africa," which airs October 9th on MTV. Watch this.
(Excerpt from videotape)
BONO: When I was a kid or something, I remember seeing movies about nuns, but I've never seen anything like Sister
Benedicta. You wouldn't believe that you could find a, I mean, beautiful person.
Sec. O'NEILL: Sister, thank you very much for letting us come and visit your house and see your work and--and see the
people.
BONO: In the end, rock stars, film stars, hip-hop stars--I mean, we're just getting paid, you know, to do what we love.
You know, we're not heroes. These people are heroes.
Group of Children: (Singing) (Foreign language spoken)
Sister BENEDICTA (Missionaries of Charity): The children whom you see here, they are all abandoned children, as I
said. What we do here in our work is we take care of these children. We help them to grow up and to become very mature
and joyful people, people who are able to give love, in turn, to others. And we have very well and very good experiences.
In this sense, these children are very mature.
BONO: That place--how lucky we were to be let in to see these people in their frailty. And I'll tell you this: The only
excuse is that we were going to try and change their lives for the better. And if we fail to do that, then we--we have really
let Sister Benedicta down and we've been a tourist in these people's tragedies.
(End of excerpt)
WINFREY: I think you're right. I'm going over to Africa this Christmas to orphanages and just had a team of mine go over
and bring back tape. And I say now that we have seen it, to do nothing means that you have been a witness to the atrocity.
Now that you have seen it, you have to do something to change it.
BONO: The--the congressman, Lantos, I met who was telling me, you know, he was--he was in Auschwitz.
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: He was a prisoner in Auschwitz. And he said the thing they couldn't believe was that people watched them being
put on the trains, and right now that's what's going on. We're watching people be put on the trains. We have the drugs.
We have the know-how. We're watching them be put on the trains. And I don't want--you know, I remember asking my
grandad, 'How did all that stuff happen on the Second World War, the Jews and all this?' Well, I don't want my kids
asking me, 'How did you let 25 million Africans die for the stupidest of reasons, money?' Same thing.
WINFREY: I never heard that analogy before. We're watching the people being put on the trains. Well, you were saying--
I--I think what is--what is so striking is when you go into these orphanages and you see the children, in spite of the
despair, a lot of them seem very happy.
BONO: Yeah, that's the other thing you've got to remember in Africa, because Africa is a sexy place. I mean, in terms
of--the c--the continent is a beautiful place. The people, like you're looking at Ethiopians there, they're so royal, you
know?
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: On every street corner you're seeing Bob Marley. That's what it looked like to me. And--and--and I just--I think
it's really important to remember that.
WINFREY: Right.
Chris Tucker ascended to Hollywood's A-list with his hit movies "Rush Hour" and "Rush Hour 2." Last spring, Chris
spent time with Bono--and there's Chris spending time...
BONO: Now he can dance right there.
WINFREY: ...and--and Secretary O'Neill on their trip to Africa. Chris joins us via satellite from Washington, DC, where
he's shooting a new film.
How are you, Chris?
Mr. TUCKER: Hey, Oprah. How you doing?
WINFREY: So what was that trip like for you with Bono and the secretary?
Mr. TUCKER: Well, I've been to Africa several--several times I've been to Africa, but never like this. On this trip, I
got to see--you know, got to meet the people at--went into the villages. I went to talk with people, went to hospitals
and stuff. So it was like I got--it was full of--it was like going to Africa for the first time. I got in touch with the people,
and I really just--you know, I just fell in love even more.
WINFREY: What kind of perspective did it give you as a, you know, star who's driving around in limousines and big cars
and--has a--you know, you have a whole 'nother reality here in the United States. So what kind of perspective did that
bring to your life?
Mr. TUCKER: It just took me back to reality saying, man, you know, we need to do--we need to do more to help the
world, you know, and that'll even bless us more.
WINFREY: So what was it like traveling with Bono, Mr. Rock Star?
Mr. TUCKER: I--I love him, man. He's just so brilliant, smart. And he's just a great guy, a really good guy.
WINFREY: OK. We need to take a break. And we'll continue with Chris Tucker and Bono, and hear the story of an
African woman who had a big impact on both of them, when we come back.
(Announcements)
WINFREY: Chris, Bono and two college students who traveled with them last spring met a 30-year-old African woman
named Eleanor. Look at her story. Look at this.
(Excerpt from videotape)
Unidentified Man: Eleanor has HIV. She's a single parent raising Mabel and Mabel's two sisters.
Well, what do you do to be healthy? Like, how do you keep yourself healthy?
Ms. HEATHER TATARSKI (College Student): We all just sat around this coffee table and discussed what it's like to
be HIV positive for Eleanor.
ELEANOR: I've got a problem of headaches and a skin rash all over my body.
BONO: Almost as bad as the disease itself is the stigmatization that goes on around AIDS.
Mr. TUCKER: People changed around her when they found out she was HIV positive.
ELEANOR: They don't want to share with me plates, cups. They ignore us. They ignore me. That hurts me very much
and it makes me sick.
BONO: People are just terrified to find out if they're HIV positive, and then if they find out they have it, they're not
