Here’s Bono, speaking to The (flourishing) New York Times about their upcoming album Songs of Experience:
What’s the difference between ‘Innocence’ and “Experience’?” he said. “The core of ‘Innocence’ to me is a lyric from our second album, which says, ‘I can’t change the world, but I can change the world in me.’ The core of ‘Experience’ is — and this is cheeky! — ‘I can change the world, but I can’t change the world in me.’ And so you realize that the biggest obstacle in the way is yourself. There are things to rail against, and there are things that deserve your rage, and you must plot and conspire to overthrow them. But the most wily and fearsome of your enemies is going to turn out to be yourself. And that’s experience.
And the Edge says,
On this record, we went, ‘Is it going to be played by people in a bar in 25 years?’
What do you think of their new song “The Blackout”? Will you be singing along in a bar in 25 years?
How about this new one? Here’s “You’re the Best Thing About Me”:
Perhaps you are one of those who is frequently “irked” by U2. You’re welcome to your opinion. But I’d encourage you to read this personal reflection by David Dark, published recently in America Magazine:
Is it possible to seek total global pop domination for decades on end, to really believe your work is worthy of it, and to remain somehow soulful, sane and socially righteous all the while? Definitely, maybe. Either way, they are determined to find out for themselves. They refuse to think of themselves as a nostalgia act. Do we wish they would? Would we prefer that they stop standing up for their loves and shelve their creative selves?
I sure don’t. They have gone before me my whole life long, championing and amplifying thoughtfulness at every turn. I think of them as a celebrity cheerleading section—a pep band, if you like—of freedom movements the world over, celebrating those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, those among us (Lord, I want to be in that number) they occasionally refer to as “comedy people.”