U2 'unrivalled artistically'
2006-02-10 09:13
New York - Feted by world leaders and honoured for their humanitarian work, Irish rockers U2 and their charismatic frontman Bono received the accolades that mattered most on Wednesday - from their musical peers.
Barely mentioned in the run-up to the annual Grammy awards, U2 ended up dominating the evening, winning all five categories in which they were nominated, including the prestigious album and song of the year prizes.
The unexpected haul was a reminder of U2's continuing musical influence, which has at times been overshadowed by Bono's high-profile campaigning for causes like HIV/Aids prevention and poverty alleviation.
"If you think this is going to go to our heads, it's too late," Bono said, as he accepted yet another Grammy at the United States music industry's biggest party of the year in Los Angeles.
Potential Nobel peace laureate
The issue of swollen heads is a sensitive one for U2 and particularly for Bono whose style of political activism has been dismissed by some critics as sanctimonious preaching.
"There are probably more annoying things than being hectored about African development by a wealthy Irish rock star in a cowboy hat, but I can't think of one at the moment," the writer Paul Theroux, wrote recently in the New York Times.
But for his admirers, including the likes of Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, Bono can do little wrong, and he has regularly been mentioned as a future Nobel peace laureate and even a potential head of the World Bank.
He was named one of Time magazine's 'Persons of the Year' in 2005, alongside Bill and Melinda Gates, and has been referred to as "a kind of one-man state" and even "an alternative United Nations".
Some industry insiders were surprised at the group's success on Wednesday, given that their album, How To Build An Atomic Bomb, was released in 2004 and is no longer even on the charts.
"I think a lot of people voted for the band as opposed to the album," said Ken Schlager, executive editor of Billboard magazine.
In a class of their own
While U2 are hardly in need of a career boost, Schlager said the Grammys were more important for publicising the esteem in which Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton are held by their peers.
During the ceremony, U2 were publicly thanked by rapper Kanye West among others and performed on stage with soul singer Mary J Blige.
"They are without doubt the best live popular music act in the world right now. That, more than anything else, makes them huge stars," said Schlager. "They have rivals in terms of earning power, but I don't think there's anyone out there who can touch their performances artistically right now."
The US leg of the recent Vertigo tour earned $260m and played to three million people at 90 concerts, according to Billboard.
Rock band like a circus
Nearly always dressed in black and always with his signature wrap-around tinted glasses, Bono has, in recent years, become as comfortable in the political arena as in 60 000-seat stadiums.
He was present at the meeting of the Group of Eight industrialised powers last year when it decided to cancel the debt of the 40 poorest countries, and he also attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last month.
He even showed up last week at the US national prayer breakfast in Washington to urge President George W Bush to boost US aid to the world's poor.
In one of his many acceptance speeches on Wednesday, Bono compared the excitement of being in a rock band to running away with a circus.
"And there's also the possibility with rock music ... that it might just amount to something a little more than entertainment on occasion and that you might be able to communicate some honest feelings," he said.