gonna be able to get access to the drugs.
Are you on the drugs to keep you healthy?
ELEANOR: I haven't started the drugs because they are very expensive.
BONO: She's got a death sentence on her head.
We're here because we want to get the message back to the United States, to where I come from in Europe, that it's not
acceptable that your mother doesn't have access to the drugs that can keep her alive to see your kids. We don't think
that's acceptable.
(End of excerpt)
WINFREY: I think what people don't realize--I think we in America don't realize that what's going on in Africa now,
you're missing--you're gonna miss a whole middle generation. So you're gonna have young people and very old people...
BONO: That's it.
WINFREY: ...because everybody in that middle age range is dying.
BONO: Yeah, they're gone.
WINFREY: They're going.
BONO: You go to--you go to parts where, you know, a third of the people in a city...
WINFREY: Are dead.
BONO: ...have a death sentence on their head.
WINFREY: Yeah.
BONO: Just imagine you're going to the market or you're hanging out in the mall and a third of the people in the mall
are gonna die. Imag--just--you know, it's--it's important to...
WINFREY: And you were saying while--while--while that tape was running, though, that's why it was so important
to have Chris there because--because the ostracization.
BONO: Yeah, because, you know, people like Chris--he went and he spoke in schools and said--you know, he was
telling, you know, young women, 'You don't have to have sex if you don't want to.' He was telling men, you know,
'Come out--if you're worried about, you know--that you might have HIV, get tested.' And because he says it, people
are listening. People look--look up to him. They know who he is, as a lot of American stars that have real weight in--
in Africa, and--and I think we've got to--we've got--we've got to be grateful for that.
WINFREY: Well, Chris is...
Mr. TUCKER: Oprah, I want to say one thing. I--I just want to say how--you know, we--we always talk about the
bad stuff about Africa, but Africa's one of the most beautiful places on Earth. When I went out there with Secretary--
with Secretary Colin Powell, I stayed out in Gabon, a country that's out--it's right on the coast of Africa. And the
people are so beautiful, the people are so nice. Everywhere in Africa is beautiful. Capetown is beautiful. It's just a
beautiful, beautiful place and people should go visit.
WINFREY: So you--you just named-dropped there a minute. You were hanging out with Secretary Colin Powell. You're
hanging out with him why?
Mr. TUCKER: Well, I went out there to--you know, because I'm--I'm doing my movie and I'm playing the president of
the United States. And I went out there to sort of, you know, get in his ear, talk to him...
WINFREY: You're playing the first black president of the United States.
Mr. TUCKER: Yeah, yeah.
WINFREY: That should be pretty funny with you as the first black president of the United States.
Mr. TUCKER: Yeah, yeah. So, you know, I went out there with him. But it was kind of--you know, I--it was kind of
scary because this is like traveling with your daddy because you don't want to make him--it was like, 'Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
All right. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.' He'd come out--you know how he moves his head? He was like, 'Chris Tucker, are you all
right? Everything OK?"Yes, sir.' Because I thought, you know, if I do something wrong, they'll throw me off the plane,
'Get him off the plane. Get him off the plane. Security breach. Get him off the plane.' So it was--it was kind of--and the
same thing with the treasurer. I was like--you know, I was asking him for money, 'You got all that money, man. Loan
me some money.'
WINFREY: Thank you, Chris Tucker. Thanks.
Mr. TUCKER: Thanks.
WINFREY: Coming up, we'll talk to the secretary of the Treasury, Paul O'Neill, Bono's unlikely travel companion in
Africa. The press referred to them as "The Odd Couple."
Thanks, Chris. Look forward to the movie.
We'll be right back.
(Footage of U2 performing)
(Announcements)
(Excerpt from videotape)
BONO: Why I like him is he's annoyed, I think, by--by...
Sec. O'NEILL: He's angry, actually.
BONO: He's--he--he's--he's getting angrier by the day as he sees the great potential of this continent and how it's not
being used. Is that fair?
Sec. O'NEILL: That's fair.
BONO: That's fair.
(End of excerpt)
WINFREY: That was rock star Bono and the secretary of the Treasury, Paul O'Neill, who traveled to Africa in May.
Bono was trying to show Secretary O'Neill that Africa can and does put aid money to good use. Throughout the trip,
they disagreed a lot on key issues, but in the end they both say that they're working toward the same goal. The secretary
joins us via satellite from Hartford, Connecticut.
Welcome, Secretary O'Neill.
Sec. O'NEILL: Thank you for having me.
WINFREY: Thank you for joining us. What did you think when Bono first walked in your office? Did you know who
he was?
Sec. O'NEILL: Well, I knew who he was and I knew a little bit about his music, but the truth is, when my staff suggested
that he should come and see me, I said, 'No, no, he just wants to use me,' and so I put him off for a while. Then I let him
come in for 15 minutes, and in 15 minutes, he convinced me he was real. And so I asked him...
WINFREY: I heard that 15 minutes went into 90 minutes, did it not?
Sec. O'NEILL: That's right.
WINFREY: Because he doesn't know how to leave once he gets in the door. Yeah. Yeah. What do you think of this idea
of the US and other nations relieving the debt of poor countries, especially in Africa now? Did--did you move on your
opinion?
Sec. O'NEILL: Well, you know, I--I felt for a long time that we in the developed world and--and people who are
supposed to be leaders need to be a lot more impatient about the deprivation that so many hundreds of millions of people
