{"id":2487,"date":"2012-03-05T09:51:08","date_gmt":"2012-03-05T14:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tmatt.net\/?p=2487"},"modified":"2012-03-05T09:51:08","modified_gmt":"2012-03-05T14:51:08","slug":"glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/","title":{"rendered":"Glimpse of Bono as a young believer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One thing was clear, back in the winter of 1982. No one at the famous Record Service store near the University of Illinois campus could figure out the hot new Irish band that was about to hit town.<\/p>\n

The guy behind the front desk cranked up the group\u2019s new single so that everyone could ponder the lyrics.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI try to sing this song,\u201d sang the young singer called Bono Vox. \u201cI, I try to stand up, but I can\u2019t find my feet. I, I try to speak up, but only in you I\u2019m complete. Gloria, in te domine. Gloria, exultate. \u2026 Oh Lord, loosen my lips.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was Latin, but what did it mean? A Newman Center priest told me that the first phrase, perhaps a Mass fragment or drawn from chant, meant, \u201cGlory in you, Lord.\u201d The next meant, \u201cExalt Him.\u201d Then again, it was hard to hear the second Latin phrase. <\/p>\n

The priest apologized and said he wasn\u2019t used to parsing rock lyrics.<\/p>\n

Yes, the band 30 years ago was U2 and its mysterious second album was called \u201cOctober.\u201d<\/a> Both were surrounded by clouds of rumors, which I explored in a News-Gazette column on Feb. 19, 1982. What I needed to do was meet the band before its Feb. 23 concert in Champaign-Urbana.<\/p>\n

Luckily, the 20-year-old Bono was willing to discuss \u201cGloria\u201d and \u201cOctober.\u201d Describing that interview, the reference book \u201cU2: A Diary\u201d notes: \u201cAlthough the band have gone out of their way to avoid talking about their faith up to this point, they speak candidly now.\u201d<\/p>\n

That column ran on March 5 and it apparently was the first mainstream news piece in which Bono and company discussed their faith. I immediately pitched the story to Rolling Stone, where editors decided that U2 wasn\u2019t all that important or that it was bizarre for a guy like Bono to talk about God \u2014 or both.<\/p>\n

All of that changed, quickly.<\/p>\n

Thirty years down the road, what is striking about that interview is the fact that the issues that drove Bono then still dominate his life today. For example, he stressed that U2 had no interest in being stereotyped as a \u201cChristian band\u201d or in allowing \u201cChristian\u201d to become a sad marketing term for its work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe band is anxious not to be categorized,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, if, for instance, people are talking about U2 in a spiritual sense \u2026 that becomes a pigeonhole for people to put us in. That worries us.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, from the point of view of coming from where we come from, Ireland is a place that\u2019s been cut in two by religion. I have no real time for religion and, therefore, avoid those kinds of stereotypes. I would hate for people to think of me as religious, though I want people to realize that I am a Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Decades later, tensions remain between believers who work in the so-called \u201ccontemporary Christian music\u201d and believers who work in the mainstream music industry. The latter often cite U2\u2019s work as a prime example of how religious imagery and themes can be woven into successful popular music.<\/p>\n

The goal, Bono stressed, is to avoid making preachy music that settles for easy answers while hiding the struggles that real people experience in real life. When writing a song about sin, such as \u201cI Fall Down,\u201d he stressed, \u201cI always include myself in the \u2018we.\u2019 You know, \u2018we\u2019 have fallen. I include myself. \u2026 I\u2019m not telling everybody that I have the answers. I\u2019m trying to get across the difficulty I have being what I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, he expressed disappointment that so many people \u2014 artists in particular \u2014 attempt to avoid the ultimate questions that haunt life. The doubts, fears, joys and grace of religious faith are a part of life that \u201cwe like to sweep under the carpet,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeep down, everyone is aware. You know, when somebody dies, when somebody in their family dies. \u2026 Things that happen around us, they shock people into a realization of what is going down,\u201d he told me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, when you look at the starvation, when you think that a third of the population of this earth is starving, is crying out in hunger, I don\u2019t think that you can sort of smile and say, \u2018Well, I know. We\u2019re the jolly human race, you know. We\u2019re all very nice, REALLY.\u2019 I mean, we\u2019re not, are we?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One thing was clear, back in the winter of 1982. No one at the famous Record Service store near the University of Illinois campus could figure out the hot new Irish band that was about to hit town. The guy behind the front desk cranked up the group\u2019s new single so that everyone could ponder […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[666,670,885],"class_list":["post-2487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-godbeat","tag-pop-culture","tag-popular-music","tag-u2"],"yoast_head":"\nGlimpse of Bono as a young believer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One thing was clear, back in the winter of 1982. No one at the famous Record Service store near the University of Illinois campus could figure out the hot\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Glimpse of Bono as a young believer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One thing was clear, back in the winter of 1982. No one at the famous Record Service store near the University of Illinois campus could figure out the hot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Terry Mattingly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-05T14:51:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/\",\"name\":\"Glimpse of Bono as a young believer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-05T14:51:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-05T14:51:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"One thing was clear, back in the winter of 1982. No one at the famous Record Service store near the University of Illinois campus could figure out the hot\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Glimpse of Bono as a young believer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\",\"name\":\"Terry Mattingly\",\"description\":\"On Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/author\/tmatt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Glimpse of Bono as a young believer","description":"One thing was clear, back in the winter of 1982. No one at the famous Record Service store near the University of Illinois campus could figure out the hot","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Glimpse of Bono as a young believer","og_description":"One thing was clear, back in the winter of 1982. No one at the famous Record Service store near the University of Illinois campus could figure out the hot","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/","og_site_name":"Terry Mattingly","article_published_time":"2012-03-05T14:51:08+00:00","author":"tmatt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tmatt","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/","name":"Glimpse of Bono as a young believer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-03-05T14:51:08+00:00","dateModified":"2012-03-05T14:51:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1"},"description":"One thing was clear, back in the winter of 1982. No one at the famous Record Service store near the University of Illinois campus could figure out the hot","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/03\/glimpse-of-bono-as-a-young-believer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Glimpse of Bono as a young believer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/","name":"Terry Mattingly","description":"On Religion","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1","name":"tmatt","description":"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/author\/tmatt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}