An
Unofficial U2 Fan FAQ
Or,
*POP* for Everyone
Or, U2 Fanatics and the People Who Love Them
written by Sarah (aglaia41@aol.com)
Demystifying
the mysterious ways of U2 fanatics. Designed for
non-fans and newbies, but fanatics may get a kick
out of it too.
I.
A Fan By Any Other Name
1)
What's a Wireling?
2)
What's a Popmartian?
II.
Fan Mythology and Slang
1)
What's with the lemons?
2)
What's with the mirrorballs/disco balls?
3)
Who/what are the Fly, Mirrorball Man, and
Macphisto?
4)
Why the odd names--Bono and The Edge? And who is
Sparky?
5)
What is "Flanagan's Bible"?
6)
Who/what is the "fifth member" of U2
III.
Common Quotes
1)
"POP for (some group of people)"
2)
"Dream out loud"
3)
"We're one but we're not the same, we get to carry
each other..."
IV.
Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crash Course (uh-huh,
sha-la)
1)
My friend/spouse/sibling/kid/parent is dragging me
to a U2 show. How do I not look out of place? or,
I'm into the band now, but this is my first show!
What should I know before I go?
2)
What the heck does "uh-huh, sha-la" mean?
V.
Parental Advisory: The Music and Non-Dinner-Table
Messages
1)
Sex
2)
Drugs and alcohol
3)
Violence
4)
Death
5)
Politics
6)
Religion
I.
A Fan By Any Other Name
1)
What's a Wireling?
A Wireling is a member of Wire. Wire is a mailing
list for U2 fans. (Mostly severely serious U2 fans;
I'm pretty mild around there.) Mailing lists are
e-mail-based discussion groups; members write
e-mail which is sent to everyone on the list. They
exist for just about any subject under the sun. Why
"Wire"? U2 had a song called "Wire" a few years
back (1984, The Unforgettable Fire, to be
exact). There are a slew of U2 mailing lists out
there--a few others I know of are Exit, Surrender,
Lemon, One, and Boy/Girl. I just happen to be a
member of Wire. The Unofficial U2 Fan FAQ is really
dedicated to all U2 fans and non-fans who
wonder what the heck is going on. Now everybody
join hands and sing with me: "We're one, but we're
not the same, we get to carry each
other...ooooooooone..." (see Common Quotes)
Back
to Top
2)
What's a Popmartian?
A Popmartian is a fan during the PopMart 97-98
tour. I'm not sure who coined it--anyone who knows,
please tell me. (I've been assuming that it came
from a mock discussion on Wire about there being a
Mars PopMart.) It's one in a series of puns on the
title of the '97 album Pop, sometimes
written *POP* to imitate the way it's
written on the cover. The tour was called PopMart;
fans were called Popmartians (or PopMartians, if
you want to get technical); the crew of the tour
was sometimes called the PopMartyrs (also the name
for one of the visuals during the show...but we
won't get into that); and concert shirts that said
"PopTart" were sold. This last one also took off
when U2's bass player started to wear them during
the shows. Back
to Top
II.
Fan Mythology and Slang
1)
What's with the lemons?
U2 made a song called "Lemon" in 1993
(Zooropa). The title was actually a
reference to the color lemon yellow, not the fruit
("She wore lemon..."). However, the visual artists
for the album and the fans took the lemon idea and
ran with it. The 1997/8 PopMart tour was overrun
with lemons, including the shopping cart/lemon
graphic used above and the infamous
mirrorball-lemon-spaceship used in the show. (See
also: What's with the mirrorballs/disco balls?)
Back
to Top
2)
What's with the mirrorballs/disco balls?
Although there was a hint of the disco-ball craze
in 1992 with the Mirrorball Man character (see
Who/what are the Fly...?), the association between
mirrorballs and U2 took off with the music video
for "Discotheque", released in 1997. This video
horrified some U2 fans and entertained many others
with its attitude and sense of humor. (Of course,
the entire Pop album horrified some U2 fans.
