Bono turns 60. Here’s a question for you all

(taken from a Twitter feed)

Bono is 60 tomorrow. I know it’s a hard question but what does Bono mean to you?

Let’s here it. The good and the bad.

Well. hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Honestly? Bono, the singer/songwriter...I'm honored to have lived during his time, and so very happy that I got to see four of his shows. He's a great front man, a superb singer, a fantastic entertainer.

Bono, the person...I'm not sure if he "means" anything to me. Huh. Never really thought about it. I'm still not sure. He is generous, and kind, to others. That's a wonderful trait. He seems to be a good family man, and that's admirable. But, what does he mean to me, personally? I have no idea, which I guess means...hmmmm.

Well, this made no sense at all. Sorry, but hey, you asked!

Nothing much really like pretty much all celebrities.

The band he fronts is one who have made some of my favourite music down the years and for that there is admiration of that art, and i am glad it exists and that it has given me pleasure down the years....but that is about the size of it.

Somehow i resisted u2 during the 80's,  while i was certainly aware that they were the biggest band on the planet,  i was more impressed with Depeche Mode and that type of sound instead. 

Somewhere in the early 90's i caught onto u2 like a cold - they hit me suddenly and blew me away.  I remember reading about them in Rolling Stone,  Bono was dressed up as the fly on the cover and i thought he looked really cool.  Then came the songs,  i liked them,  but i still wasn't sold.  Somehow it took until the release of Zooropa before i dove in head first.

The later 90's found me in a really curious place.  It's hard to describe and very personal,  but i hit some tough times around 96-97,  if it weren't for POP i don't know how i would have made it through to be honest.  For this i am eternally grateful to this band who made an album which was chaotic enough i could relate to it quite well - and in some way it helped me weather the storm.  Sounds crazy perhaps but looking back its true.  You come out of it on the other side quite a bit stronger and suddenly things aren't so bad. 

POPMART was a life changing experience.  I don't think there is any way i didn't leave that stadium a changed person,  a different soul than how i entered.  There was definitely some madness and magic going on that night.  Same thing 20 years later in Texas - JT30 - they blew the roof off of the building.  It wasn't a terror attack,  it was THE EDGE cranked up to the MAX!

So what does Bono mean to me,  what does U2 mean to me?  Good voice    

Actually I don't really know to be honest.......but what i do know....i cannot imagine life without them.....i guess that means something. 

Yep, this isn't Bono-specific, but my world has been a better place for having U2 in it.

From the time I was 15 to about 28 or so his words/music meant everything.

That was 18 years ago. I’ve changed and he’s changed as well. Back then I put Bono and U2 on a pedestal. A band who stood for everything that was great about rock n roll and what it meant to me.

When he joined jubilee 2000 and One there was a change. He was doing great work with them but he was also acquainting himself with elite players. Commerce and other ventures seemed to mean as much to him as the music. With his time/passion taken away from the band the music suffered.

I guess for me when his passion for creating great music took a hit, my passion for the band did the same. We both had grown and changed. That’s ok cause we still got the cds and boots. Just yesterday I was listening to One in Tacoma 92 and was brought back to why I loved them so much in the first place.

He means a lot. His band has been the soundtrack of my life for the last 37 years, and his lyrics have shepherded me through virtually all of the various turning points, crossroads, and paradigm shifts I have experienced. But the sad fact is that I probably won't truly appreciate him until he is gone. As long as he's alive I'll probably be bitching at him about making crap songs like American Soul and Get Out Of Your Own Way.