Wednesday 6 July 2022

Pro Bono

I bit the bullet and listened to Bono's Desert Island Discs. Yes, Bono. I know he divides opinion like few others - U2 fans deify him, many other music aficionados (and much of the blogosphere) find him a sanctimonious berk. Me, I'm fairly neutral about him; when U2 started he just wasn't very good, then they had a period of making three or four really fine albums, after which, for me at least, he and they have been treading water. But I can see why Bono isn't to everyone's taste.

So I'm not going to change anyone's mind about listening to his Desert Island Discs, am I? If you're a fan, you'll have listened already, and if you're not then you probably won't, right? But I will just say that Bono seems to have grown some self-awareness - he knows some people find him a sanctimonoious berk, he gets it and is at peace with it. That has to be progress for him, right?

But no, what I wanted to post about is the fact that Bono chose a record by his son's band as one of his discs.

Now my immediate reaction to this was, "Oh no, typical Bono, what a berk, plugging his son on national radio" and so on. But on reflection, I think that if I was alone on a desert island and New Amusements Minor was the singer in a band, I'd want one of his records too, just so that I could hear his voice. That's understandable, isn't it? And really, so is plugging your son on national radio - I'd probably do that too, in the unlikely event that I ever had the chance.

My other thought was, "Christ, Hewson Minor sounds like his dad." Listen for yourself - this is Inhaler, and the track Bono chose, Ice Cream Sundae.

And a final DID observation - Lauren Laverne is a brilliant host. I could listen to her all day.

6 comments:

  1. I had the same initial reaction reading this, but you're so right, it makes sense to want to hear your child's voice on that lonely desert island, I hadn't thought of that until you said it. Also it's kinda lovely to know that he and Mrs Bono were childhood sweethearts (for want of a better term) and are still together. And ah, yes, isn't Lauren lovely? - we stumbled upon an old episode of Room 101 with her on the other evening and I was just thinking that at the time too.

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    1. Although a tiny part of me thought, "Oh, he likes his son's record because his son sounds like him!" Poor Bono, what has he done to generate some cynicism...?

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  2. That Reservoir Dogs cast photo tweet did make me smile.

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    1. Me too, good isn't it?

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    2. Thought it was a bit harsh myself. Then again, I'd rather be compared to Jeffrey Dahmer than Paul Hewson.

      But yes, if Sam had made a record, I would want it on my desert island.

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    3. So what we've shown is that parental empathy trumps being a sanctimonious berk. And that I like typing "sanctimonious berk".

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