But that's another story.) In any case, the
"Discotheque" video was set inside a gigantic
mirrorball. The image continued into the following
PopMart tour, when the band entered the stage for
the second set inside a 40-foot-high, spinning,
mirrored, lemon-shaped "spaceship." (Sure, it
sounds kind of silly, but it was a lot of
fun to see.) Back
to Top
3)
Who/what are the Fly, Mirrorball Man, and
Macphisto?
These are alter-egos or characters played by Bono
(lead singer) during the ZooTV tour of 1992-94.
Mirrorball Man, seen only in the American shows,
was a sleazy, egocentric combination of a used car
salesman and a televangelist; he wore a silver
suit, a cowboy hat, and spoke in a Southern
American accent. The Fly was the quintessential
rock star, leather-clad and bombastic. Actually,
what most people picture as Bono's image during the
ZooTV years is actually the Fly character; the
bug-eyed black sunglasses are the giveaway.
Macphisto (as in Mephisto, not "Macfeesto", as
heard in the VH1 "Legends" show) replaced the
Mirrorball Man for most of the ZooTV tour.
Conceptually, Macphisto has been described as the
Last Rock Star, an over-the-hill, Vegas-bound
version of the Fly. Visually, Macphisto has been
described as a combination of the devil, Elvis,
Frank Sinatra, and a German cabaret singer of the
thirties. The character is theatrical and a little
smarmy, dressed in devil horns, white makeup, and a
glittery gold suit with platform shoes. The
characters of the Fly and Macphisto (without horns)
both appeared in the music video for "Lemon",
thanks to the miracle of editing. They also
appeared in animated form in the video for "Hold
Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" (from the
Batman Forever soundtrack). Back
to Top
4)
Why the odd names--Bono and The Edge? And who is
Sparky?
Bono (lead singer, formerly Bono Vox, born Paul
Hewson) and The Edge (lead guitarist, Edge for
short, born Dave Evans) got their names in the
early days of the band, when they were all still in
their teens. It was a tradition in Bono's circle of
friends to give each other nicknames, to better fit
the person's looks and/or personality. Bono was
named after a hearing-aid store in Dublin ("Bono
Vox"/"Bonovox" is loose Latin for "good voice"). A
few explanations for The Edge's nickname have been
reported, but the most common ones are that it
referred to his angular face and his habit of
hanging around on "the edge" of things.
"Sparky" is U2 bassist Adam Clayton. No one's
really sure where the nickname came from. (That
one's not from Bono's friends.) The most common
explanation is that it's from a heavy smoking
habit. Back
to Top
5)
What is "Flanagan's Bible"?
"Flanagan's Bible" is the fan nickname of U2 at
the End of the World by Bill Flanagan, which
tells the story of the ZooTV years (circa 1990-94)
from the recording of Achtung Baby through
the end of the ZooTV tour. One of the indispensable
books for the U2 fanatic. Back
to top
6)
Who/what is the "fifth member of U2"?
After the "fifth member of the Beatles", it seems
that every band has to have a "fifth member" (or
sixth member, or what have you.) The official fifth
member of U2 is their manager, Paul McGuinness, who
has been with the band through most of their
career. The unofficial/joking "fifth member" would
belong to bassist Adam Clayton, who appeared
completely nude on the back cover of 1991's
Achtung Baby. (The cover was censored in the
US, obviously.) Back
to Top
III.
Common Quotes
1)
"POP for (some group of people)"
This came from the PopMart tour program, which
titled a lot of the photo spreads in this way.
Back
to Top
2)
"Dream out loud"
From "Zooropa" in 1993's Zooropa; also in
"Acrobat", from Achtung Baby, 1991. It's
best explained by the full lyric from "Zooropa":
"She's gonna dream up a world she wants to live in
/ She's gonna dream out loud." It's one of the
favorite inspirational quotes among fans.
Back
to Top
3)
"We're one but we're not the same, we get to carry
each other..."
