19/ 20 years later: Rattle and Hum
The indie rock community always has an odd relationship with mainstream artists. Some are accepted and expected that you like (everyone loves Bruce Springsteen this year; Beach Boys are another popular indie rock mainstream artist). I don’t know where the indie rock consciousness currently falls with U2 but I don’t care. If I had to limit my record collection’s 80s section to two albums, I’d leave The Queen is Dead. I’d leave Surfa Rosa. I’m taking The Joshua Tree and Graceland.
I watched Rattle and Hum again tonight, for the first time in possibly eight years, when I last watched it in my first crazy-about-U2 phase partially initiated by my friend Wally constantly singing along to U2 and eventually showing me Rattle and Hum.
Though it was released in 1988, the bulk of the filming of this documentary happened 20 years ago in 1987. Of course, the clothing and hair styles are bad, hilariously bad, even. No one should wear a leather vest with nothing underneath. Or only suspenders (no shirt) in public.
I don’t listen to U2 daily, or even weekly most of the time, so I was a bit surprised at my reaction to some of the music. I like a lot of the songs, of course. “With or Without You”, “Bad”, “Pride (In the Name of Love)” and “Where the Streets have No Name” are great songs. I was listening and enjoying. However, when they did the version of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” with the gospel choir from Harlem, I had goose bumps. My serious visceral reaction to “Sunday Bloody Sunday” was even more intense. Multiple times in the song (at the beginning, when the drums first come in, and during the “Fuck the revolution! No more!” part) it felt like the entire skin shell of my body was tensed and bristled. I’m not going to write off a song or band that can cause that sort of reaction.
Bono was the so-full-of-himself-but-can-sort-of-get-away-with-it-because-he-really-is-that-good guy before Kanye came around. For anyone to say that they’d just discovered BB King and wanted to work with him seems absurd, but U2 does it and pulls it off. There of course is some total wankery. The part where Bono takes a flood light and dramatically lights the Edge during a solo is just silly.
The black and white parts of the film are the most artistically interesting from a visual perspective. Some of the color parts (Bono backlit in blue, Bono lit from below with the fog machines on) seem a bit cliched and forced.
There is a bit of a SF connection to the film. The version of “All Along the Watchtower” was performed and filmed live in an outdoor square in SF. In the middle of the song, Bono goes up to a sculpture and spray paints it with “Rock N Roll Stops Traffic.” I think Woody’s got you beat on “musix does [x]” claims there, Bono, but I’d still like to see Chris Martin do that.
June 24th, 2007 at 10:14 am
“Sunday Bloody Sunday” was an intense few moments on that film. I just have trouble getting over that real high pitch sound on one of Bono’s “No more!” screams. Is that the mic or his voice cracking?
Some of my favorite parts of the movie are the lesser known songs that play in the background early on, like “van diemen’s land” or “heartland.”
Bullet to Blue Sky is still one of my favorite u2 songs of all time.
I don’t think any indie snobs should be ashamed of loving u2. The Joshua Tree is one of the most amazing albums ever created.
June 24th, 2007 at 11:31 am
I know what you’re talking about. I think the squeal on “No more!” is the mic. In the film it looks like he bends over right in front of a monitor.
After I finished the film, I went back and watched the “Van Diemen’s Land” again. I didn’t remember that from my first watching of the film, but I liked it and I didn’t realize the Edge’s voice worked so well solo.
June 25th, 2007 at 11:25 am
We had a cassette tape of U2’s Rattle and Hum in the family car from 1988 until, well… uh, maybe it is still there actually… it is kind of the soundtrack to my middle-school-and-beyond life. So I have had a love for and deep connection to that album since it was released. But I also, as an adult music listener, think that it is excellent, and perhaps one of my “desert island” albums.
I’m glad to hear that it is not just my sentimentality, and that other music lovers appreciate U2. I don’t think it is shameful. They’re good!