The Edge throws 360/12 and kicks it across stage

[philco]

I mentioned Bono's singing to a dentist at work today, and he seems to think a coyote should be offended by the comparison I made. As far as animals go, coyotes are good singers (wolves are the best, but only people who live in northern Minnesota, Alaska, Canada, Russia, etc., get to enjoy them on a regular basis). I can listen to them for hours. Every coyote/wolf that joins in the singing has an individual voice. I went to sleep in Minnesota listening to them as a teenager. Could you imagine what a dozen Bonos scattered around a Minnesota wooded lake would sound like on a wintery northern lights night? No doubt, they would think they were at "Mother Nature's Rock Concert", with special lighting effects, no less. Eventually, hunting dogs would get turned loose and shots would be fired to stop the noise. )

Bono has a lot of blind ambition.......with emphasis on "blind". He doesn't quite sing "hyena bad", and nobody doubts his personal convictions and energetic enthusiasm. It's just that a lot of his half-baked ideas are not shared by everyone and he needs to keep the politics out of the concert. People paid their money to listen to music, not a lesson in world politics. U2 could hold a press conference later to spread their ideas of how people could run their lives better, and I could ignore them a lot easier then. I'm not paying $30 again for a DVD like their last one if they continue to keep hitting me with their political views. My brother thinks the same way, and he might be able to teach The Edge a new guitar lick or two. If The Edge were still a poor musician with only a couple of guitars to his name, then what he did might be argued as some kind of artful display such as Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughn made a part of their acts, but just poorly done. But no, it was just a spoiled dude kicking the **** out of his valuable and beautiful guitar like some kind of drugged out adolescent punk with no style whatsoever.

Anybody that thinks the guitar made cool noises as it slid across the stage should volunteer their own guitars for The Edge to make more cool noises with, and thus prove their convictions for The Edge's ability to make really cool guitar noises. If you brought an ink pad with you, I'm sure he would be glad to stamp his signature all over your guitar with his boot. Talk about COOL!!!

[rkbsound]

I think it would be nice if both REM and U2 would stick to the music and lay off the politics. I really don't think it makes them any more or less popular with the masses, though. Musically, both bands are at the top of their game (in my opinion) and their talent cannot be argued with given their consistent commercial success (no opinion -- just an observation). If they weren't good, they simply would not be around or they'd be doing state fairs.

[admin]

There are many interesting comments made in this thread. I agree with others that owners can pretty much do what they want with their instruments.

It is, however, hard to see beauty collide with the beast. Especially when the beauty is all dressed up in Fireglo. Ironically, it was Pete Townshend's smashing spree (which is exaggerated many years later to some degree) that led him to agree, in part, to endorsing a signature model. So at least he is giving something back many years later.

A second interesting comment about the politics of music raises a number of questions. Should there be or indeed can there be a separation of music and politics. Music often reflects the times and it may also be argued that the times may reflect the music. I think that there is no way to completely separate the two. Arguably, "Silly Love Songs" may have been somewhat of an editorial comment. Great bass nonetheless.

Third is the rivalry between music groups, the pitting of one composer or performer against another often brings out the best in performances and perhaps the worst in fans (none of that here of course). "To the toppermost of the poppermost" is an attitude and at the same time a coping strategy that seem to work for the Fab Four.

What is really interesting is to see the role of Rickenbacker instruments in the evolution of the British Invasion. Rickenbackers were there, literally on the ground floor of the Cavern, the old Iron Door Club, the Star Club and on tour with the Who and countless other performers who set the world rockin'.

To sum up, it would seem that pandemonium, politics, and packed performances in concert with the changing times set the stage for the British Invasion. I have long pondered the factors responsible for the Beatles' success. Rickenbacker quickly became an icon for this music and continues to trigger a discussion of these events 40 years later.

[philco]

One reason for the Beatles' success was the fact that they worked their tails off and didn't smash their musical instruments. Getting a good guitar was quite a bit harder then, compared to now. Also, people are like wine grapes. The best wine grapes are grown in poor soil that makes the vine work harder to produce grapes. Output is reduced in quantity, but increased in quality and character. The Beatles had to work hard satisfying the customers in the clubs they worked early in their career, and for little pay. The result was that they developed quality and character in their music. To this day, I doubt that Paul or Ringo would smash a good instrument in spite of their ability to write it off financially without a second thought because of their vast wealth. They didn't always have the nice instruments they have now, they remember that, and Paul would probably rather give away a guitar to a budding musician than smash it in a show of reckless stupidity and arrogance. Paul has good character. Most of us would like to have him for a next door neighbor.

