U2, Neil Mccormick
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 92
Average rating: 5.0 of 5
U2 should be by U2 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
As a certified U2-phile, it was pre-ordained that I would own and read this book as I have done with much of the other biographical work in book and magazine form. This tops the lot.
Repeatedly asking any person to share the details of their lives can result in tedium for the subject, the asker, and the reader. In fact, I have for the most part given up reading more than one interview from a certain period of time (tour, album release, etc.) as all of the questions seem to be the same, and all of the answers likewise. Even with Bono who seems determined to reinvent the U2 epic with each word that leaves his mouth can mire in a rut of propaganda as various interviewers vary only tone and inflection on the same questions in hopes of mining a previously unheard gem.
This book seems to find new ground by simply allowing the band to find its own points of emphasis. As the members of U2 retrace the careers from a mature point of view, the stories actually become grander and more engaging. Either they have become so much more adept at political messaging and spot-on branding, or they have relaxed and become more human. Rather than reading like the typical fan-zine pop fiction that seeks to feed the mythology through the trite and true tools of music journalism which boil the characters down to one dimension, the book and pictures read like a complete memoir. Rather than focusing only on the radio-worn greatest hits of U2 history, the reader is treated to a rich catalog of human experience.
It might have been the perspective of mature distance from their youth. Perhaps, they have been up with the sun and back. Whatever the reason, at last we are finally able to see them as the four youngsters from Dublin who made it work and turned into the world's greatest rock band while staying human.
Editorial Review:
In 1975, four teenagers from Mount Temple School in Dublin gathered in a crowded kitchen to discuss forming a band. More than thirty years later, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. are still together, bound by intense loyalty, passionate idealism, and a relentless belief in the power of rock and roll to change the world. In an epic journey that has taken the band from the clubs of Dublin to the stadiums of the world, U2 has sold more than 130 million albums, revolutionized live performance, spearheaded political campaigns, and made music that defines the age in which we live.
Told with wit, insight, and astonishing candor by the band members themselves and manager Paul McGuinness—with pictures from their own archives—U2 by U2 allows unprecedented access into the inner life of the greatest rock band of our times.
