Let's face it, we love U2 but not everyone does. So in the spirit of things, I have compiled some nice and not so nice things that have been said about U2. This page is still under construction and if you have anything to contribute to this section, please do! Thanks!
Bono and The Edge performed at Luciano Pavarotti's annual War Child concert in Modena, Italy on September 12, 1995. Pavarotti had this to say about Bono:
"Bono, I think we will become very close to Bono. It take me time to convince him to come (to the festival) but when he was ready he enjoy. And when he sang the song (One) by himself, all the kids were singing with him. I think he was very touched, he almost cried"
[NB: Get the Miss Sarajevo single to hear the most beautiful performance of 'One']
Talking Head's bassist Tina Weymouth:
"Bono is everything I hoped David [Byrne, TH's lead vocalist] would become"
[btw, Talking Head's 'Take Me To The River' is one of my fave songs... it is totally excellent! Well, in my humble opinion anyway! :)]
Noel Gallagher of Oasis during an interview in 1996:
Q: What about your best dream?
A: I'm not particularly arsed about America, but if we could do the same as we've done in England... Actually the big dream is to be U2 (claps hands together) - not a little Britpop phenomenon with the right clothes and trendy haircuts, which is what we are now
In an interview with Jon Bon Jovi in Q magazine February 1995:
Q: Does the Bono thing of being tongue-in-cheek about rock stardom, the post-modern side of ZOO TV, cut any ice with you?
JBJ: To me, there's another guy I think the world of. I think that
band is fucking brilliant. When people thought that that Macphisto was
supposed to be (earnestly) 'Bono thinks he's a rock star, therefore
he wears this gold lamê suit'. (as if to slow child)It. Was. A. Joke.
Here in America, people took it real seriously. The English or the
Irish, they got it. They said, 'It's Elvis' gold lamê suit.
You know with the whole mirror thing? Here in America they go,
(suspicious), 'He just got down off his cross and now he wants to
be a rock star. You dumb fucks! It was a joke!
[I can't really recall but I think I remember reading somewhere Bono saying, "Look, we're not going to turn in Jon Bon Jovi" or something like that... I AM NOT SURE so don't take my word for it! If anyone could confirm it would be great!]
Bob Geldof in 1984 formed Band Aid to raise money for the starving Ethiopians and wrote the single, 'Do They Know It's Christmas?", among which Bono was one of the artist who sang. This is part of what Geldof said when asked about the charity single:
"I wrote the lyric in the back of a taxi... when I went to Midge (Ure) with my bit of the song I was completely embarrassed about the thing. It was dire. I left it to him and he made a great record out of it... the only lyric he contested to was 'Thank God it's them instead of you', which could have been too much - I think only Bono could have carried it off with the required vigour amd anger.
Salman Rushdie, infamous author of 'The Satanic Verses' appeared onstage st the Wembley show during the 'Zooropa' tour in 1993 after Mr. MacPhisto placed a call to him. Later, BP Fallon asked Salman why he liked U2:
"Because they take chances, they take risks and they're not afraid of falling flat on their face. They're committed and you have to admire that"
REM's Michael Stipe:
"U2 want to be the biggest band in the world, we'll concentrate on being the best band in the world"
[Eerrrrr....]
In an official Spice Girls magazine, U2's picture was featured under 'U' in the A-Z section of famous people the girls have met. Under the picture the caption read:
"U2 - They're not so young, but very cool!"
Contributed by: Beth, who spotted it in her younger sister's mag.
[you think the mag left out the part where the Spice Girls grabbed the guys' butts?? well they DID grab Prince Charles' bottom... so you never know!]
From Rolling Stone Oct 1, 1998 Issue: Hip-hop gospelman Kirk Franklin called upon a slew of talented folks, including Mary J. Blige, R. Kelly, and Bono, to sing on his single "Lean on Me," which will benefit Southern churches destroyed in a rash of hate crimes. About Bono, Mr Franklin said:
"He was wonderful. Meet him and you'll understand why the dude's an icon."
Bono had a great friendship with the late Frank Sinatra (duetting on Frank's 'Duets' album with "I've Got You Under My Skin" among other things). Bono had written a song especially for Sinatra titled "Two Shots of Happy One Shot of Sad" to which Frank had this to say about the B-man:
"Lyrics are the soul of a song. Bono shows he's hip to this. He's a good man and I wish him many, many shots of happy"
*more to come*
Please e-mail me if you have any contributions.