U2: how to dismantle an atomic bomb

U2: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Years ago, when U2 evolved as a band, they decided to become a Christian group. But, somewhere in their journey, U2 emerged as a political band with songs voicing the conflict between Ireland and England and peaceful protest messages that were popular in the 80s. In 1987, U2 released their first big CD titled “ Joshua Tree.” “ Joshua Tree” put U2 on the music map with hits like “ With or Without You” and “ Where the Streets have no Name.” U2 continued to evolve throughout the 90s and burst back onto the scene in 2000 with the album “ All that You Leave Behind.” Now, U2 is making a comeback with “ How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.” It is their first big studio album in about four years.
In this current age of international conflict, one might assume the title suggests anti-war sentiments. But instead, U2 journeyed back to its roots, and compiled an album that could almost make the contemporary Christian music charts. The album’s first song, ‘ Vertigo,’ evokes images of kneeling and appealing to a higher authority. Many of the songs make reference to Christian ideals, and this only enhances the music and message.
Some of the most notable songs on the album include: “ Vertigo,” “ Sometimes You Can’t Make it on Your Own,” “ City of Blinding Lights,” “ Original of the Species,” and “ Yahweh” which is the last song on the album and also the Jewish name for God. I would not classify U2 as a Christian band, but this newest album definitely has religious implications. U2 has always been difficult to pigeonhole and has forever eluded definition. With the arrival of “ How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” it appears that U2 will continue this trend of redefining themselves and their music.
Works Cited
Music. (Compact Disc).
U2. “ How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.” Interscope Records. Release date:
November 23, 2004.
Middlesex
A Book in Review
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Middlesex is not your run of the mill ‘ coming of age’ novel. The main character is Cal Stephanides-a third generation Greek American. Due to some familial in breeding back in Greece, Cal inherits a mutated gene and is born a hermaphrodite and raised as a girl. As Cal goes through puberty, she discovers that she is not a girl, but genetically a boy…and for all intents in purposes she is somewhere in between. Middlesex perfectly captures the nature of Cal’s condition.
Middlesex is a novel of epic proportions. Jeffrey Eugenides beautifully portrays this American epic within the cultural, historical, and sexual environment of Cal’s birth and his struggle to live in between the sexes. Cal manages to navigate youth without committing to either sex. His story is one full of Greek history and family integration. The book is very relatable as everyone, at one time or another has felt on the fringes of life and longed to be part of the mainstream. Cal endures a difficult journey full of sexual confusion and hard lessons. But, the five hundred pages are every bit worth the reading as the novel comes full circle and Cal finds himself at the end.
Even though Cal must journey away from home to unearth his identity, he returns to Middlesex for his father’s funeral with a new understanding of himself and his unique circumstances. Middlesex is, after all, Cal’s final destination. Cal declares that Middlesex was “ a place designed for a new type of human being, who would inhabit a new world. I couldn’t help feeling, of course, that that person was me, me and all the others like me” (529). In Middlesex, Eugenides unveils a radiant future where the idiosyncrasies that make us who we are traverse the grand divide of gender.
Works Cited
Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex. Picador-Pan Books Unlimited. New York, New York.
2002.