live in around the world. And President Bush and I are dedicated to the proposition that we're going to finally get real
results in the lives of people who have nothing. The president's asked for an additional $5 billion to work on this problem,
and I'm convinced, as you and Bono were saying, that we can demonstrate we can produce real results, which means clean
water for every human being...
WINFREY: Yeah.
Sec. O'NEILL: ...a primary education for every human being, dealing with the problems of HIV/AIDS, the American
people are very generous people and they will respond to the opportunity to help other people have a life that gives
some fulfillment instead of one that's hopeless.
WINFREY: So are you saying you're gonna give up the money?
Sec. O'NEILL: We're going--we're going to produce results, and we're--not only are we going to provide more money,
we're going to induce the rest of the world to insist on getting results. And Bono's gonna help us do it.
WINFREY: And are there ways we can do it to be more effective? Because I, you know, heard you say, and one of the
things that I think you, you know, made very clear is that you think a lot--and obviously a lot of money has been spent,
and we have given a lot of money in aid and--and haven't seen the results that we might have wanted to have seen. So
how do we make that more effective?
Sec. O'NEILL: Well, I tell you, I think we have to be very insistent that the people who are supposed to be leaders of
their country ensure the rule of law, ensure enforceable contracts, provide a primary education and water to their people,
and then...
WINFREY: I know. I think you can't say--you can't say water enough, because I--I've often said this on the show. It's
the thing that we in this country take the most for granted. What people have to do to get water in other parts of the
world, and especially in Africa, carrying water on their heads for miles, to--not to have access to water.
BONO: See, it's a gender issue. I think th--that's something the secretary pointed out to me. And--and he said, you
know, 'Watch, it's the women that are carrying the water.'
WINFREY: The water, right.
BONO: It's taboo.
WINFREY: Yes.
BONO: So the women are spending--they're walking sometimes 10 miles a day to bring water. So if the--Secretary
O'Neill and President Bush and--and Condoleezza Rice and the United States Congress, the people, Democrats, Dick
Durbin here in Chicago, Leahy--Pat Leahy--incredible man--if everyone gets together, this idea of bringing water...
WINFREY: Water.
BONO: ...to Africa, it is not far-fetched. It's possible and we can do it right now. And I--I tell you, it will be--it will
revolutionize that continent.
WINFREY: I've got to ask you--I mean, you--you look like a pretty s--buttoned-up kind of secretary. So was--was
this a kick for you traveling with Bono?
Sec. O'NEILL: It was a--it was really a great treat to travel with someone who cares as deeply as he does and to use his
celebrity to show the world problems that everyone should be aware of so we can work on them more diligently.
WINFREY: Thank you, Secretary O'Neill.
Sec. O'NEILL: My pleasure. Thank you.
WINFREY: We'll be right back.
(Announcements)
WINFREY: What were you just saying about American people and...
BONO: Oh, I was just saying, you know, like we have, you know, Paul O'Neill, great man, and great man to hang out
with, believe it or not, as buttoned up as he is. But he's Mr. Money Bags, but he can't do anything unless the American
people give him permission to spend that money. That is honestly why I'm on the program, because I know, you
know, you've got the budget, you've got the deficit, you've got all these elections, people are worrying about their
mortgage. You have to send them the message that this is important to you, this is the idea of America.
WINFREY: I love that. I love that when you said that. I got goose bumps. But also I think what you said earlier about--
I think once you have seen it, once you've been exposed to it--now before you saw this show, you could say, 'I didn't
know that existed,' or, 'I didn't know that was happening.' But now once you have heard it and you've been exposed to
it, it is like watching the people get on the train.
BONO: Y--yeah. But I'm--I'm not--I'm not even--we're not even asking, believe it or not, for your money. We're asking
for your involvement. You know, in a way, you've already--you've given the money to the United States government.
We're asking for a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of that to save two--to save all those million lives. It's about the price for
every American of taking your girlfriend to the movies. It's about $10. That's probably what it is. And you can change
the lives. What a privilege to be in that situation.
And if America leads, we can beat the rest of the world up on this. Believe me, we will be such a pain in the ass in
England, in France, in Germany. At the moment, you see, they're waiting because, you know--people say, 'Well, the
United States, we're fighting the war. It's expensive,' and all the rest of it. We won't have to fight as many wars if we
get this one right, I promise.
WINFREY: That's what we've got to get people to hear.
We'll be right back.
(Announcements)
WINFREY: You know what? I'm already planning to go to Africa to do some work there. I'm building schools there.
But I'm even more inspired by you. I'm just insp--I'm charged by you.
BONO: Oh, thank you.
WINFREY: Yes, by you. By you. Thank you. Thank you. We'll do more. Bono, Chris Tucker, Secretary O'Neill and
all of our guests. If you want more information on Bono's work or his organization, DATA, please visit oprah.com.
Join us on Oxygen. We'll be on Oxygen for "Oprah After the Show" with Bono after the show. Imagine what's going
on here.

