Rock Of Ages

Noel McLaughlin and Martin McLoone are academics from northern Ireland with a deep knowledge of, and fondness for, rock music. With Rock And Popular Music In Ireland: Before And After U2 they have achieved that rare thing, an evaluation of the history of rock and roll that doesn’t demean or bastardise the music itself or diminish the authors’ fascination with it.

I quiz both writers about the reference to U2 in the subtitle. Was their impact so seismic that it serves as a dividing line in Ireland’s rock history? McLaughlin explains it thus. “If you look at the way the chronology works, with U2 coming to prominence in the early-to-mid ‘80s, they fit in the middle of a history that runs from the ‘60s to the present day. We also felt that U2 are a divisive band, not only in Ireland but particularly in the UK. They hover over the Irish rock story like a colossus. For many, U2 are the sound of Irish rock.”
McLoone’s response, meanwhile, displays a sense of realism about the commercial imperatives of book publishing.
“It’s what I would call ‘a Google sub-title’. The title is meant to hit any search terms like rock, pop, music in Ireland and U2. That’s the practical aspect of it. There was also a division of labour in writing the book. I’m older than Noel by 20 years. My era is from the ‘60s to the ‘70s, including punk. Noel’s era is after that. I wanted to have the book clearly state that Irish rock didn’t start with U2. To reclaim the great pre-U2 Irish acts like Rory Gallagher.”
But why, as McLaughlin suggests, would U2 be divisive? “We cast our minds back to the pre-punk Ireland that Bob Geldof described as grim and narrow and not a lot happening,” he responds. “And then you wind forward from that to the sheer majesty and joy of the early U2 and their success. I had ambivalent attitudes towards them as a teenager. What really got me was the Red Rocks concert which I thought was one of the most powerful live performances by anybody in any genre. As Bill Graham (the late Hot Press writer) so eloquently put it, ‘U2 express Ireland’s often incoherent aspirations’. Of course the downside is that they began to dominate perceptions of Ireland and Irishness. Bono is arguably the most well-known Irish citizen in modern Irish history, so in any national context that’s going to create some kind of backlash. I think Bono himself said that one of their reasons for remaining in Ireland is that it’s a great leveller, to live in a nation where at best people think you’re alright.”
And the UK attitude to them is what?
“I live in London now and people see me writing here and there and there’s always somebody who’s keen to trot out their tuppence worth about what an arrogant so-and-so Bono is, does he think he’s Jesus and all that stuff. Then I meet Mick Jones from The Clash who drinks in my local and he tells me he’s never met such a gracious bunch of people,” he says.
I make the point that as far as my ears are concerned U2 do not sound musically in any way Irish, and could just as easily be from, say, New Zealand or Scotland – although, of course, there are those who disagree. McLoone takes up that point.
“I think our book argues in a large measure that you probably wouldn’t know they were Irish! It’s built into the myth that they’re a kind of international Anglo-American rock band in the generic sense. So the story of U2’s Irishness is about the gestation of that international rock band from Dublin at a particular time and how they retained their base in Dublin. Up to that point it was generally accepted that you had to leave Ireland if you wanted to be successful. A lot of the great Irish bands failed, like Granny’s Intentions and Skid Row, simply because once they’d left home they moved into a situation that had its own prerequisites and if you didn’t fit you didn’t make it. Take Eire Apparent – what an appalling name to give a band. That name has always symbolised for me the impositions that the music industry puts on artists. This happened to lots of bands coming out of Ireland, who were moulded to what the business thought would provide top ten hits. Regarding U2, we map very carefully the role Hot Press played in their development and success, especially the late Bill Graham. We quote Bill in that it’s nearly like a military campaign, using terms like the ‘assault’ on America. It was all carefully constructed. But that level of constructedness doesn’t take away from the quality of what they do.”
Would this have been a different book if The Boomtown Rats had been the dividing line? McLoone concedes that it would, adding, “It was never going to be that. U2 are a global phenomenon and are the reason why Irish rock and pop is recognised globally now. Nobody can gainsay what they have achieved, including their last world tour earning more than the last Rolling Stones tour! So in terms of money-making alone, they are the biggest rock band on the planet. The Boomtown Rats weren’t. Horslips weren’t, so there’s a difference in terms of the global achievements of those bands. That said, we also wanted to set the record straight about the Rats, whose reputation is quite low in the UK. I don’t think the English ever really got Geldof.”
McLaughlin makes another point.
“If you remember Sinéad O’Connor tearing up the picture of the Pope and saying that she wanted to start a conversation, I see our book as an attempt to force a conversation about Irish rock and U2’s impact and all the other artists and issues we cover.”
I then ask McLaughlin the Monty Pythonesque, “What has rock music ever done for Ireland?”
He says, “If you cast your mind back to ‘80s Dublin, I remember running around the city trying to find a quiet pub. It was nigh on impossible, because everywhere you went there was some sub-U2 band playing. It was almost impossible to escape. There was a sense, in a nation that had endured a myriad problems in the ‘80s, that music was now seen as a way out. U2 set the bar for that kind of aspiration with the belief that yes, we can do it. And they did.”