This is from the chorus of "One", from 1991's
Achtung Baby. Usually quoted when calling an
end to friction of some kind. Back
to Top
IV.
Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crash Course (uh-huh,
sha-la)
1)
My friend/spouse/sibling/kid/parent is dragging me
to a U2 show. How do I not look out of
place?
Or, I'm into the band now, but this is my first
show! What should I know before I go?
Glad you asked! There's only one absolutely crucial
thing to fitting in at any rock show, let's face
it: at least look like you're having fun.
But beyond that, there are a few things that might
actually make it more fun.
a)
Sing along with "Pride (In the Name of
Love)". The fastest way to prepare for a U2
show is to borrow the resident fanatic's copy of
Rattle and Hum and learn at least the
ending of "Pride". (The song is originally from
The Unforgettable Fire, but the
R&H version is live, and that's what
you need to hear.) Chances are you know this
song already; it's one of the biggies. At the
end, just about every fanatic is going to do a
call-and-response with the "oh oh-oh oh" chant.
Bono will sing the first one, the crowd will
sing the second one, and so on. This one's
practically guaranteed. Also, if you're feeling
really into it, yell "The Edge!" right before
the guitar solo. (That's on the R&H
version, too.)
b) Learn "40", just in case. Throughout
the eighties, U2 ended their shows with the
neo-hymn "40", the closing song on the 1983
War album. (The title comes from the
psalm it's based on.) It became a crowd
tradition to take over the chorus ("How long to
sing this song...") at the end, and keep it up
after the band has left. U2 stopped closing with
"40" around 1990, and started to close with
Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love".
However, once in a while they'll end with "40".
(I was lucky enough to catch it in Seattle, at
the last North American PopMart.) And the more
people are into it, the better it sounds. It's a
beautiful song, in any case, and not very long.
Try it.
c) General concert rule: Know the songs.
Sounds obvious, but nothing can take the fun out
of any show like not knowing the songs. For a
quick U2 primer, try the Best Of 80-90 plus
Achtung Baby and whatever they're touring
on at the moment. At the very least, know "Pride
(In the Name of Love)", "Where the Streets Have
No Name", "One", and "Mysterious Ways". Chances
are you know part of them already.
d) OK, it would be nice if I could tell them
apart...
Always a problem for newbies. Don't feel bad.
Okay, U2 is a four-piece, this can't be hard.
We'll start with the center. Lead singer: Bono.
(See also: Why the odd names...?.) If you can't
pick out the lead singer in any four-piece, you
really have a problem. :) Bono also plays a
little guitar, but not through the whole show.
Next, lead guitar: The Edge. (See also: Why the
odd names...?.) If you ask a fanatic to see a
few pictures or liner notes, you may notice that
the Edge has rarely been photographed in the
past eighteen years or so without some kind of
hat on. So, in a pinch, Edge is the one in the
hat. (Edge also sings backup, and does the lead
vocals in a few songs.) He usually stands on the
left side of the stage (the audience's left).
Third, bass guitar: Adam Clayton. Yes, some of
them actually use normal names. Adam's the one
a) wearing regular, non-sun glasses and/or b)
playing with his back to the crowd. (Except in
PopMart, where it seemed to be a statement,
that's usually to communicate better with the
drummer.) Unless U2 plans to really shock
the fans with the next tour, Adam never sings.
(He talked in one song, "Your Blue Room", but
they never play that live.) Adam's usually
blond, though rumor has it he's gone back to
brown. (When in doubt: blond techno, brown
roots-rock. :) ) Adam always stands on the right
side of the stage. (Audience's right.) Last but
definitely not least, especially to a certain
subdivision of fans, drums: Larry Mullen Jnr.
Again, it's usually pretty easy to find the
drummer in any given four-piece band. Larry
usually doesn't sing either, except in one song,
"Numb", which I'm venturing a guess won't be
played again any time soon. (However, he is
known for lip-syncing to Bono's singing. If you
have a good enough seat to catch that,
congratulations; you are the envy of thousands
of fans.) The drummer is, obviously, in the
back. Larry is also usually the most
conservatively dressed member of the band, and
has had the same haircut since about 1984.
