Priest Listens to Old U2 Record
If you’ve missed the last almost thirty years, it might have escaped your notice that U2 began life as what we lovingly refer to as ‘religious fruitcakes’. Given that the Republic was 95% Roman Catholic with its own share of problems that it’s been ironing out since, that took some doing.
And like true Christians, not only were U2 ‘never about getting your rocks off’ - as the Edge has put it - but they wore that faith on their various sleeves - clothing that is, not album - even when wearing vests/waistcoats.
Father Erich Rutten up in the Twin Cities, has discovered October, the 1981 album by U2, and he’s been listening to the lyrics. Good Lord, it’s Christian, seems to have been the reaction and so we have a headline with a question mark, U2 a Christian rock band? followed by the case to persuade us.
What next? Somebody reads stuff written by Joseph Ratzinger from twenty-five years ago and we get an article trying to show us that Pope Benedict XVI just might be a Catholic? And then there’s the case of the Bear in the woods, if somebody should unearth evidence of just what it is that bears do in there.
See Also:
• U2: memories of 1979 and 1987
• Bono: Part-time Irish Rock Star Learns Piano
• Unique Irish Distinction Held by Bono
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
Ah, now be fair, after all the article does say that Fr. Rutten knew U2 as a politically minded band before he discovered _October_ **way back when he was “a college student in the 80s,”** and now he remains a fan 20+ years later. I agree the headline is silly, though.
The article takes the headline’s lead and goes on to show us that U2 were initially explicity Christian in their lyrics. That’s not news. If the article was simply about Father Rutten educating young adults of today who are unfamiliar with the past, that makes sense, but to convince the readership that the past happened is silly. A “politically-minded band” is not the same as “spiritually based Christian band”.