Posted by Jonathan at 09:42 PM | Comments (0)

June 14, 2001

Edge chatting on U2.com

Edge chatting on U2.com, June 14, 2001

Tens of thousands of fans logged on to U2.COM to ask Edge questions in our first online web-chat, Thursday.

Edge took time out between rehearsals and the band's Washington show to answer questions from fans for more than an hour.

Due to the overwhelming demand, some fans found it difficult gaining access at times - apologies if you experienced technical difficulties. In case you missed some of it, below we carry the complete transcript.

Rachel asks: Do you bring the family on the road? - Answer: It's no lifestyle for anyone who doesn't have something to do, so the answer is no. But there are occasional visits which make it bearable.

Mario asks: Why only one big concert for Italy? - Answer: I have been asking the same question, it's down to plain old logistics, just scheduling. We only had a limited amount of time to play Europe. Personally I'd love to play more Italian shows, I know we have a lot of fans in Italy and Italy could do with a few more shows. It's a tough one.

Jean asks: What's the deal with the midget plot in the 'All I Want Is You' video? - Answer: It's the classic midget meets girl, girl meets midget, they fall in love but the girl really loves other guy, scenario. That old plot. It's based on a movie, but I can't remember the name of it.

Peter asks: What would you do if you fell off the stage? - Answer: I don't know, probably climb back out and carry on. I did have a slight shock when Bono fell of the stage on the opening night, but he didn't fall very far fortunately. I have fallen off stage on a couple of occasions. The first thing is to protect the guitar, because you can fix an ankle, you can fix a bruise, but when you break a guitar that's the end of it.

Jim asks: As a fellow Irishman , are you looking forward to Slane this year? - Answer: it's one of the final shows on the European tour, it's going to be one hell of a party and we're looking forward to it.

J. Thomas asks: What do you think of other bands covering U2's songs? - Answer: There seem to be a few at the moment. I think there's been a steady stream of bands covering U2 songs down the years, but I don't think any of the cover versions have been as successful as the originals. i don't know what that says. I'm not complaining. I liked New Years Dub a lot. We always encourage people interested in covering our songs, as long as they're not completely crap!

Bigapple asks: Do you use the web much? - Answer: I occassionaly go for a quick surf, I wouldn't say right now I have much time to go on the web. What I do is not so much the message-boards. I go looking for things. There's alot of great information out there which is what I'm after.

Mazi asks: Any chance you will be visiting Latin America? - Answer: We would dearly love to have some shows in Latin America and we've been asking about it, but our enemy in that case is the exchange rate. You run the risk of having a really expensive ticket price. We don't want to go down there just to play to the richest people.

Tarzan asks: Do you think, with Elevation, rock is now putting pop back in it's place. - Answer: I'm waiting for the next generation of rock and roll bands who are going to write some amazing tunes and blow everyone away. I know they're out there, but I haven't come across them as yet.

Andrewstu asks: What 3 people would you like to invite to dinner? - Answer: Wow.. Jesus, John F Kennedy and Sir Isaac Newton.

Daztan asks: Does touring improve your creativity? - Answer: I don't think it does, but it gives you a lot of ideas for songs and lyrics. In that sense it's a good experience that you can put in to songs later. I find it really hard to write on the road. Sometimes guitar riffs and chord patterns, but really until we're all into rehearsals together, that's when everything's going off, that's when the best U2 songs come together.

MDEW asks: Are you writing new songs now? - Answer: Well there's alot of beginnings, we're constantly coming up with openings but until we get into a full few months of writing, I don't think we're going to come up with anything finished.

Spanish-eyes asks: Is it true you're planning a box set of unreleased material? - Answer: We have so much stuff that should not and probably will never see the light of day, but in there there are also some great things that have never been released. At some point we'll start looking through what we've got and putting something together. But there's no appetite to do it, at the moment we're so into new songs and new records.

Jelly-d asks: Are the band carrying on their support for Drop The Debt? - Answer: It's already becoming a broader campaign now. The idea is to try to attack the most awful problems facing Africa which are: foreign debt - crippling the poorest countries - and the problem of the HIV epidemic which is so bad now, but looks that it'll be even worse in ten years time. We'll continue to support Drop The Debt, but also look at other areas which are potentially catastrophic for Africa.

Quitanillan asks: What other bands are you listening to? - Answer: I listen to alot of eclectic stuff. I love the R.E.M. record, the Depeche Mode record is good, Stereo MC's, Air, Bob Dylan and Radiohead, I love the new Radiohead album.

Saldan asks: Do you use ProTools to record your albums? - Answer: No, we don't. We use digital recording, but we don't use ProTools. We used it for part of the POP record, but we didn't like it in the end, so we kind of stopped using it. We use it occassionaly for edits, but that's about it.

Gracy Ramirez asks: Will you compile a video of this tour? And a possible live album? - Answer: We are attempting to make a definitive tv live show of this tour, probably for broadcast at the end of year, maybe around Thanksgiving. Hopefully there will be DVD after that.

P. Helmholz asks: Which bands did you cover in the early days? - Answer: In the very early days Thin Lizzy, The Eagles (believe it or not). I think one of the first songs Bono ever learned was Tequila Sunrise which we played live when we were with The Dalton Brothers. The country rock thing should not be underestimated. But to be fair, we first did that when we were 15 or 16 years old.

SyncH asks: Why didn't U2 release any singles of the album in the US. - Answer: A question I've raised myself. It seems that they're so expensive to release now, they are vanity items only. For a lot of bands it seems to be all important to get their single into the Top Ten. I guess we've always felt ourselves to be more of an albums band anyway.

Montserrat asks: Is there anything you are really afraid of in this world? - Answer: Lies.

Ditte asks: Will you be playing Peace On Earth, live in Europe? - Answer: Possibly yes. We set out to make an album of songs which could all be played live, we have played seven of them so far and we might add more in by the time we get to Europe.

"I would like to say thank you to our fans, we're having the time of our lives and the people who've bought the record and come the shows have made it possible. It's been an incredible eighteen months. Thanks"

Copyright © 2001 U2.com. All rights reserved.

