U2NEWS: July 12, 1998 Part I


Who needs bathrooms? ([email protected])
Sun, 12 Jul 1998 11:52:10 -0600


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Releases:
New/Re-release : Orange CD, Propaganda remixes July 28,1998.
(Please note, that some of the companies that offer this CD will not
deal with "Bootlegs", so I'm not sure how they're offering it...)
CONFIRMED: U2 "POPMart" DVD/VHS October 13, 1998.
(confirmed through MuchMusic, HMV, two separate other sources)
RUMOUR : U2 New Album(Title To Be Announced) late 1998/early 1999
(Please note that this is *NOT* the "Rather Go Blind" rumour)

Concerts:
RUMOUR: Bono to join B.B. King onstage July 27th, Dublin, Ireland
RUMOUR: U2 at Flaming Lips Concert Experience, date to be announced.

Television/Radio Events:
VH1: Is working on a U2 special. Airdate TBA.
MTV:
MuchMusic/MuchUSA:
   

Net Events:
Vote for U2 at DotMusic's Top Albums of All Time (AB is #3, JT is #16)
Vote for U2 under "Juiciest Boy Group" at
http://www.muchmusic.com/events/juicy/
(Don't ask me...I didn't make up the category name...)

Fan Club/WIRE/U2 nutzoid meetings:
Perth WIRElings, The Bog, July 9, 1998
Email [email protected] for more information.
--------------
WIRE Gathering, Toronto, Canada, July 25th, 5:00pm.
Email [email protected] for more information.
(Barry will not have netaccess after the 17th. You can reach him at
(416) 233-9955 after the 17th)
--------------
Lemon-Aid: A U2 Summer Cookout, August 22, Fall River,
Massachusetts. Email [email protected] for more information
--------------
A SORT OF HOMECOMING, August 28-30, Las Vegas, NV
Email [email protected] for more information.
--------------
Wire Gathering in Kansas, September.
Email [email protected] for more information.
(Uhm...this person's email is down for a few days. I'll let you
know when it goes back up. As far as I know, the gathering is still on)
--------------

NEWS dates:
One of the classic U2 venues shutdown added July 9
McGuinness on Polygram--he's not happy. added July 9
Polgram purchase passes Hart-Scott waiting period added July 9
Baggio/Bono = Dead Ringers, You decide... added July 8
Non-U2: Condolences to Neil Peart added July 8
Two Condensed Articles(Classic Rock/Protestants) added July 7
Bono in Rolling Stone added July 6
Most important albums of our generation added July 6
INXS extend invitation added July 5
Poll change...Irony warning! added July 5
U2 will not be in Denver tomorrow added July 5
If Bono threw a BBQ with his neighbours, who would show up? added July 5
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The Paradise Theater, where U2 performed several memorable club shows in
the early 80s, has been shut down by Boston City officials for overcrowding.
Many of the biggest bands in the US have performed in the club, including
Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
------------
Thanks to Paul Andersen for the following. It was posted on EXIT, but I've
kept the entire posting intact, as his last comment also iterates how I feel
about Polygram information on this list:

I was checking for U2 news on Lexis this AM, and found the following quote
from Paul McGuinness buried in a story about PolyGram's film company,
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. After reading it, it really made me wonder
if we actually will see anything from the band this year.

Hollywood Studios Among Bidders for PFE
Times (London) Newspaper
7.4.98

<snip>

Rock stars and classical musicians could withhold new recordings from
PolyGram's music business over fears that its $10.4 billion merger with
Canada's Seagram could disrupt their marketing and distribution.

A warning came from Paul McGuinness, who manages rock artists such as U2
and PJ Harvey -- both signed to PolyGram's Island label. He said: "This
lengthy period of due diligence and anti-trust clearance is having a
destabilising influence, and there is the perception that this is not a
good time to be delivering a record to PolyGram."

PS -- THIS is why all the posts to Exit about the sale of PolyGram have
relevance to this list!
------------
(Prarit's note: My understanding of this article is that Seagram now owns
Polygram. It's a done deal...)

>From CNN:

Seagram Says PolyGram Buy
Passes Hart-Scott

Reuters 09-JUL-98

NEW YORK, July 9 (Reuters) - The Seagram Co. Ltd., Royal Philips
Electronics NV and PolyGram NV announced today that the U.S. federal
waiting period on Seagram's proposed acquisition of PolyGram has expired.

In a joint statement, the companies said the waiting period under the
Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 expired without a
request for additional information from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Seagram said May 21 it had agreed to buy PolyGram for $10.6 billion in a deal
that makes the Canadian drinks and entertainment company No.1 in the world's
music industry with acts like U2 and Elton John.

Netherlands-based Philips owns 75 percent of PolyGram.
------------
Dale Marsden sent me this strange email claiming that Bono looks like...ahem...
that Roberto Baggio, the soccer player, looks like Bono. Go ahead and
decide for yourselves,

            http://www.mpx.com.au/~sacco/gallery.htm
------------
(Prarit's note: Rush is another one of those great 80's bands that seemed to have
a large cult following. While not as well known as U2, they are HUGE in
Canada...my condolences to Neil Peart. It's been a tough year for him...)

>From Muzic.com:

Rush Drummer Loses Wife To Cancer

Just two weeks after Rush announced that they would
be releasing a 3-CD live album, their first live offering in
9 years on September 22, following up 1989's A Show
Of Hands, comes the sad news of yet another loss for
drummer Neil Peart.

According to the Toronto Sun, Jacqueline Taylor,
Peart's wife of over 20 years, has died from cancer less
than a year after the couple's daughter Serena was
killed in a single-car accident last August, when her
Jeep veered off the road near Brighton, Ontario. Atlantic
------------
Thanks to Theresa for the following two articles:

>From Star Tribune(Minneapolis, MN):
June 30, 1998, Metro Edition

HEADLINE: Smells like classic rock;
It's a new era for alternative rock. Have such giants as Pearl Jam,
U2 and R.E.M. become oldies but goodies?

