The official video for ‘Invisible’, directed by Mark Romanek. Shot in black and white, in a Santa Monica airport hangar, with an audience of 1200. A sixty second clip from the video, premiered on February 2nd during the Super Bowl, launched a partnership with (RED) and Bank of America in the fight against AIDS. In 36 hours downloads of #U2Invisible raised more than $3m. On iTunes all proceeds from ‘Invisible’ continue to go to (RED) for the Global Fund. Download here.
How many of us are willingly doing the same thing we were in 1976…and doing it better with surprising enthusiasm and grace? Back then (it feels like the Dark Ages), I was a sophomore in high school. Here we are 38, years later…and I’m beyond grateful I’m not doing the same thing I was then. I’d still be in central Minnesota wondering how (and/or if) I was every going to get the Hell out of Dodge (or in my case, St. Cloud).
I can still remember the day in 1980 when I walked into a record store/head shop on University Avenue in St. Paul and heard the most amazing thing I’d ever encountered. Playing on the stereo system at an impressive volume was U2’s debut album, “Boy).” I was absolutely transfixed by a sound unlike anything I’d heard before. I was a young, naive, still wet behind the ears college kid from central Minnesota farm country, but I knew immediately I was listening to something special. I didn’t know a thing about U2, but I bought a copy of the LP (remember those?) on the spot and proceeded to wear it out. I had a radio show on WMCN at the time, a tiny 10-watt station at Macalester College whose signal barely carried into south Minneapolis, and I played “Boy” as much as I could get away with. Since I chose my own playlist, that was with astonishing frequency. I was surprised no one complained about it.
To say they’ve come a long way since Dublin in 1976 would be an understatement, but they’re still doing what they did in the beginning with a grace and creativity that’s almost unimaginable. Their most recent video, “Invisible,” is something I could listen to over and over and over…and I have been. It reminds me of that cold, windy day in November, 1980, when I walked into a record store in St. Paul, Minnesota, and found my perspective on music changed forever.
Not many of us are blessed to be able to do something they love for 38 years (and counting) AND work to change the world at the same time. Only a very few bands have become timeless- the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Bruce Springsteen leap immediately to mind- and U2 has been around longer than some of their fans have walked the Earth. I know a 17-year-old guitar prodigy who’s developed his skills by learning to play U2 songs. That blows me away, but it’s representative of the impact U2’s made over the years. The band grew up, as will happen over the course of close to four decades, and that growth has been reflected in their music. Some of it’s been hit or miss, but how many of us have experienced an unbroken string of successes over the past 38 years? That the same four guys are still at it after all this time (without the drug overdoses or other excess that often accompanies such outsized stardom) is beyond impressive. That they’re they’re still making music that’s as relevant and entertaining as ever is something we should be grateful for. I certainly am.
