12.26.14 Adam Returns From Vacation

I was just listening to an interview Bono did with Dave Fanning (Irish DJ) after the release of "Songs of Innocence". In the course of the interview even though they are discussing the songs on the albums they touch on a lot of things about the music industry in general and where things are heading business wise. There is also a lot of talk about creative process, inspirations and how they have managed to survive intact as a group. Much of it may be of interest to those of you who like to learn about the industry.

There was a section where Bono discusses motivations and points out as he has many times in the past that an awful lot of "Rock Stars" came out of situations of maternal abandonment of some kind. By contrast many of the Hip Hop stars have in common some kind of paternal abandonment. It got me to thinking about the comparisons of Adam to Elvis. Elvis was a bit of an outlier in that he had a very close loving relationship with his mother and although he lost her relatively early in his career it wouldn't have been the driving factor in him becoming the artist he was. Adam is also very close to his mother and thankfully still has her around. The biggest kind of difference this makes is that much of Adam's art is much more centered around joy and the more positive aspects of love. Even the sadder songs he has written or sung are much more directed towards transcending the negatives. In some ways I think this is part of why some object to him being described as a rock star, because they don't feel he has anger, despair or depression of the typical rock star. Rock stars often spend a lot of time wallowing in their pain and often do their best work when they are really messed up individuals. It's like the rock fans don't feel you are "real" unless your life is a disaster.

U2 have often come under the same kind of criticism from rock fans because they never had any intention of staying in the club scene or the garage. They set out from the very beginning to be the biggest band in the world and they didn't just write songs that raged against the machine so to speak they went in and infiltrated the machine both politically and in terms of the industry. Their songs, even the angry ones had love and faith and hope which were very uncool but ultimately what made them a band that mattered.

Adam went on tour around the world openly talking about love, acceptance and JOY. People talked about his song segues being cheesy, etc but Glam Nation was a lot like a revival. It was uplifting and encouraging and a celebration of love and community spirit. Not really the "cool" thing. To me Adam, like U2 rides the edge of the mainstream. Never really being accepted by the hipsters and the cool kids but also often shaking up the mainstream in ways people aren't sure they are ready for.

Anyway here the link to a soundcloud of the interview. Just the talking without the music. Fanning has a pretty thick Dublin accent and talks really fast so his questions are often hard to understand but Bono is as always a very interesting character.

soundcloud.com/u2community/bono-with-dave-fanning-sunday-21st-sept-2014

PS: Pretty proud of myself in that in between pontificating and hitting refresh I've managed to go through the pile of receipts on my desk that has been growing since April 2013!