Pearl Jam's "Yield" debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's album chart in
February and soon turned to "Stop." U2's "Pop" debuted at No. 1 last
year and quickly turned to "Fizz." Neither album has reached 2
million in sales, a figure that typically separates superstars from
one-hit wonders. Nonetheless, Pearl Jam is one of the summer's
hottest concert tickets (tonight's show at Target Center sold out
quickly), and U2's Pop Mart was one of last year's largest-
grossing tours.

What's up?

Yesterday's alt-rock giants have become today's classic rock.

Alternative rock - the most dominant music of the '90s (albums
by Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Metallica, U2, Smashing Pumpkins and
Alanis Morissette all topped 8 million) - no longer has mass appeal.
Lollapalooza, the defining alt-rock traveling festival, disappeared
this summer because there was no compelling headliner.
H.O.R.D.E., another alt-flavored fest, is having trouble
selling tickets and even canceled its opening date in St. Paul
because of slow sales. The only rock albums to do big business in the
past year are Matchbox 20's "Yourself or Someone Like You" at
6 million and counting, and the Wallflowers' "Bringing Down the
Horse," which topped 5 million but no longer is in the Top 200.

Wanted: Hits, not careers

The focus of major record labels has changed. "It's all about a
quick hit single," said columnist Steve Hochman, who covers the
music industry and radio for the Los Angeles Times. "They're here
for today. There's so little artist [career] development."

To complement hits by such fast-rising newcomers as Fastball and
Natalie Imbruglia, alt-rock radio programmers rely on old favorites
from old reliables - U2, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Smashing Pumpkins
and even Metallica.

Radio consultant Pollack, CEO of Pollack Media, maintains that
the true measure of an act is its concerts. "Matchbox 20 is learning
to play live," he said of the best-selling new alt-rock band that's on
its fourth hit single. "If you can't deliver live, you're a victim of the
record-to-record life cycle, and that's a dangerous place to be.
Pearl Jam, U2 and R.E.M., they deliver something else live;
those guys can go out there [touring] forever."
   

Classic-rock antecedents

These alternative giants have much in common with their forefathers
in classic rock, the genre that ruled rock radio in the 1970s and '80s.
(Heck, classic-rock KQRS - where Led Zeppelin has been the
No. 1 band for the past 28 years - is still the Twin Cities'

top-rated station.) They deliver live, and they've produced several
hit albums whose songs have stood the test of time. In fact,
each of the superstars of alternative has an antecedent in classic rock.

Nirvana was the Beatles of alternative. The Beatles reshaped popular
culture and redefined the popular-music business - emphasizing albums
instead of singles, writing their own songs and then consistently
reinventing themselves musically. Nirvana

introduced alt-rock to the mainstream, making angst the best-selling
hallmark of Generation X. And, like the Beatles, Nirvana never can
reunite because one key member is dead.

U2 is the Rolling Stones: much-hyped albums occasionally tinged
with a calculatedly trendy sound, self-important videos, mammoth
stadium spectacles - all engineered chiefly by the lead mouthpiece
(Bono/Mick Jagger), who has great business sense to go with
his artistic vision, and his less talkative but essential guitarist
(the Edge/Keith Richards).

R.E.M. is the Who. The guitarist (Peter Buck/Peter Townshend)
shapes the music, while the lead singer (Michael Stipe/Roger
Daltrey) delivers the lyrics with a charismatic exhibitionism. Both
bands have shown a sense of adventure and never hesitated to
introduce unexpectedly new instruments (synthesizers for the Who,
mandolin for R.E.M.) that ended up elevating their music to
new heights.

Metallica is Led Zeppelin: heavy, mystical, relentless and dangerous.

Smashing Pumpkins' antecedent is Neil Young. Billy Corgan and
Young have vital voices that some listeners find grating. Corgan
and Young are prolific conceptualists with a fearless sense of
experimentation. And both operate with a higher sense of purpose.

Pearl Jam is a composite. Singer Eddie Vedder has the intellect
and edgy spontaneity of the Doors' Jim Morrison, the showmanship,
charisma and visionary powers of Jagger, and the idealism and
I'm-only-in-it-for-the-music attitude of Neil Young. Pearl Jam
bassist Jeff Ament has the musical openmindedness of Zeppelin's
John Paul Jones; guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike
McCready are as proficient and anonymous as former Rolling Stone
Mick Taylor. As for Pearl Jam's Matt Cameron, well, he's
the latest in a succession of drummers - No. 4 - just like Spinal Tap,
the ultimate commentary on classic rock.
   

Condensed from The Economist Newspaper Ltd:

Ireland's quiet Protestants
DUBLIN

WHO are the most conspicuous Protestants in the republic of Ireland?
These days the answer is almost certainly a band called U2: three of
its four warblers are Protestant. Like three writers, W.B. Yeats,
Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde, before them, they are products of
Dublin's Protestant middle class, which has lived behind a discreet
veil of comfort since the modern state got going in 1922. But, in the
run-up to the all-Ireland referendum on May 22nd on the British-Irish
peace plan for Northern Ireland, you are unlikely to have heard many
southern Protestants arguing (or singing) vigorously for one cause
or another. Nowadays they tend to recoil from public controversy,
instead beavering away in the professions--in banks, in busi-ness, or
on the beleaguered family farm.

Copyright 1998 The Economist Newspaper Ltd.
All rights reserved
The Economist

May 23, 1998, U.S. Edition
------------

-- 
Prarit....

[email protected] U2 news: http://www.cableregina.com/users/u2news/u2.html



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