It’s about time we instigated a prestigious award for the first world leader to tell Bono to get lost. Here is the U2 lead singer, talking about his chat with Gerhard Schröder: “Germany’s bumpy economy was making Chancellor Schröder nervous about spending more money on aid. I asked him if he thought history would accept that excuse.”
The appropriate response to such a self-regarding, presumptuous question from the David Brent of pop is either a swift punch to the nose or the immediate reoccupation of Alsace-Lorraine. Blair, Brown, Bush, Mandela, Archbishop Tutu and even the bloody Pope put up with him. Why? Whenever politicians feel tempted to take pop stars seriously, they should repeat to themselves these words, reportedly said by the singer Mariah Carey: “Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can’t help but cry. I mean, I’d love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.” I really didn’t make that up.
UPDATE: Gary Farber, among others, has pointed out that the Mariah Carey quote quoted by Liddle is bogus, though his statement that he didn't make it up is literally accurate. Sorry about that. My main point in quoting Liddle is the line about Bono being the David Brent of pop. Hey, The Office is one hell of a funny show, right?
Oh for such an award...I think it would beat out that hobbit bit for best news ever...albeit in a very cynical way.
i like a lot of pop music,and i don't apologize for that,i think there's a little good in everything. But if if there one guy of who I've had all I can stands and not stands no more,its Bono and his pretentious self. I'm sure he does good,but I'm also sure its for the wrong reasons.
Who made him everyone's mother anyways?
Just for the record, the Mariah Carey quote is false. She never said that.
Which isn't to say that pop stars know jack about foreign policy, in general. Heck, I need to see Team America.
Posted by: Swimmy at November 21, 2004 07:42 PMIt's true Liddle didn't make up the "quote."
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/carey.htm
Why do people print crap that can be fact-checked in under five seconds? (Literally; that's how long it took me to get to the debunking by typing "mariah carey" and "snopes" into the Google toolbar.)
Posted by: Gary Farber at November 21, 2004 09:58 PMHave you seen the new IPOD commercial with U2. Bono keeps raising his arms and looking toward the sky in that "worship me" kind of way. And that song doesn't even sound like a real song. He just keeps saying a bunch of generic rock and roll things "Hello, hello," "You give me something I can feeeeeeeeel" And does he realize he counts 1, 2, 3, 14 in Spanish? I'm not sure which is more embarassing, Bono's pretentious preening or Lenny Kravitz dancin with his prop guitar.
Posted by: josh at November 22, 2004 01:39 PM