U2 - No Line on the Horizon
by Jeni
In one of my other jobs, the Concord, I get to write about music and its intersections with theology. This year on the Concord we are following the 10 Commandments. Last month, for adultery, I wrote about Josh Ritter's song "The Temptation of Adam." This month, for stealing, I'm going to write about U2's new album No Line on the Horizon.
My distaste for Dave Egger's book The Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius as well as my disinterest in sushi in general (unless I'm literally sitting next to an ocean) pretty much makes it a sure bet that I am not a hipster. Well, these two and many, many other things. Liking U2 might only add to my exclusion from the hip list. Tragically unhip, you might say.
I like the new U2 album. It sounds great and the lyrics are quite fantastic. What have you heard? What do you like? What should I write about? Did you see them on Letterman (they were on all week!)
Here's the video for their song Magnificent:
My distaste for Dave Egger's book The Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius as well as my disinterest in sushi in general (unless I'm literally sitting next to an ocean) pretty much makes it a sure bet that I am not a hipster. Well, these two and many, many other things. Liking U2 might only add to my exclusion from the hip list. Tragically unhip, you might say.
I like the new U2 album. It sounds great and the lyrics are quite fantastic. What have you heard? What do you like? What should I write about? Did you see them on Letterman (they were on all week!)
Here's the video for their song Magnificent:
posted by Jeni at 1:33 PM
6 Comments:
Wait, so am I a hipster because I like Dave Eggers and just about everything he touches? I saw him give a talk a few years back and he seemed an absent-minded professor sort, which completely endeared him to me. Oh, plus I like his writing. I also like U2 (most of the time), so I'm not sure which camp this puts me in. If I were to go to hear Dave Eggers read and then hear U2 play, that'd be a good evening.
You are too a hipster! HAHAHAHAHA!
-Laurs
I really like Dave Eggers too, but I really like What is the What. It's more the way that people talk about Heartbreaking Work...that makes me want to wretch. He's a solid guy. It's not about Dave Eggers.
It is about U2. Hipsters hate Bono. I like Bono. Therefore, Laurs, I'm not a hipster. Colin's youngest brother confirmed this for me last night: nope, Bono is not cool. I sort of blame it mostly on Chuck Klostermann.
This same thing sort of backfired on me when I wrote about Coldplay. People who like Coldplay and think they're cool have no idea that the indie part of the musical world thinks they're bland. I heart Coldplay and think they're incredible.
Ooh, Dave Eggers and U2 sounds like a good fakebook. But The Current would never have U2, do you think?
The description of Christian hipster that you link to sounds to me a lot like the descriptions of the nebulous "emergent church" and/or Rob Bell and/or Matt Prasek (though Prasek would resist the label, which, according to the hipster dude, only solidifies his hipstericity).
[Hmmm. . .hipstericity sounds like a word that should show up on the Colbert Report sometime, no?]
But I digress. . .would you say hipster is in fact another name for emergent, or is there a distinction? And why do hipsters hate Bono? I'd think his authenticity, the speaking truth to power of his lyrics, the ways he really tries to walk the talk of his faith, would appeal to them.
But then again, what do I know? I'm tragically unhip, even moreso because I don't like The Current (which, I agree, is unlikely to ever play U2).
Viva la WCAL! ;)
And where can I find what you wrote on Ritter's "Temptation of Adam"?
Stream-of-consciously yours,
C.
Catrina,
As always, thanks for your stream of conscious! I think that a hipster will reject the title thus being a true hipster. I don't qualify to reject the status because I don't qualify for the status, despite what Laurs says.
You would think that hipsters would embrace Bono, but since he is a man who is to be embraced they can therefore not embrace him even though he talks about the very things they hold dear. I think your word nebulous is spot on. It's a bit of a paradox and I'm obviously speaking very flippantly.
Just so you know, and as a correction to my previous comment, The Current does play U2 here and there, so you are possibly a hipster, though I am not because I like The Current and U2.
You can find my article in the latest Concord:
http://www.luthersem.edu/concord/pdfs/2009_02_25_Concord.pdf
I can also send you it in an email if the link doesn't work.
Just a disclaimer: I generally don't believe any of what I've written re: hipsters and the ave Eggers and Sushi are Nickel's and my ways of keeping each other grounded.
Jeni,
Thanks for your response.
I'll add my own disclaimer that my beef with the Current really has not much to do with The Current itself. Basically, I'm still irritated that Stolaf sold WCAL, and that MPR ditched The Morning Show, and while I rationally realize those decisions were located in other places and not exactly the fault of The Current, since WCAL became The Current, and the Morning Show was on The Current before its demise, I irrationally hold The Current responsible for the destruction of these things I loved.
Whoo - and I dare to get upset when people in my congregation misplace blame and responsibility! :)
Meh, I still support public radio, so I'm basically just blowing smoke when I gripe about it. . .
Thanks again for the link to the Ritter stuff.
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