Posted by Jonathan at 09:36 PM | Comments (0)

June 06, 2001

Bono Speaks to the Harvard Graduates

Bono addressing the graduates of the Class of 2001 at the 350th commencement of Harvard University, June 6, 2001

Thank you for that introduction. But I suppose I should say a few more words about who I am and what on earth I'm doing up here.

My name is Bono.

My name is Bono, and I'm a rock star.

Now, I tell you this, not as a boast but as a kind of confession. Because in my view the only thing worse than a rock star is a rock star with a conscience - a celebrity with a cause... OH, DEAR!

Worse yet, is a singer with a conscience - a placard-waving, knee-jerking, fellow-travelling activist with a Lexus, and a swimming pool shaped like his own head.

I'm a singer. You know what a singer is? Someone with a hole in his heart as big as his ego. When you need 20,000 people screaming your name in order to feel good about your day, you know you're a singer.

I am a singer and a songwriter but I am also a father, four times over. I am a friend to dogs. I am a sworn enemy of the saccharine; and a believer in grace over karma. I talk too much when I'm drunk and sometimes even when I'm not.

I am not drunk right now. These are not sunglasses, these are protection.

But I must tell you. I owe more than my spoiled lifestyle to rock music. I owe my worldview. Music was like an alarm clock for me as a teenager and still keeps me from falling asleep in the comfort of my freedom.

Rock music to me is rebel music. But rebelling against what? In the Fifties it was sexual mores and double standards. In the Sixties it was the Vietnam War and racial and social inequality. What are we rebelling against now?

If I am honest I'm rebelling against my own indifference. I am rebelling against the idea that the world is the way the world is and there's not a damned thing I can do about it. So I'm trying to do some damned thing.

But fighting my indifference is my own problem. What's your problem? What's the hole in your heart? I needed the noise, the applause. You needed the grades. Why are you here in Harvard Square?

Why do you have to listen to me? What have you given up to get here? Is success your drug of choice or are you driven by another curiosity? Your potential. The potential of a given situation. Is missing the moment unacceptable to you? Is wasting inspiration a crime? It is for a musician.

If this is where we find our lives rhyme. If this is our common ground, well, then I can be inspired as well as humbled to be on this great campus. Because that's where I come from. Music.

But I've seen the other side of music - the Business. I've seen success as a drug of choice. I've seen great minds and prolific imaginations disappear up their own ass, strung out on their own self importance. I'm one of them.

The misery of having it all your own way, the loneliness of sitting at a table where everyone works for you, the emptiness of arriving at Aspen on a Gulfstream to stay in your winter palace. Eh, sorry, different speech ...

You know what I'm talking about - you've got to keep asking yourself why are you doing this? You've got to keep checking your motives.

Success for my group U2 has been a lot easier to conjure than, say ... relevance. RELEVANCE ... in the world, in the culture.

And of course, failure is not such a bad thing ... It's not a word that many of you know. I'm sure it's what you fear the most. But from an artist's point of view, failure is where you get your best material.

So fighting indifference versus making a difference. Let me tell you a few things you haven't heard about me, even on the Internet.

Let me tell you how I enrolled at Harvard and slept with an economics professor.

That's right - I became a student at Harvard recently, and came to work with Professor Jeffrey Sachs at CID - to study the lack of development in third-world economies due to the crushing weight of old debts those economies were carrying for generations.

It turns out that the normal rules of bankruptcy don't apply to sovereign states. Listen, it would be harder for you to get a student loan than it was for President Mobutu to stream billions of dollars into his Swiss bank account while his people starved on the side of the road. Two generations later, the Congolese are still paying. The debts of the fathers are now the debts of the sons and the daughters.

So I was here representing a group that believed that all such debts should be cancelled in the year 2000. We called it Jubilee 2000. A fresh start for a new millennium.

It was headed up by Anne Pettifor, based out of London - huge support from Africa. With Muhammad Ali, Sir Bob Geldof, and myself, acting at first just as mouthpieces. It was taking off. But we were way behind in the U.S.

We had the melody line, so to speak. But in order to get it on the radio over here, we needed a lot of help. My friend Bobby Shriver suggested I knock on the good professor's door. And a funny thing happened. Jeffrey Sachs not only let me into his office, he let me into his Rolodex, his head and his life for the last few years. So in a sense he let me in to your life here at Harvard.

Then Sachs and I, with my friend Bobby Shriver hit the road like some kind of surreal crossover act. A rock star, a Kennedy, and a Noted Economist crisscrossing the globe. like the Partridge Family on psychotropic drugs. With the POPE acting as our ... well .... agent. And the blessing of various Rabbis, Evangelists, mothers, unions, trade unions and PTAs.

It was a new level of "unhip" for me, but it was really cool. It was in that capacity that I slept with Jeff Sachs, each of us in our own seat on an economy flight to somewhere, passed out like a couple of drunks from sheer exhaustion.

It was confusing for everyone - I looked up with one eye to see your hero - stubble in all the wrong places ... His tie looked more like a headband. An airhostess asked if he were a member of the Grateful Dead.

I have enormous respect for Jeff Sachs but it's really true what they say. "Students shouldn't sleep with their professors..."

While I'm handing out trade secrets, I also want to tell you that Larry Summers, your incoming President, the man whose signature is on every American dollar is a nutcase - and a freak.

