Summary
Perhaps the only thing worse than failing to prosper in your chosen profession is having a close friend who succeeds famously in the same business. Such was writer Neil McCormick's fate when his old school chum's band Feedback metamorphosed into one of the most popular groups in the world, U2. McCormick's life in Bono's shadow is hilariously, if ruefully, retold in KILLING BONO, an intriguing combination of memoir, insight into the formative years of the U2 phenomenon, and meditation on the effects of fame on stars and the people who surround them. McCormick's recollections shed new light on U2's early, faith-based lyrics; an account of band members meeting with a cult-like fundamentalist Christian sect is particularly instructional. But it's the contrast between Bono's increasing celebrity and the author's by turns inept and blackly farcical efforts to make it in show business that give the book its impetus. When McCormick's girlfriend finally makes him realize his talents lie elsewhere (he's now a successful pop columnist for the London Daily Telegraph), the reader is almost as relieved as she is.
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Media Reviews
"In the candid, sometimes hilarious KILLING BONO, McCormick good-naturedly documents how his friendship with Bono continued and evolved even as their lives diverged to ridiculous proportions."
-- Rolling Stone
"[A] funny, jaundiced celebration of rock 'n' roll fantasy and reality....full of trenchant observations of the 1970s Dublin punk scene and the shifting styles of 1980s New Wave and pop."
-- Publishers Weekly
Bibliographic Details
Publisher: Mtv Books
Published date: 2004
Size: 5.25 x 8.25 inches
Weight: 0.75 pounds
Pages: 358
Publisher's Notes
A music critic and childhood friend offers an intimate portrait of U2 and its charismatic frontman, Bono, describing their mutual love of music, their formation of a band that went on to become U2, and his own unfulfilled dreams as he watches his childhood companion become a world famous celebrity and humanitarian. Original.
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