When writing a song about sin, such as "I Fall Down," he stressed, "I always include myself in the 'we.' You know, 'we' have fallen. The goal, Bono stressed, is to avoid making preachy music that settles for easy answers while hiding the struggles that real people experience in real life. The latter often cite U2's work as a prime example of how religious imagery and themes can be woven into successful popular music. I would hate for people to think of me as religious, though I want people to realize that I am a Christian."ĭecades later, tensions remain between believers who work in the so-called "contemporary Christian music" and believers who work in the mainstream music industry.
I have no real time for religion and, therefore, avoid those kinds of stereotypes. "Also, from the point of view of coming from where we come from, Ireland is a place that's been cut in two by religion. that becomes a pigeonhole for people to put us in. "You know, if, for instance, people are talking about U2 in a spiritual sense. "The band is anxious not to be categorized," he said. For example, he stressed that U2 had no interest in being stereotyped as a "Christian band" or in allowing "Christian" to become a sad marketing term for its work. Thirty years down the road, what is striking about that interview is the fact that the issues that drove Bono then still dominate his life today. I immediately pitched the story to Rolling Stone, where editors decided that U2 wasn't all that important or that it was bizarre for a guy like Bono to talk about God - or both. That column ran on March 5 and it apparently was the first mainstream news piece in which Bono and company discussed their faith. Luckily, the 20-year-old Bono was willing to discuss "Gloria" and "October." Describing that interview, the reference book "U2: A Diary" notes: "Although the band have gone out of their way to avoid talking about their faith up to this point, they speak candidly now." What I needed to do was meet the band before its Feb. Yes, the band 30 years ago was U2 and its mysterious second album was called "October." Both were surrounded by clouds of rumors, which I explored in a News-Gazette column on Feb. The priest apologized and said he wasn't used to parsing rock lyrics. That was Latin, but what did it mean? A Newman Center priest told me that the first phrase, perhaps a Mass fragment or drawn from chant, meant, "Glory in you, Lord." The next meant, "Exalt Him." Then again, it was hard to hear the second Latin phrase. I, I try to speak up, but only in you I'm complete. "I, I try to stand up, but I can't find my feet. "I try to sing this song," sang the young singer called Bono Vox. The guy behind the front desk cranked up the group's new single so that everyone could ponder the lyrics. No one at the famous Record Service store near the University of Illinois campus could figure out the hot new Irish band that was about to hit town. One thing was clear, back in the winter of 1982.