The U2 EP

What kind of crazy f*cked up world do we live in where it takes sixtysomething rockers from Ireland to light the way in a somnambulant music landscape?

One in which the Irish rockers were brought up on a divided island where the IRA fought for...

We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.

But it may be brewing today.

What you've got to know is in the sixties, when Laura Nyro wrote "Save the Country," a huge segment of the population thought that the U.S. would win the war in Vietnam in a heartbeat. After all, we were big bad America!

But the truth is a ragtag band of Vietcong defeated us by employing guerilla warfare as opposed to the carpet-bombing techniques evolved from World War II. And we see the same thing today, with drone warfare. That's how battles are fought, along with cyber efforts. But there's a cadre of the public who still believes they can fight the nation via guns. In the sixties, young people fought guns with flowers, and they ended up winning.

It took a while for America to wake up, for the majority to question not only the war in Vietnam, but the government itself. Will this happen again?

Or as U2 says in "The Tears of Things":

"If you put a man in a cage and rattle it enough
A man becomes the kind of rage that cannot be locked up
No, it cannot be locked up"

In the sixties, we had manifestos. And that is what U2 has created with its latest issue of "Propaganda":

https://propaganda.u2.com

There's a lot of information here. It'll take you a while to read and digest it. It's a far cry from the limited print on the back of early Beatle albums. But U2 knows that the cognoscenti talking about a short attention span economy have it all wrong, if you intrigue people, if you have something they want, they will invest untold time in it, ergo streaming series on Netflix, et al.

That's the desire of a fan, to go deeper.

Also, in today's world, you don't depend on external outlets to spread your message, but yourself. If you're relying on others, you've missed the plot. You gain an audience, build momentum and then superserve it.

As far as creating hit records?

Where are those records heard? A hit on terrestrial radio comes after the fact, and reaches only the brain dead out of touch with the real world that happens on the internet. If you think it's about numbers, data, you've missed the point. It's about MINDSHARE! How can you embed yourself into people's brains such that they never forget you and your message?

Now in truth, many wince when U2 continues to push the envelope. They remember the "Rattle and Hum" years when Bono paraded as a deity and then tried to save the world.

But as Larry Mullen, Jr. says:

"Who needs to hear a new record from us?"

https://www.u2.com/news/title/u2--days-of-ash-new-ep-out-now/

He has a sense of humor about himself, there is self-knowledge, something that is lacking from today's hedonistic acts who are all about the sell, all about becoming a brand... Then again, they were brought up in an era of relative prosperity wherein the goal was to be an empty vessel pop star like Mariah Carey, as if vocal ability alone was key.

No, if you want to be a true star, someone people believe in, you must have an identity, you must chart your own course, you must be able to say no. You must exist outside the community, the mainstream, so you can comment on it.

So U2 have dropped an atomic bomb. Bruce Springsteen did so before them, but he was the only one. Because Bruce's roots are in the sixties, whereas today's hitmakers' are not.

And Bruce's "Streets of Minnesota" is in the tradition of Woody Guthrie. Whereas U2's "Ash" EP is definitely of the now. It truly makes one think, it's inspirational.

For some.

As for those on the fence... This is the power of music, it seeps into your subconscious, it changes who you are without you even knowing it.

There's a segment of the population that still believes in an America that no longer exists, one run by white men where minorities are denigrated and shunted aside. They long for a nation that has long since passed. And they hate those who live in the present, because they don't want to contemplate their cheese being moved. They'd rather bury their heads in the sand.

And then there are those who decry technological advancements. For all the b.s. about the harm of social media to youngsters, there has never ever been a study that proves this! But oldsters cannot conceive of the fact that young people can connect and be friends with people they've never met in person. Furthermore, the oldsters who abhor social media are afraid of what's on there, look askance at it, just like parents hated the Beatles. They don't even want to go there. All these naysayers have never ever been on TikTok, for if they had...they'd find it more stimulating than the lives they keep telling youngsters to live off the grid, in a tech free world.

But the world has changed.

Advance hype no longer works. Give it to me right now or I'm not interested, I've got too many options. Give U2 credit for dropping this project with no advance notice, not even on New Music Friday.

We need leaders. And they anoint themselves. One of the problems with millennials is they don't want to stand out, they want to be members of the group first and foremost. But it's those who question authority and stand out who change the world.


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