So I was able to catch some of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show on VH1 this weekend. Mostly the bits with Bono and the Boys. I have to admit that after The Joshua Tree I stopped paying attention to U2. The albums had a little too much glam and not enough of the stripped down angst-driven sound I had come to love.
But a funny thing happened on the way to commercialization with U2. They stayed together. They stayed focused. They kept making the music they wanted to and not what would sell the most. And after two decades of turning out albums and tours that almost always please the ear and sometimes the soul they are still the most cohesive four guys I have seen on stage together.
I suppose if I were a little older I could compare them to the Rolling Stones or perhaps Aerosmith. But both the Stones and Steven Tyler*s band of hard-living geriatrics have suffered the vagaries of the life lived in excess. They now appear as caricatures of themselves. Frail and fragile shadows of former power.
Certainly U2 are 20 years older than when they released Boy but rather than withering away, the band looks more powerful. They all have a little more character in their face, perhaps a little more bulk on their frames and a generations worth of experience playing some really solid rock and roll.
Bono*s voice is still one of the best in the business and he never seems to have a bad night on stage. The Edge is only getting better with age and is one of a handful of guitarists that most people can recognize from just a lick or two (Carlos Santana, B.B. King, The Edge. Wouldn*t you know them anywhere?). And while Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen can get overlooked sometimes, rare is the U2 song that doesn*t feature a tight rolling rythm section that lifts up those guitar licks and vocals.
U2 has managed to transcend genre and become their own industry. The lived through big haired 80s metal, 90s flannel grunge, and the explosion of hip hop. And through it all they just keep pressing on. Making music that can reach everyone and spending their ridiculous fortunes in causes that show they understand the responsibility that comes with fame and fortune.
I*m sure I won*t like every album they put out. But I*ll always stop to listen.
