Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow's first child looks set to be a U2 fan -
the Coldplay singer is already playing him 'A Sort of Homecoming!'
In Rolling Stone's 'Fifty Immortals' of rock edition, U2's entry is
catalogued with a tribute from Chris Martin of Coldplay, where he says what
Coldplay have learned from U2 is that 'you have to be brave enough to be
yourself.'
And he is bringing his favourite U2 song to a new audience. He writes: 'I
don't buy weekend tickets to Ireland and hang out in front of their gates,
but U2 are the only band whose entire catalogue I know by heart. The first
song on
The Unforgettable Fire, "A Sort of Homecoming," I know backward and
forward -- it's so rousing, brilliant and beautiful. It's one of the first
songs I played to my unborn baby.
The first U2 album I ever heard was
Achtung Baby. It was 1991, and I was
fourteen years old. Before that, I didn't even know what albums were. From
that point, I worked backward -- every six months, I'd get to buy a new U2
album. The sound they pioneered -- the driving bass and drums underneath and
those ethereal, effects-laden guitar tracks floating out from above -- was
nothing that had been heard before. They may be the only good anthemic rock
band ever. Certainly they're the best.
What I love most about U2 is that the band is more important than any of
their songs or albums. I love that they're best mates and have an integral
role in one another's lives as friends. I love the way that they're not
interchangeable -- if Larry Mullen Jr. wants to go scuba diving for a week,
the rest of the band can't do a thing. U2 -- like Coldplay -- maintain that
all songs that appear on their albums are credited to the band. And they are
the only band that's been around for twenty years with no member changes and
no big splits.
It's amazing that the biggest band in the world has so much integrity and
passion in their music. Our society is thoroughly screwed, fame is a
ridiculous waste of time, and celebrity culture is disgusting. There are
only a few people around brave enough to talk out against it, who use their
fame in a good way.......'
Read the rest of Chris's tribute here
www.rollingstone.com
