This book, a compilation of papers presented at 2009 conference on the Irish band, spans a number of academic disciplines and benefits significantly from the inclusion of journalists and one fan in particular. It suffers significantly by neglecting to have a full index, particularly because it encompasses such vast terrain; the subject index is shorter than the index of songs referenced in the volume. This omission is offset by the lengthy U2 (70-plus) bibliography of books and articles on the band.
The academic material ranges from wildly groundless theorising to some really detailed and well-constructed work. Steve Taylor's chapter on the evolving performance of ‘Bullet the Blue Sky’ is a particular highlight. Naturally there is a strong emphasis on the Christian message communicated by the band and a thought-provoking examination of how the band's canon represents a conservative worldview by Stephen Catanzarite.
The music industry is a function of collective activity. Yet the labours behind the scenes are often diminished by the spotlight focused on the stars onstage, particularly for the large box office attractions. This book makes a very significant contribution towards the understanding of how U2 operate as a business. This comes via the inclusion of insights from within the industry. Three of the authors detail personal insider knowledge of how the Irish rock band operates; they illuminate the nature of their personal relationships in the industry. Two of them are music critics who interact personally and professionally with the group, while the other is a fan who came to possess personal items belonging to the band's singer, Bono.
Of the two professional authors in the book, Neil McCormick is a school-friend of U2 who became a journalist, while Anthony DeCurtis is a journalist who became a friend, or at least a professional acquaintance. McCormick serves as the band's de facto biographer and issued his own biography entitled ‘I Was Bono's Doppelganger’, later filmed as ‘Killing Bono’. Thus his work here, ‘Boy to Man: A Dublin-Shaped-Band’, must be identified as coming from inside the U2 camp. Of particular note is his positioning of U2 as a product of the social and musical environment of the time. The poverty and social isolation of the era are depicted in stark terms: ‘poorest nation in Western Europe’, ‘repressed’, ‘not culturally mixed’ with ‘a massive and powerful’ Catholic lobby (p. 8). Against this he contrasts the ‘Anglo-Irish element to the band’ which in U2's case allowed them a greater ‘traffic of ideas from the United Kingdom’ (p. 15).
Despite, or perhaps because of, this postcolonial proximity, McCormick depicts Ireland's underdeveloped music industry and low international status as crucial to U2's incubation. The conflicting influences of local and international factors on career paths and artistic articulation riddle his essay. ‘The most important bands for U2 were local bands’, he says (p. 18), identifying the Boomtown Rats and the Radiators from Space as particularly significant to the young U2: the former for ambition; the latter for aggression and artistic daring. While some of this chapter is highly subjective, it is subjective from a vantage point within the band's inner circle, and consequently communicates where the band and their peers perceived they were coming from. He poses what he feels is the ultimate mystery about U2: how they have remained together for so long.
One contributing factor to sustaining success over a career is close working relationships with key industry members. It is probable that most careers are truncated by lack of exposure, a condition U2 have never suffered from. McCormick's analysis of internal factors specific to the band's workings is neatly paralleled by Rolling Stone magazine's Anthony DeCurtis. His perspective would reasonably be expected from a music journalist who has championed the band for almost 20 years. Yet while his analysis here is often insightful, it is what he reveals about the specifics of his relationship with the band that is particularly valuable. The cooperation between the media and the band is identified by DeCurtis. He identifies a pattern where U2 project a dramatic narrative of being at a ‘critical crossroads’ where everything is at stake. Describing how this is supported by ‘rock critic posturing’, he concludes: ‘It gives a story a much greater sense of occasion if a writer can somehow define a story … [as] a make-or-break moment of truth for the band and all that it represents’ (p. x).
On a personal level, DeCurtis was also involved with the band. He writes of how Bono dedicated part of a 2001 performance to the critic and his fiancée, and the band sent a case of champagne and a case of Guinness to his wedding reception (p. xvii). Subsequently, he tells us, prior to an interview, Bono embraced him and ‘seemed genuinely pleased to hear that I had become a father’ (p. xix) and gave him a gift for his daughter. Such anecdotes could belong to any industry, yet they indicate the human interactions behind the scenes in the music industry. The band's narrative is shaped by people who also feel they belong in that narrative.
Fans can often enjoy an asymmetric relationship with an artist. Here the fan in question, Danielle Rhéaume, writes about how she contacted the band when she came into possession of the contents of a briefcase belonging to Bono. The briefcase was famed in U2 myth because it contained the unfinished lyrics for the band's second album. Rhéaume details her interaction with the artefacts: her Gollum-like ‘precious’ moments of obsession, her eventual meeting with Bono to hand them over, as well as her subsequent media interviews. She makes reference to ‘a compelling reason’ to believe the briefcase and its contents were ‘hidden backstage by an embittered local crew member retaliating against U2 for being too particular about its technical and artistic details’ (p. 36), proving that, once again, the human relations underpin the workings of the industry.
