Anthony DeCurtis: U2 Academic Conference

The following is a recap/overview of Anthony DeCurtis’ keynote address at The Hype and The Feedback, the first-ever academic conference about U2. It doesn’t reflect all of his presentation and many parts are paraphrased.

Begins by talking about Bruce Springsteen’s induction speech when U2 entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the “leave it to the Irish guys to do the ad, but not take the money” part. He says U2 has a remarkable ability to walk up to the line of ethical compromise and dramatically fail to cross it.

Bono: “I want to come to America and give it what it wants and what it needs” – from first Rolling Stone profile in 1981. Anthony DeCurtis: “I think you have to be 19 to say something like that.”

As with people, you know you’re truly in love when an album’s flaws only make you love it more deeply. That’s how I feel about BOY.

U2 vs. REM: U2 issues WAR; REM issues MURMUR. U2 declares itself one of the great groups; REM does concerts in which the lighting design is such that you can’t even see the band. But also similarities: BOY and OCTOBER are as shrouded in shadows as anything REM has done.

Eno didn’t want to work U2, but like so many people, he walked into a room with Bono thinking one thing and left thinking the complete opposite.

In my view, Achtung Baby and Zoo TV represent the pinnacle of U2’s career. The Zoo TV tour is the only tour in my experience that got better as it got bigger.

They completely overshot the mark with POP. All of it would’ve been forgiven if the songs had been better.

Jimmy Iovine made the comparison to U2 about how rappers aren’t afraid to self-promote. Bono: “We do as much as we can.” Iovine: “Yeah, but I don’t have to tell them to do it.”

Some people advised U2 not to scroll the names of the 9/11 victims on the screen at their MSG concerts in 2001. “But it was the perfect gesture. It was exactly what the city needed.” (DeCurtis lives in NYC.)

For U2, there truly is no line on the horizon, no line between who we are and who we aspire to be.

Bono’s message to DeCurtis’ daughter scribbled on an edition of “Peter & The Wolf” — “Francesca, welcome to planet Earth. There’s so much for you to do.”