Introduction: Irishness and the ‘gift of song’A key element in the range of stereotypes characteristically assigned to the Irish has been their natural proclivity for music and song, a feature of colonial discourse that can be traced back even to the Norman invasions of the twelfth century. However, the powerful link between the Irish and musicality (along with a host of other, considerably less attractive traits) was finally consolidated in the Victorian era at the height of the British imperial project (Curtis 1971; Busteed 1998). Irish music by this stage was constructed as a specific ethnic category based on the assumption that there was an identifiably Irish musical style that existed as an expression of the people, a reflection of their innate feelings and sensibilities. Music, therefore, became a feature of ‘race’, taking on properties for the coloniser that appeared to transcend the passage of time, that remained fixed and unchanging.
This article argues that the band U2 and lead singer Bono have been largely neglected in popular music studies. It aims to address this through a detailed consideration of the band's negotiation of Irish identity, examining music press discourse about the band and offering an analysis of the band in performance. The article focuses mainly on Bono and seeks to consider the performer's overall star-text, his prominent role as a global celebrity activist and the specificities of his performing style. The analysis is centred largely on the band's Zoo TV period and their apparent embrace of postmodern ideas and strategies. The essay argues against too simple a correspondence between the group and the postmodern and suggests that post-colonial critical approaches sensitive to the nuances of popular musical practices are more useful in understanding the types of identity the band has articulated.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.