Look, U2 made it big out of Boston, not New York or L.A., so I thought if anyone would know about our existence it would be a Treasury Secretary from Harvard [and M.I.T.]. Alas, no. When I said I was from U2 he had a flashback from Cuba 1962.

How can I put this? And don't hold it against him - Mr. Summers is, as former President Clinton confirmed to me last week in Dublin, "culturally challenged."

But when I asked him to look up from "the numbers" to see what we were talking about, he did more than that. He did - the hardest thing of all for an Economist - he saw through the numbers.

And if it was hard for me to enlist Larry Summers in our efforts, imagine how hard it was for Larry Summers to get the rest of Washington to cough up the cash. To really make a difference for the third of the world that lives on less than a dollar a day.

He more than tried. He was passionate. He turned up in the offices of his adversaries. He turned up in restaurants with me to meet the concerns of his Republican counterparts. There is a posh restaurant in Washington they won't let us in now. Such was the heat of his debate - blood on the walls, wine in the vinegar.

If you're called up before the new President of Harvard and he gives you the hairy eyeball, drums his fingers, and generally acts disinterested it could be the beginning of a great adventure.

It's a good thing that I got invited up here before President Rudenstine hands over the throne.

Well. it's at this point that I have to ask - if your family don't do it first - why am I telling you these stories? It's certainly not because I'm running for role model.

I'm telling you these stories because all that fun I had with Jeff Sachs and Larry Summers was in the service of something deadly serious. When people around the world heard about the burden of debt that crushes the poorest countries, when they heard that for every dollar of government aid we sent to developing nations, nine dollars came back in debt service payments, when they heard all that, people got angry.

They took to the streets - in what was without doubt the largest grass roots movement since the campaign to end apartheid. Politics is, as you know, normally the art of the possible but this was something more interesting. This was becoming the art of the impossible. We had priests going into pulpits, pop stars into parliaments. The Pope put on my sunglasses.

The religious right started acting like student protesters. And finally, after a floor fight in the House of Representatives, we got the money - four three five million. That four three five - which is starting to be a lot of money - leveraged billions more from other rich countries.

So where does that money go? Well, so far, 23 of the poorest countries have managed to meet the sometimes over-stringent conditions to get their debt payments reduced - and to spend the money on the people who need it most. In Uganda, twice as many kids are now going to school. That's good. In Mozambique, debt payments are down 42 percent, allowing health spending to increase by $14 million. That's good, too. $14 million goes a long way in Mozambique.

If I could tell you about one remarkable man in rural Uganda named Dr. Kabira. In 1999, measles - a disease that's almost unheard of in the U.S. - killed hundreds of kids in Dr. Kabira's district. Now, thanks to debt relief, he's got an additional $6,000 from the state, enough for him to employ two new nurses and buy two new bicycles so they can get around the district and immunize children. Last year, measles was a killer. This year, Dr. Kabira saw less than ten cases.

I just wanted you to know what we pulled off with the help of Harvard - with the help of people like Jeffrey Sachs.

But I'm not here to brag, or to take credit, or even to share it. Why am I here? Well, again I think to just say "thanks." But also, I think I've come here to ask you for your help. This is a big problem. We need some smart people working on it. I think this will be the defining moment of our age. When the history books (that some of you will write) make a record of our times, this moment will be remembered for two things: the Internet. And the everyday holocaust that is Africa. Twenty five million HIV positives who will leave behind 40 million AIDS orphans by 2010. This is the biggest health threat since the Bubonic Plague wiped out a third of Europe.

It's an unsustainable problem for Africa and, unless we hermetically seal the continent and close our conscience. It's an unsustainable problem for the world but it's hard to make this a popular cause because it's hard to make it pop, you know? That, I guess, is what I'm trying to do. Pop is often the oxygen of politics.

Didn't John and Robert Kennedy come to Harvard? Isn't equality a son of a bitch to follow through on. Isn't "Love thy neighbour" in the global village so inconvenient? GOD writes us these lines but we have to sing them ... take them to the top of the charts, but its not what the radio is playing - is it? I know.

But we've got to follow through on our ideals or we betray something at the heart of who we are. Outside these gates, and even within them, the culture of idealism is under siege beset by materialism and narcissism and all the other "isms" of indifference. And their defense mechanism - knowingness, the smirk, the joke. Worse still, it's a marketing tool. they've got Martin Luther King selling phones now. Have you seen that?

Civil Rights in America and Europe are bound to human rights in the rest of the world. The right to live like a human. But these thoughts are expensive - they're going to cost us. Are we ready to pay the price? Is America still a great idea as well as a great country?

When I was a kid in Dublin, I watched in awe as America put a man on the moon and I thought, wow - this is mad! Nothing is impossible in America! America, they can do anything over there! Nothing was impossible only human nature and it followed because it was led.

Is that still true? Tell me it's true. It is true isn't it? And if it isn't, you of all people can make it true again.

Copyright © 2001 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Posted by Jonathan at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2000

AOL/CompuServe Chat Transcript: U2

from AOL/CompuServe Chat, October 30, 2000

note: the following is a transcript of U2's live AOL/CompuServe Chat, October 30, 2000, which was arranged as a promotional vehicle for All That You Can't Leave Behind

Bono: Cead mile sailte! It's ancient gaelic...a hundred thousand welcomes in cyberspace!

Host: Which of your songs is the most meaningful to you?