The Beatles wrote Taxman, and CCR wrote Fortunate Son. They made their political statement in their songs and left it at that. Their fans came for music, and that's what they got. U2 seems to have a much more aggressive attitude toward forcing acceptance of their viewpoints. What is the point in twisting around what Charlton Heston had to say? Charlton's viewpoint is proven correct all the time around here. Many decent Texans are very well armed and violent criminals prefer to ply their trade somewhere else. Most of the shootings around here involve the criminal element, on both ends of the gun. Few tears are shed for them, and good riddance. They would gladly attack the decent folk, and steal their wealth, if they felt there would be no chance of fatal retaliation for doing so. It rarely happens around here, in spite of what the U2 video portrays.

It's interesting to note, that in the book "The Millionaire Next Door", the top four European national immigrant groups to achieve wealth, per capita, in the United States were Russians, Scots, English, and French in that order. The Irish finished near the bottom of the heap. It has been argued that a large part of the reason for the poor showing of the Irish has been their tendency to SEEK POLITICAL GROUP ACTION TO SOLVE INDIVIDUAL PERSONAL PROBLEMS. It is not the government's job to provide people with jobs, wealth, health, around-the-clock personal security or a host of other things that people are brainwashed into believing by a bunch of politically active parrots for special interest groups. The top four national immigrant groups are noted for their independent character and ability to make a go of things for themselves, at least the ones that bothered to leave their old homelands for greener pastures. In a Public Television broadcast covering the Irish Potato Famine, the main cause of so many deaths among the Irish was the fact that the Irish landowners sold their crops on the open market to the highest bidder. The London market paid more than the Irish markets, so the Irish landowners sold to the English and watched their fellow countrymen starve. To this day, the English government of that time is commonly blamed by many Irish for the deaths. Judging by the twisted political views of U2 based on half truths and misinformation, I see that the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree that produced it. Political activism seems to be like a religion for U2, and as others besides myself have noted, we are getting tired of hearing it on every video and at every concert.

[wormdiet]

Back to the business at hand. . . . .

NOw, when you *do* smash a rick up for whatever reason, does a 330 or a 360 sound better?? I'm thinking a 370 may actually be the way to go - the extra pickup will produce a nicer thud as it hits the stage. Maybe a CW model for that extra-special resonant top? Maybe we should ask the Toneman on this one. (KIDDING!!)

[profjeff]

Dang, I hate this new forum format where it displays the name of the last person to post...y'all must think that I have waaaay too much time on my hands.

I have to respectfully disagree with Miguel. Writing a song does count. Music does make a difference. Both the visual and performing arts have long traditions of impacting public policy and social consciousness (dude, I sound like a total hippie).

But the more important issue here is: "Has the Edge deemed himself unworthy of wielding a Rick because he abused his 360 at a concert in Boston?" I have an idea...let's ban him from this forum. Oh, wait. He can't read this because he has a dozen multi-platinum albums and a couple of Grammy's blocking his computer.

Seriously, like him or not, the Edge has accomplished something that most of us in this forum never will. He has a trademark sound that makes him instantly recognizable. I can only think of maybe two dozen guitarists that have such a distinctive sound. So maybe he is not the fastest or the most technically perfect guitarist in the world; he has developed a sound that many have tried to emulate, and that speaks volumes about the Edge's creativity.

[eddier]

>>>>y'all must think that I have waaaay too much time on my hands.

Jeff: One can never spend enough time on all things Rickenbacker

At the risk of opening a whole new can of worms: Although I am hardly a fan anymore, Edge was one of the handful of 80's British guitarists whose creative/inovative guitar sound was often overshadowed by an overated and or obnoxious frontperson. Andy Summers (the Police), Johny Marr (the Smiths), the late James Honeyman-Scott (the Pretenders) and Charlie Burchill (Simple Minds)are others that fall into this catagory.

Perhaps smashing his RIC was Edge's way of dealing with the frustration of being overshadowed by Bono.

