We live in uncertain times. Our old institutions and ideals seem to have let us down lately, and we've struggled to find things to depend on. In the last few years it's been hard to have faith in much.
So we -- at least the popular music fans among us -- should thank U2. The band released their 11th studio album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," on Tuesday, and the boys from Dublin have once again come through for us. The album is everything we've come to expect from U2: superb songs crafted around Bono's yearning voice, The Edge's ringing guitars and the razor-sharp rhythm section of Adam Clayton on bass and Larry Mullen Jr. on drums.
And this new album, even more so than the band's last terrific offering, "All That You Can't Leave Behind" (2000), is built around ideas of hope, love and spirituality. It seems U2 has finally moved beyond the dark ironies, club rhythms and melancholy melodies of their work from the 1990s.
The galvanizing U2 of the 1980s is back. This is the version of U2 in which Bono -- a tent-show revivalist at heart -- works crowds into cathartic fervors, yowling gorgeous melodies over the celestial chords of the band. The brightness and confidence of this version of U2 is exactly what we need right now.
Not that I wasn't a U2 fan in the '90s. I think "Achtung Baby" (1991) is one of the greatest albums of all time and I also totally dig both "Zooropa" (1993) and "Pop" (1997), though those two wonderful albums continue to have their unimaginative detractors. Some people simply will never get over the fact that U2 no longer makes records that sound exactly like "The Joshua Tree," their seminal masterpiece from 1987.
But the great thing about U2 (and one of the things that has kept them around for so long) is that the band is not looking to appease those fans. They'd rather continue to stretch their musical horizons.
As with all truly great rock bands -- The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones of the early '70s -- U2's albums all sound different from one another. This is because the band's musical journey mirrors their human journey. They grow and change and the music grows and changes with them.
In this way, U2 is a model for all of us. They encourage us to challenge ourselves, not to be stagnant, to be brash and passionate. They're not timid and they're not intimidated by their fears. They experience the fullness and richness of life.
The band is also a model for family and society. Their lineup has featured the same four members since 1978 -- since the men were in high school. And unlike almost every other long-tenured band, U2 has never acrimoniously broken up and gotten back together. Nor have they ever tinkered with their lineup, aired their dirty laundry in public or lost a member to drug abuse. To paraphrase Neil Young, they've neither burned out nor faded away.
U2 is like a good marriage; the one that's lasted while all the others have crashed and burned in divorce or dragged on unhappily.
U2 is even the one rock band that can't piss off the "moral values" people and the religious right, since the band is spiritual, even religious. But U2 doesn't try to convert, and their exploration of faith is anything but preachy or staid.
To top things off, the band is heavily involved in charity work. By now Bono's efforts need no mention. The man is involved in everything from AIDS relief to Third World debt.
So U2 is passionate, spiritual, honorable, loyal, charitable, honest and hardworking. Forget the Tao of Pooh. There should be a Tao of U2, or at least an "Everything I Need to Know I Learned From Bono and The Edge" book.
In the meantime they've given us their new album. The more I listen to it, the more I feel my faith restored that some of the good things in life do last. Occasionally they get even better.
Michael Green is pursuing graduate degrees in creative writing and film and media studies. Make him a Commander of the Order of the British Empire at michael.b.green@asu.edu.
