The book chronicles all that happened in between – and was penned by the people who know that journey better than anyone else; the band
members themselves: John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Oh no, wait. That’s not right. I meant: Mick, Keith,
Ronnie—wait a minute… doctor! What the hell happened to my memory?
Thanks, that’s much better.
Where were we? Ah yes. U2. The band members: Bono, The
Edge, Larry Mullen Junior, and the other one. The bass player. You know,
whatsisname… the one with the blond-turned-silver Afro… ADAM. That’s it. Adam…
(sound of clicking fingers)
Ant—Clayton! Adam Clayton. That’s the guy.
One of the things that stands out for me is the fact they
were so raw when they started out;
after Paul Hewson (Bono), David Evans (The Edge), Clayton and Dave’s brother
Dik (also a guitarist) answered the legendary ad Mullen Jnr. posted on Dublin’s
Mount Temple high school notice-board seeking musicians for a band.
Bono’s now polished, whiny wail was more of a shouty
scream back then; Edge’s guitar skills extremely basic and the abilities of
Mullen Jnr. and Clayton on drums and bass respectively very much ‘works-in-progress’.
Mullen Jnr. freely admits he used to play the drums way
too fast and fairly incoherently (more Animal
from The Muppets than Ringo); if he
was the heartbeat of the band, it frequently risked cardiac arrest in the early
days.
But that didn’t deter the focused four in the slightest. They
now had each other – Bono and Mullen Jnr. particularly appreciating their new
extended family having both lost their mothers – and a purpose.
So they met up in Larry’s family kitchen and began
bashing away at their instruments; often out-of-tune, out of time (with each
other), but driven by the belief that if they stuck at it they’d have to
improve – and who knew where it might take them?
No comments:
Post a Comment