You too U2?

June 11th – There’s a lot of stuff that happens in the general swing of living a life that, when I hear or find out about them, I say to myself;

“No surprises there then”.

In fact it’s often that I also think;

“Wonder why it’s took ‘em so long.”

Like when Mussolini joined forces with Hitler; tailor made for each other, I’d say, megalomaniacs in charge of a frightened and pliable populace both. Or when Blair took on Bush as his fuck-buddy; two egomaniacs under the thumb of the conglomerates. Or when Paul McCartney married whassername…her, with the leg-thing…Trevor…not Trevor; Heather! That’s it, Heather; Mills, was it? Anyway, whatever, I thought at the time, ‘Well that saves four people being miserable’.

You all know by now I'm not a Bono/U2 fan, not their fiercest champion one could say. Think his charity work awesome-but his fiscal nous sometimes questionable, his roots reflected in his work honourable but his swaggering arrogance unpleasant, his profile complete but his sincerity lacking, his understanding of how important he is watertight but his understanding of what the wee folk do in need of adjustment. Would be glad to chat it over with him at anytime so’s he can disabuse me of my thinking but, until then, my nomination for him stands; Grand Order of the Caring but Superannuated Rock-Star.

You all know by now, too, I'm not an ABBA fan, not their fiercest champion one could say. Think their production values, when one looks at when they were most active in the recording industry, were the benchmark and they still stand up to inspection now. There’s also a high level of, for want of a better word, songsmithing going on too. They remind me in some ways of Fleetwood Mac, not necessarily in the quality of their music (I don’t think ABBA is fit to walk under the same sun – pers. comm.) but certainly in the recording quality and production values and it has to be said in the documentary honesty of their life and loves too. Both bands reported personal pain and malice circling their respective liaisons dangerous with a clarity and perception that made for uncomfortable listening, but as for their kitschness and slavery to disco/dance? Sorry, would rather fill my own teeth.

So it was with some sage nodding of the head and muttering of;

“Wonder why it’s took ‘em so long”

that I read, on this day in 1992 at a U2 concert, ABBA united on stage with them to give a rendition of Dancing Queen. The perfect song for Bono to sing, I think, and the thought replayed in a slightly different vein as I considered upwards of 20,000 people being miserable…or at least they would be when they sobered up in the morning and realised what it was they were screaming and yelling for.