(Re)Appraising U2’s War as It Turns 40
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(Re)Appraising U2’s War as It Turns 40
U2 during the War years. From U2.com.
It’s easy to forget the impact U2’s War had when it hit the airwaves in 1983. It’s easy to forget today, when Bono’s earnestness and his buddying up to the rich and powerful have turned him into a punchline.
Bono and the Edge are now on tour supporting Bono’s book Surrender and the band’s Songs of Surrender — a collection of rerecorded versions of the songs detailed by Bono in the book.
Recent years have not been kind to the band’s reputation, and less kind to Bono’s. A botched album roll out — sending free copies of Songs of Innocence to every iTunes account led to a backlash, while the album and its follow-up Songs of Experience (both titled borrowed from William Blake) were deservedly panned by critics. The band has made good music over the last 30-plus years, but not enough of it; most of the records released since the masterpiece Achtung Baby! have mixed strong songs with filler and pretension.
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Author: hankkalet
Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.
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Hank Kalet 