:)
Back
to Top
2)
What the heck does "uh-huh, sha-la" mean?
Your guess is as good as mine. It's a lyric from
"Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car"
(Zooropa, 1993). And a lame attempt at
punning humor, in this case. Back
to Top
V.
Parental Advisory: The Music and Non-Dinner-Table
Messages
Parents
are always concerned with the messages in the music
their children listen to. Although U2 is obviously
not Marilyn Manson, it's good to have an idea
what's going on anyway. Note to fans on flame
watch: This all comes from my own listening and
interpretation and from hearing some of the endless
fan debate on the meanings and messages of the
songs. I've tried to include as many different
viewpoints as I can remember without taking up
too much space. Also, this takes into
account only the messages in the music itself, not
in the fan mythology or the band's history. (Though
the two messages are usually not too far
apart.)
1)
Sex
A-hah, the three-letter word. Hate to start out on
a parent-dismaying note, but yep, we've got that.
This is rock and roll, after all. However, love is
more important in these songs, and the physical
stuff is usually not abusive or gratuitous. (Some
mild exceptions, respectively: "An Cat Dubh",
Boy, 1980; and "Miami", Pop, 1997.)
Sex in U2's music is typically in a relationship
context (as in much of Achtung Baby).
However, it's also tangled with religion in some
songs, which may be disturbing to some people. (The
classic case is "Mysterious Ways", one of the
Achtung songs.) And in many cases, it's more
the sound than the message; again, I refer to
Achtung. But, in case anyone's counting, in
the slightly bizarre song lists I drew up to
inspire this FAQ, "sex" just barely outnumbered
"religion" 24 to 19. All in all, not too
much to worry about. Back
to Top
2)
Drugs and alcohol
This is possibly the second most heated debate
among fanatics, the first being religion. Again, we
won't get into the band's history; consult the
real FAQ for that. U2's music has generally
been anti-drug, most notably represented by
"Running to Stand Still" (The Joshua Tree,
1987, about a woman trapped in a dead-end life) and
"Bad" (The Unforgettable Fire, 1984, about
wanting to stop a friend from self-destructing;
said to be dedicated to some friends that Bono, the
songwriter, lost to heroin abuse in the mid-80s). A
few drug metaphors are found here and there in a
few songs, such as "Desire" and "God Part II" (both
Rattle and Hum, 1988). Alcohol also shows up
occasionally, and is a main subject in one song,
"Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World"
(Achtung Baby, 1991), but in general it is
more a part of the band's history than the music
itself. (Again, for the interested, I refer you to
the real FAQ. But not yet.)
On the other hand, debate still rages in the fan
community over the song "Discotheque" (Pop,
1997). Despite U2's history of anti-drug songs,
many fans maintain that "Discotheque" is not about
music and/or sex (as many other fans believe) or
escaping a dangerous world through music and/or sex
(as the band has seemed to claim) but is about the
amphetamine-like "party drug" Ecstasy. As you may
have noticed, the writer of this FAQ isn't sold on
that idea, but it is a major theory out there.
Back
to Top
3)
Violence
Again, good news: not much of it, comparatively. A
little is present in the songs about war, such as
"Bullet the Blue Sky" (see Politics). Domestic
violence is used as a metaphor in "Please" (see
Politics also), and is mentioned as part of the
tragic background stories of "Stay (Faraway, So
Close!)" (Zooropa, 1993) and "If God Will
Send His Angels" (Pop, 1997). A few other
mentions and/or metaphors are scattered through the
catalog. There has been some controversy about
"Exit", a harrowing song from The Joshua
Tree, which in reality is more violent
musically than lyrically. (It does remain one of
the darkest songs U2 has ever made.) Even in this
case, violence is not encouraged or glorified.
