Robbie Robinson ([email protected])
Sun, 17 Jan 1999 12:53:03 -0800
Yes, it includes those people who know/like rock music, but at a certain
level of media fame, people that don't know/like rock music know of you.
That's the level where you are on the cover of Time magazine or become a
catagory on the tv show, Jeopardy, and the contestants are able to answer
all the questions about the band (except Bono's real name).
The majority of people that read this long standing and well known
magazine and watch this game show which has been on for ages, are not
fans of U2 and maybe not rock fans at all. I would even say that most
of them fall between the ages of 45 and dead.
> But i can say there are many
> people who
> have no clue about rock bands and don't know at all who is U2 and
> where they
> come from. However, they know very well Dublin/Ireland. They even
> asked me
> (for instance) last year how i could stay only in Dublin for a whole
> week !
> If you talk about Ireland/Dublin with them, they think Yeats,
> Sheridan,...
> really more than U2. In fact, everything depend on your irish culture.
Yes, but are you talking about Americans or Frenchmen?
I think Patty and I were talking about it from the point of view
of how most Americans think.
I'm sure that there are Americans that know and are interested
in the things you and Dave talk about, but a huge number of Americans
are just media-hound couch-potatoes and reading the classic Irish
writers (or any classics) isn't a common American passtime (to
put it mildly;) If they know of some Irish guy named Sheridan at all,
it's likely to be the movie director because they saw him on
EXTRA or Entertainment Tonight.
As for Dave saying that:
"Trinity College - high school kids wouldn't know it?......probably right,
hey thats one demographic segment......ask the Senior Citizens of America if
they know U2........I doubt they'd say "Yeah, they're a cool Rock gruop from
Ireland"
There is a good chance that the Senior Citizens of America would, because
they are that majority of Americans that read Time and watch Jeopardy :)
Oh yes, interestlingly enough, if I remember correctly, the first two
questions about the band on that famous game show...the first one described
U2 as an Irish band and the second one asked which town they are from.
The contestans got both right :)
(Oh yes, and that special tribute show for Sinatra's 80th birthday that
was on US TV a few years ago, remember, Bono and Edge were on it singing
the song they wrote for him, that got huge ratings, especially with
the Senior Citizens. A lot of them know of Bono and of U2.)
Robbie
I think your both comming at this subject from the point of view of being
Irish and being French. Patty and I are answering it from the point of
view of how the average American that is not necessarly a U2 or even a
Rock fan would would see it. We've lived with those people every day
of our lives so we have a pretty good take on them.
Robbie
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