Personally it is difficult for me to see a beautiful object of art that would certainly give someone a lifetime of pleasure demolished in some a quasi-artistic rock & roll potlach performance.

I wonder what Mr Hall's impressions are regarding artists smashing Rickenbackers?

[philco]

Think about this: A person that would destroy their own musical instrument would destroy a lot of other things besides, if they ever got the chance. Some of those things might be your things. Some of those things might be a lot more important than a musical instrument.

It would have been better if Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini had formed a power trio and smashed their own instruments, rather than the lives and property of others. I suppose they had opinions and artistic viewpoints as well. I guess some people are better off being musicians that smash instruments on stage rather than taking jobs where they could do much more damage to others.

[kranz]

speak of the devil................

HSM Power Trio

[admin]

Philco: It is tempting to generalize from isolated incidents. In the balance, I think we have done this with Edge. To my way of thinking, there are three issues that are evident here.

To begin, what the Edge does on one particular occasion while performing may not be at all representative of what he does most of the time. I often find that when someone else slips and falls we conclude that they are clumsy, and when we slip and fall in the same place there is something wrong with the surface on which we a walking. The dispositional versus the situational, if you like.

Moreover, Edge is a musician and I think we have somehow elevated him to loftier level by focusing our attention on him and attempting to establish the motivation for his behaviour.

Last, but not least, it would seem to me that we have moved away from the Rickenbacker connection at this point and are now wandering into the realm of psychopathology.

Just my two cents.

[wwittman]

So now Townshend = Hitler! Fascinating.
And here I just thought he was one of the most exciting live guitar players ever.
I suppose the Who should have just been boring live so as to appear "healthier" to some of you.
As one who has lofted more than a few expensive instruments in a moment of exhiliration at the end of a show, i see nothing at all wrong with showing some healthy DISRESPECT for an inanimate object; of any price.
It's HIS guitar. He can pound on it, put stickers on it, change the original parts, or fling it across a room.
Extrapolating from that to his deep psychological problems, as you see them, is to say the least presumptuous.
Maybe there's something wrong with YOU for turning a guitar into an almost religious icon that needs to be venerated... that you see as desecrated when someone treats it as "only" a guitar.
That PASSION is what makes him brilliant too.
What he does to his own possessions is of no import to me.. and shoud be of none to you.

[mortivan]

Umm., I'd think that Hitler's a right-handed McCartney.

Townshend must be Mussolini.

Is that Tony Levin on drums?

[admin]

William: You are quite right. It is his guitar and he can pretty much do what he wants with it. The good news is, he has others. Jeff Bauer is also right when he reminds us that The Edge has, inspite of this one-time Rickenbacker transgression, accomplished considerable success in the music business. Perhaps that is why this topic has brought out such a range of emotions.

[philco]

Pete Townshend was NOT making an artistic statement when he smashed his first Vox amp. He just wanted to break something. He wanted to trash the amp that was trashing his career. He hated that amp and wanted Vox to give him something better that would survive a gig without letting him down. He showed Vox what he thought of their auto-blow amps. The response of the crowd was what kept him doing it for quite some time. If the fans had reacted differently, he would have stopped his amp/guitar smashing spree a lot sooner. Large crowds can be unruly. Never underestimate the stupidity and violence of a large group of people. Wooly may agree with me on this one, if he witnessed the LA riots. U2 would not continue the political BS onstage if all the fans stopped putting up with it.

What's wrong with three dictators forming a power trio? "Dictators" would be a good name for a metal band. In fact, U2 could dump Bono and form a similar power trio with an Irish twist. They could name it "Dick 'Taters". )

[kranz]

Quite a few years ago, I recall reading about a Guild acoustic that sold at auction. It was trashed by Townshend in a fit of artistic frustration and was a real basket case. It went for some ridiculous figure. Later during ski season, I was in Aspen and stopped in some shop that specialized in Rock Memorabilia. Low and behold, there was that Guild, in many pieces. Asking price was twice the auction figure. Here is an example of the creative soul adding value to an instrument.

Pete might be missing an opportunity here. With the current trend of relic-ed instruments, just imagine what a Pete Townshend custom shop could do with "extreme relic-ing"!

Personally, I think trashing an instrument says something about a person. But what the hell do I know? None of my guitars are hanging in downtown Aspen. Think I'lll go listen to John Hiatts "Perfectly Good Guitar".