The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

It’s Christmas time
There’s no need to be afraid
At Christmas time
We let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty
We can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world
At Christmas time

Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmas time
Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmas time again

Can’t get more New Wave than this. Written by the icon Midge Ure (Ultravox) and Bob Geldof (Boomtown Rats, Peaches’ dad) and produced by Ure. Do They Know It’s Christmas went on to become the highest selling single in UK history. It also went on to inflate the wallets of the artists involved by an seemingly exponential sum. That aside, right from the opening line delivered by Paul Young (Where the hell is he these days?) to the majestic refrain at the end, the song still sends a chill down my spine listening to it again. It was for a great cause and for the magnitude of the ills afflicting Africa at the time (and still to this day), this song certainly did an effective job of getting the word out.

A few things:

Bono was and still is a ponce.

What was up with Sting’s hair?

Same goes for George Michael.

Paul Weller looks really short.

Where has Jody Watley gone?

Paul Young really did have a great voice.

Hate on him all you want but Phil Collins is the man.

I can only begin to imagine the copious amounts of cocaine that was present at the set for the video shoot.

Lastly, who can name everyone who appears in the video without using Wikipedia?

Oh! What significant artist of the time is missing from here?

“The light still in our eyes
We’re leaving this old fairground behind
It’s a dream that’s growing cold
The circus never dies
The act forever haunts these skies
I know we cannot stay”

Okay, America. This coming Tuesday. St. Patrick’s Day. March 17th. To Lose My Life, the impeccable debut record by White Lies makes its way to our shores where it will hopefully sell millions of copies. In a just world, someone would take Bono and his merry men and ship them off back to Dublin placing them under house arrest for their remaining days while White Lies remind us that vital music actually does exist in 2009. 

With that said,  the new promo video for the fourth single Farewell To The Faiground above just adds to the cult legend of this band. Gritty, dark, and comtemplative, just like their music as we’re led down a path of lament about change and what the change has wrought and may yet still bring. Have I mentioned how much I truly love this band?

Be prepared, friends. The final verdict of the record is coming before the weekend is through!

Ok if you didn’t know already, I’ll tell you now. U2 are probably THE most overrated band in recent memory next to Nirvana. Why? They got where they are due to some of the increduous examples of serendipity known to man. What do I mean? Simply put, the better bands broke up clearing a nice easy path for Saint Bono and his boys to become as American as apple pie. The year was 1987. The Smiths? Johnny Marr left Morrissey and all went dark. Echo & The Bunnymen? Pete DeFreitas dies and Ian McCulloch gets the solo bug. New Order? Substance was essentially a singles collection and True Faith was mega but the band took a holiday in Ibiza and that was all she wrote for a while. The nearest competitor was INXS but again U2’s press machine would not be stopped! The Joshua Tree followed by U2 “Hey! We just discovered the blooos!” record, Rattle & Hum basically ensured they would be well on the way to becoming the most safe Irish Catholic rabble-rousers MTV would ever inflict upon us.

Now this isn’t meant to bash U2 at least not too much. Don’t get me wrong. They did have a ton of great songs. Unfortunately, conquering America took so much energy out of them that by the time the nineties came they were running on fumes creatively as evidenced by the uneven efforts to follow. The 00’s have been even worse as Bono appears to care more about hobknobbing with George Bush than he does about writing a solid tune. What that said, here comes the new record No Line On The Horizon due out 3 March on Interscope.  Once again, the hype machine is going full throttle with boasts of this record being the most important record of the decade and surefire best of the year candidate. Let’s slow down, shall we? Please? 

Radio 1 unveiled the new single and it’s called Get On Your Boots. Personally I’m not too sure about the title but whatever. The song definitely sounds like U2 on a blue pill as it sounds fresher than anything theyve done such Pop. Is the song any good? I’ll leave it to you guys. In my opinion, it’s a grower. Then again, I’m biased so maybe I’ll just keep my mouth shut on this one.

Oh I can just imagine the hate mail I’ll be getting from this little rant….

“All is quiet on New Year’s Day.
A world in white gets underway.
I want to be with you, be with you night and day.
Nothing changes on New Year’s Day.
On New Year’s Day”

Though they would go on to sell millions and zillions of records after this,  a case could be stated that U2 never would be as vital again as they were here. Nuff said. This song is pure classic and fitting of the day and the times in which we currently live.