TomFlannery.com

We live in interesting times.

So yea…I’ve always considered Bono a bit of a meathead. Anybody who is not blind and wears sunglasses indoors is not to be trusted. And who among us doesn’t have that Live Aid mullet seared into our noggins? . The longstanding Dublin joke “What’s the difference between God and Bono? God doesn’t walk around Dublin pretending to be Bono”, makes me laugh and wince at the same time.

But still. I can’t fault a guy who wants to change the world. The man’s heart is in the right place. His head might be up his hole….but his heart is where it should be. Front and center. He’s famous…and he takes his fame and rams it down the throat of the political powers that be..goading them to do unto others and all that. You know….their jobs. And he’ll suck up to anyone…from the rightwing crazies to the most deluded patchouli smelling lefty. Anything to get shit done.

But really…the most important thing is that he’s smart enough to be in a band with The Edge, the kind of inventive guitar player that comes along maybe once in a generation. Together they front a great rock and roll band (solid drummer in Larry Mullen…and the Ringo Starr of the bass guitar….Adam Clayon…the luckiest sod in the world of music…the man who puts the “dum” in ‘dum-dum’). Since I was in grade school they’ve been making great music. Some great albums. Some not so great albums. But a remarkable string of brilliant songs. Maybe 25 or 30 absolute classics. Not many can say that. They deserve their acclaim. Nobody sounded like U2 before U2 came around. Now, everybody sounds like U2…..which everybody conveniently forgets because it makes them harder to make fun of.

Their mistake is growing old, which you’re not allowed to do in rock and roll.

And always trying to top themselves, which is admirable, but when the smallest gig you’ve played in the last 20 years is a soccer stadium…it’s quite easy to go from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Enter Apple….and enough money to forgive the crushing debts of 3rd World nations. Something near and dear to Bono’s heart.

Enter irony.

Enter the jackals….pushed over the edge by a free album they didn’t ask for. Cue national hysteria.

“Songs of Innocence” is, for the most part….vintage U2. It’s a solid record with a few horrid clunkers that I’ve already deleted (see how easy that bit is?)…but I’m more than happy to take the boys up on their offer of some free tunes. When they are good…..there are not many that are better. I’m still willing to listen. Maybe this makes me old too. I don’t give a shit. Rock and roll has been around longer than I’ve been alive. I’m quite content for it not to die before it gets old. Plus….as a guitar player I’d be willing to pay to listen to The Edge tune his guitar. So yea…there’s that.

Apple paid something like $100 million bucks to give this new U2 music to us….which makes sense to people in Apple’s boardroom I suppose….but then I don’t spend my days worrying about Apple’s finances. If they offered me $100 million to release my records for “free”….I’d probably say yes too.

Just about everybody is mad at U2 now. Apple was forced to create some sort of “remove U2” instructions….as if Bono was nasty spyware that could do irreparable harm to the entire internets.

Meanwhile I sit here typing these words…..with Songs of Innocence blaring into my skull..feeling superior because I didn’t get the album via an illegal download….which I hear some people resort to from time to time….though I of course would never stoop to such lows. Cut to the clearing of my throat now.

Plus, Bono is singing about how cool the Ramones were. How can anybody have a problem with that?

We live in interesting times. Terrorists post videos of themselves be-heading innocents….in the name of some god or another….and we watch in worried fascination….after fighting rush hour traffic and getting home and closing our garage doors…hunkering down. Isolating.

We are moments away from yet another carpet bombing of Iraq….which is beginning to feel regimented. War in high definition this time….on large screens.

Football players are beating on their wives and children….and smiling for the cameras. We are so appalled that we watch the NFL in even greater numbers. That’ll show ‘em.

And yet…..some cool free music from an outstanding rock and roll band drives us to twitter to vent our collective spleens. Apparently, next to unexpected Bono….the only thing that gets folks this worked up is Facebook game requests.

As for me? Bring on the music boys. Make it loud and hummable. Give me guitars. Some drums. Even Adam Clayton’s bass. And let Bono wail over the top of it. I’ll survive.