(Again, see Politics.) Back
to Top
4)
Death
This one is absolutely clear: No morbid dwellings
here, ever. Death is taken very seriously in U2's
music; for some background on that, see the real
FAQ or any U2 biography. The few songs that deal
with it tend to be tributes, such as "One Tree
Hill" and "Mothers of the Disappeared" (both The
Joshua Tree, 1987) or songs of recovery, such
as "I Will Follow" (Boy, 1980) and
"Tomorrow" (October, 1981). Another theory
is that "A Sort of Homecoming" (The
Unforgettable Fire, 1984) also deals with
death, abstractly: "Oh, don't sorrow, no, don't
weep / For tonight, at last, I am coming home, I am
coming home..." If so, this is also reverently
handled. Back
to Top
5)
Politics
This is a case where the band's history is directly
echoed in the music. Practically from day one, the
members of U2 have supported several social and
political causes and events, including Amnesty
International, War Child, Live Aid, Greenpeace, Sun
City (an anti-apartheid benefit), AIDS research,
and the peace efforts in northern Ireland. They
have also been inspired by the works of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. and by the survivors of the atomic
bombing of Hiroshima, two of the inspirations for
the album The Unforgettable Fire. (In fact,
the title itself comes from an art exhibit by
survivors of the bombing.) The issues have been
addressed over and over in U2's music. "Silver and
Gold" deals with apartheid, "Bullet the Blue Sky"
with the indifference some show to war, "Pride (In
the Name of Love)" and "MLK" with the peace efforts
of Martin Luther King, "Please" and "Sunday Bloody
Sunday" with terrorism in Northern Ireland, "Miss
Sarajevo" with civil war in the former
Yugoslavia...the list goes on. In every case, the
message is emphatically against war, violence, and
discrimination. Back
to Top
6)
Religion
Okay, get comfortable; this will probably take a
while. Without a doubt, U2's music has been
influenced by various aspects of Christianity, but
exactly where and how this is reflected is another
topic of endless debate among fans. So, of course,
this topic is tread upon lightly here and always
with the caveat of "this is strictly an
opinion".
Possibly
the easiest way to take this is chronologically.
Most of the straightforward (or
mostly-straightforward) religiously-inspired songs
come from the early U2 catalog, most notably 1981's
October. In songs like "Gloria", "With a
Shout", "40", and "A Celebration", the religious
influence is direct, positive, and in a way
universal. It's the kind of Christian influence
that doesn't necessarily exclude anyone, in case
non-Christians are concerned. Through the mid-80s,
an undefined spirituality is more prevalent than is
religion. It tends to be in the background of the
songs, so to speak, rather than the songs' main
focus. Perhaps the best-known example from this
period is "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking
For", though it is also postulated that
spirituality also influenced "Where the Streets
Have No Name" (both from The Joshua Tree,
1987). In the early '90s, the music, and the
religious influence thereof, took a somewhat more
cynical turn. Where religion appears in these
songs, it is usually in the context of searching
for God, religion, and/or a meaning in life. The
tone sometimes seems dismal, but there is usually
hope buried somewhere in it. This phase shows up in
songs such as "Wake Up Dead Man" (Pop,
1997), "Until the End of the World" (which is
actually written from the perspective of Judas;
Achtung Baby, 1991), and "If God Will Send
His Angels" (also from Pop). Many other
songs are known or thought to have been influenced
by religion; these are just representatives.
Back
to Top
Fanatics,
newbies, everyone--if I've missed anything, please
drop me a line through Mail -- Contributions.
Thanks!
This
unofficial FAQ is much in debt to the real thing
and to the U2 Help File, release 2.00, which served
as an excellent quick reference for lyrics and
publishing years. The Help File is based at
Where
the Site Has No
Name.
The FAQ can also be found there and several other
places around the Web. For a crash course on the U2
of the early '90s and some background on the
earlier years, you can't go wrong with U2 at the
End of the World by Bill Flanagan.
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