Bono: Well that's jumping in the deep end...but you know sometimes the Shallow Song will mean the most. On this new album what we're trying to do is to combine big ideas expressing little situations. The best rock and roll seems to have both. Both shallowness and depth in the same sentences. Our feeling "Tangled Up in Blue" Elvis Presley "Hound Dog" Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit" so as regard to meaningful, in order to sing these songs, I can tell you this that some of the musical notes are very high, and in order to perform them you have to step inside the song, you have to live the song, breathe what the song is about before you can sing it. A song like "One" is not that easy to just knock out. It takes you to a troublesome place. A song like "Stuck in the Moment' you can't get out of... on the new album, it's the same. It's a little pop ditty about suicide, and not something you can step into lightly.

Edge: I'd like to add...if you sit down to write a tune and you try and be profound, you're generally gonna end up with egg on your face. You have to try the best you can to be honest and write from somewhere that's not self-conscious or judgmental. And if you end up with a tune that connects with the fans, you're lucky.

Host: I'm going to ask you the next question we have coming up. I'm a big fan of your new video. Where was it filmed? And what was the name of the directedor? -- of the director?

Bono: Over to Adam.

Host: It's working, so you can speak at normal pace and do your thing.

Adam Clayton: That was filmed in Charles De Galle airport in Paris, France.

Host: OK. Next question is from stwiddler 41 --

Bono: Hang on. There's two halves to that answer.

Adam Clayton: Jonas Ackerlund is the video director. He worked with prodigy and Donna and never liked either of them. He only came into his own on meeting U2.

The Edge: Because his haircuts made sense when he started working with U2.

Adam Clayton: Jonas is the proud owner of a mullet.

Host: OK, you guys done?

Bono: Yeah.

Host: All right. Next one we have is from someone named twizzler 41. I heard that U2 may play a benefit concert in the holy land. How do you feel about this particular part of the world? And do you believe a concert would actualize people's troubles?

Bono: Not true. We're not playing any benefit concert anywhere at the moment. And we would not presume that any concert or anything musical would be the -- be a solution to what's going on in the Mideast.

The Edge: I'd like to know who we were going to be benefiting, if we were to do such a thing.

Bono: I might be able to help. There is an idea coming out of the holy land that when the troubles ease off, that there should be a festival of Abraham, because Abraham is the patriarch of the three different traditions in the Mideast -- the Muslims, the Christians, and the jews. I think this is fantastic -- a fantastic idea. Like St. Patrick's day for everyone in those three traditions. It sounds kind of ridiculous. And when you see the hatred that's on the streets right now. But you know, music, painting, and culture is often the first to unite people, even before politics. If you look at what happened with Elvis Presley in the deep south of the United States, you realize that rock & roll helped to -- rock 'n' roll helped to unify black and white. It brought black and white closer than the politicians. Because, you know, people who grow up on music and realize more profoundly than people who grow up in politics that we are "one but not the same."

Host: OK. The next question we have is someone who says I'm a filmmaker from flamp, and when I write my -- from New Hampshire, and when I write my screen plays I listen to your music as it is a constant form of inspiration. Do you get inspired by other forms of art other than music when you write or perform?

U2: Daylight. It's morning. The songwriter is waking up in Dublin, Ireland. It's raining outside. Dawn there is -- dawn is therefore full of melancholy. Fade to black. Evening. The songwriter is drinking far too much. Again, he blames the weather for his contagion. Inspiration, he says to himself, comes mostly from perspiration. You have to work through it. His darling wife laughs at this notion of work, but she knows all too well that means time not spent with the children. This is who I am, says the songwriter. I know. But who are we, says the wife? Fade to black. Next morning, he's living on his own. Six months later, divorce.

Host: OK. The next question that we have is regarding Mother Records. And this person is a huge fan of Lawn Pigs and Audio Web. They still want to know if you still have the label up and running and if it's still through Island Records.

U2: Unfortunately, no. No. They were great bands. And unfortunately, they didn't have the commercial success that they should have had. And I hope that they'll be picked up by some other label.

Host: OK. Next one we have is someone saying Bono, I heard that you referred to this C.D. as having the classic U2 arrangement. What does that mean?

Bono: I would never say something so classic. It's true that we stopped editing ourselves. And when we hit something that sounded like U2 of old, we let it through on this album in a way that on the last few albums we wouldn't. And this was an attempt -- this happened probably because of releasing the "Best of U2" a couple of years ago reacquainted us with some of the sounds that are the essence of U2. But the essence of U2 is not something that happened in 1983 or 1993. It includes from 1980 to 2000. You know, all that you can't leave behind, yes, to me the best bit of U2. I thought it would make it through the fire, you know, the purifying fire that separates the wheat from the chaff. That's what this is about.

Host: Do you see yourselves collaborating with anyone else anytime soon? I was a huge fan of "Miss Sarajevo," one of your fans says.

The Edge: Collaborations are a lot of fun. But at the same time, you've got to put trying into what you are doing yourself, and right now that's what this record is all about. I think the band are rediscovering the center, rediscovering what we have when we play together, when we're in a small room and so I don't think we're going to be doing any collaborations in the near future. But who knows? Knowing Bono, it will be something.

Bono: It's nice to have what you might call a waddler. You know, to throw a wabbler. It means to have something from the outside world come into your very own private place and upend things. We love the idea of a rock band like U2 collaborating with unusual influences, like Luciano Pavarotti. Willie Nelson. Frank Sinatra. And the group Suicide. A D.J. like Howie B. And hopefully The Chords. [@U2 note: we assume the person typing U2's response mishead this and that "The Corrs" is what was actually said.]

