Rock music and social causes became inextricably bound in the late 1960s. Rock songs provided the soundtrack to the era’s protest movements and articulated the highest hopes and most deeply felt anger of the Vietnam generation.
In today’s money-driven age, however, socially conscious songwriting seems sadly irrelevant. Music that once challenged the prevailing social order—from the Beatles to the Clash, from Curtis Mayfield to Jimi Hendrix—now provides the background to car commercials. As a revolutionary force, rock seems spent.
But look again.
Bono, the lion-haired, sun-glassed front man of rock super-group U2, has spent most of this decade pioneering new ways for music to retake the political stage. His secret weapon? A deeply felt and seriously abiding sense of faith—one that has made it possible for the Irish rocker to connect with both arenas of screaming fans and the famously crusty Republican Senator Jesse Helms. “I love Bono,” says the conservative icon.
Bono is not a protest rocker in the old style. “I’m not a winging liberal…I’m no hippie with flowers in my hair. I come from punk rock,” he told Oprah. Bono is, in fact, a meticulous and shrewd forger of alliances—and a winner of results.
In the last year, while touring with a successful new album, Bono worked relentlessly to help secure billions in debt-relief and AIDS funding for the poorest nations of Africa. And he did all it with a sneer on his lips that would do Elvis proud and a from-the-gut faith that punctuates his every public statement. For this, Bono is Science of Mind’s Spiritual Hero for 2005.
First, he was nominated for the Nobel prize. Then Time Magazine named him one of the Persons of the Year. Now, Bono has been named Spiritual Hero of the Year by Science of Mind magazine. The profile was written by Mitch Horowitz and will appear in the January 2006 issue. You can read an exerpt of the article at SotM or you can read the entire profile from Horowitz’s website. It is a pretty good read although it rehashes alot of information that has already been available.
I found this link on the absolute best U2 website: @U2. They consistantly deliver excellent links and news about all the members of U2. They are one of my favorite websites period.
For the record, while I highly admire the man, Science of the Mind has named Bono the Spiritaul Hero of 2005- not me.