Was there a moment when you began to really love them? When you thought, ‘I’m getting this now’?
‘Getting it’ and ‘loving it’ are different things. I was behind them at the start more for who they were and where they were coming from, than from the fact that I thought the music was great. I never thought they would get out of a pub in Dublin to be world-conquering.
But by the time I went to national radio, I asked myself, which band’s demos have I played the most (and playing demos was a very important statement when it came to supporting local bands) and that happened to be U2.
Can you look back now and see what sets them apart?
They had a belief in their own ability that none of the other crowd had. They were almost naive in that belief, which I found kind of funny. I remember meeting Bono once on Grafton Street and he said, “We’re going to go to London,” and I said, “Jesus, that’s been the death of every band I’ve known! Are you sure you need to do that?”
As it was, they were going because they had to do a few gigs there and get reviewed by the English press, but really, they were going to America. I didn’t know that, and I don’t even know if Bono did. Maybe even Paul McGuiness didn’t.
You are avowedly atheist in your autobiography; and U2 clearly have a spiritual dimension to their music…
Well I mean, God yeah, anyone can see they have this whole vibe about them. But whatever turns them on! It didn’t mean anything to me, but I never saw that in anyone else’s music, and if that’s what inspired Bono as a song-writer, then that’s fine by me, because it got as good as it gets. A Celebration, I Will Follow… it was there from the start.
How important is it that U2 stayed close to people like you, who’ve been there from the start?
That is one thing that amazes me. You can meet people like David Bowie and they feel pretty cool and ordinary and OK. I interviewed him once in New York and he didn’t have a minder anywhere. He was fantastic. But U2 - I don’t quite get it. I am amazed at how grounded and normal they are. I don’t think I would be; I don’t think you would be.
Are you able to be honest with them? They’ve sat you down to play each album to you. What happens if you don’t like what you hear?
I always tell them - every time, no matter what they’re playing to me - that if you expect me to judge this on first listening, it doesn’t work like that. I am still old-fashioned enough to have to listen to an album 10 or 20 times - in the bath, in the toilet, in the car…
You wrote that the Stones have become their own tribute band. Do you worry that could happen with U2?
U2 are as vital as they can be, and it’s really important for them to be that. They never really go out on tour without a new album. And six or seven songs from No Line peppered the first year of the 360 tour, which is pretty amazing.
Is there a common denominator between the great artists you’ve interviewed?
They all want to be seen to be relevant. Guys like Prince and Paul McCartney don’t just want to play to an adoring audience. They want to release something that people respect, and that they go out to buy in their droves. It’s their lifeblood; what makes them human at the age of 60 or 70 is their work. If their work is as valued as it used to be, that’s all they could ask for. Bob Dylan is unique in the fact that his last three albums have all been critically acclaimed. With U2, they’d love to sell 10 million copies of their next album. And I’d say they’d sit there feeling baffled if they sell less albums than Duffy.
How do you stay curious and passionate about music after all this time?
There’s always good music out there, and you’re only going to hear 10 per cent of it. But the 10 per cent can still be great. There’ll always be 10 albums at the end of the year that will stay with you for the rest of your life.
But I have to be honest with you: if music stops now, it wouldn’t worry me too much, because there’s so much to go back to, so much I didn’t hear in the first place. I know two of Frank Zappa’s albums; the other 19 I don’t know, but I’m sure I’d love them. Same with Captain Beefheart… and a million others in between.
Dave Fanning's memoir, 'The Thing Is...' is available now.
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