Host: OK, next question we have is, with artists like Pearl Jam making recordings of their European tour available for purchase, would there be any chance U2 would do something along the same lines, like making recordings of shows of upcoming or past shows available to fans?

Edge: I think we might well use the Internet to make our shows available, because it's a very Democratic way of getting in touch with the community of your fans and we see it as a great opportunity to do that. And so through U2.com, I think we might well make our shows available. We've never had a problem with bootlegs or people recording our shows for their own use. Our problem has always been people ripping off our fans with inferior recordings that they sell at exorbitant prices. So --

Bono: Can I interject? Edge mentioned the word "fans." And when I was a kid, and I heard a rock star use the word "fans" I used to get upset. It annoyed me just a little less than the word "kids." But "fans" in the U2 definition of the word is the most positive place to be. We, myself, Edge, Adam, Larry, we are fans of music. We are fans of Johnny Cash. We are fans of The Clash. We are fans of Nirvana. We are fans of beauty wherever you might find it, in the most unexpected places. I think it's really amazing and generous thing to applaud somebody else's work. And that is our definition of "fan."

Edge: Just exactly.

Host: The next one we have here is from AOL Argentina. And the comment is we want to congratulate you on the strength that you've given people in the middle of a terrible war, offering them your music and support. You're good people and good musicians. It's a pity that governments don't take care of social problems, but thank God people like you exist and you do yourself to help them. So it's not quite a question, but instead a comment.

Bono: Well, thank you very, very much. You know, often it's sad but true that music has stepped into the void sometimes that politicians have left an open wound. And in the United States you have, and during the Vietnam war, it was musicians that were the conscience of America. And during the 1980's and the famine in Ethiopia, it was Live Aid, We are the World, etc., that actually rose to the challenge of that famine in Africa that politicians were ignoring. In the year 2000, and when it came to debt cancellation as championed by Jubilee 2000, the idea of using the millennium year as an opportunity to release the poorest countries on the planet from the burdening debt of the richest countries of the planet, it was musicians that came to the fore. It shouldn't be, but it is often true. And the lesson to be learned from this, that whatever you do, whether you work at McDonald's, you're a teacher, or work in a factory, or you're in a rock band, you can actually change the world with your point of view. That is what rock music does.

Host: OK. Next question is from Nicole. And she asks, what is the reference to the j 33-3 printed in the background on the album cover? Does it have any meaning?

Edge: Yes, it does. It's a very obscure reference to the gospel of John. And we're not very religions people, but we are believers. And we believe in God, but we find it very uncomfortable to see what religion has turned God into. And that reference is to the gospel of John. John was a dreamer. And I'm not talking about John Lennon, but the guy who wrote the gospel of John and who wrote Revelation was kind of a mad poet. We quoted from him because that's more the way we see the world and you're kind of fundamentalist-type folks who pro claim on their bumper stickers peace and goodwill to all mankind, while they carry a double-barrel shotgun in the back for anyone who disagrees with them. [@U2 note: there is no 33:3 in the Gospel according to John, but there is a 33:3 in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, which is the reference various media outlets are reporting.]

Host: OK. Next question we have is, do you have any special plans for the winter holidays? Do you have any particular family traditions you partake in?

U2: Child sacrifice. Child sacrifice is an old tradition in Ireland. We roast our children on a spit. No, no. Cancel that.

Host: OK.

U2: The only tradition in Ireland is that people drink into oblivion and tell the ones they love things they haven't been telling them all year. And whether they work in banks or record companies or at the local 7-eleven, people in Ireland drink far too much for the good of their health, but probably add years onto their life through honesty. At Christmastime. I look forward to it. It's rather like an Irish wedding. Irish weddings are a rather operatic occasion -- much tears, much laughter, much too much drinking.

Host: OK. Elizabeth asks, how much longer U2 plans to record together. Is this your last album?

Edge: Well, I can't say we're planning that far in advance, but we still have a lot of fun making records together, because we actually still feel that our music has got a lot of life in it, and vitality. And as long as that's true, we're going to work together.

Larry Mullen: Unfinished business.

Host: OK. Next one we have is regarding a rumor that someone's heard. I've heard that the "Best of U2" 1992-1999 will come out in the next year or so. Is that the case?

Edge: No, we didn't get quite around to that. We originally wanted the best of the 1980's to be followed by the best of the 1990's, but got sidetracked by a much more important project which was "All That You Can't Leave Behind." "All That You Can't Leave Behind" is our new album, but it's also the greatest hits, the greatest hits of the last two years of U2's life. We're going to leave the next collection until the dust is really settled on that work, because it's far too recent. It will be another few years before we feel that we even have perspective on the work of the 1990's.

Host: OK. Next question is involving your tour. I heard that you'll be starting a tour in February. Is this true? Do you plan to play smaller venues or large arenas?

Adam Clayton: I'm going to say yeah, we are planning to start a tour in April, and we felt we wanted to try and keep it intimate. We don't want to go out there and play the big places. We're going to let this record kind of get out there a bit and see what happens to it. And that tour may grow from a six-month tour into a year. And it may grow into bigger places. But you know, it's all kind of loose at the moment.

Host: OK. Do you endorse any particular candidate in the U.S. race for president?

Edge: We're Irish, so we don't feel like we should make a