You hear it all the time from rock stars: “well, we listened to lots of our old material while we were making this album.” U2 did just that a few years ago and the end result was that U2 started to sound like they weren’t washed up anymore. Their music was fun to listen to again as it was true to form, focused, and purposeful.
When W won the election in 2000, I was disappointed. Over the following years I’ve been disappointed, sad, angry, indifferent, and curious about why this country has been in a tenuous state. When you look at the neocon, you realize that they are the conservative equivalent of a 60’s era liberal — and when the scale tips too far one way or the other, this country doesn’t fare so well. Achtung, Baby!
As for election night, wife was moved to tears over Obama’s win (he’s from her home state and all) and I found myself delighted with McCain’s concession speech, because, really, it was great and it reflected the McCain I’d thought we were going to see in the 2008 presidential race — but never really did. I think I’ll remember the speech forever.
As for why I’m glad Obama won, I’d been feeling the same way for years: that our government has been out of touch with us, we’ve lost our way as a country, that “U.S.A.” is an artist past its usefulness and prime. We could create another epic like Joshua Tree through sheer dumb luck — but with our current level of effort it’s more than likely that we’d just produce another Pop or collection of “B-Sides and Rarities”. More than likely, given our gross financial state, it’ll take approximately Chinese Democracy years before we’ll be able to recoup the costs of cleaning up this mess.
The Libertarian movement is indicative of this apathy because while it’s big on individual freedoms it seemingly has no concept of social responsibility. Libertarians are like college rock bands: boring songs, poor engineering, loud noises, and rough edges. I decided long ago to steer clear of the Libertarian ideals and stick with the Democrats because while songs about malaise and dropping out of college may have their merits works like Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree are incomparable, masterful, and beyond engaging. You can get endless mileage from them.
I’m a firm believer that our success as a nation has been about perseverance, responsibility, accountability, hard work, and pride. At various times in our history we’ve produced a Joshua Tree or an Unforgettable Fire and as a result built up a lot of credibility in the industry. I think the last time this happened was in the years that followed WWII.
Unfortunately we’d swiped the card a few too many times over the last 4+ decades and it’s really worn down that magnetic strip. At some point you realize that if you just paid attention to your old material people would keep buying your albums.
If U2 can do it, so can we!
