An autobio of Neil McCormick, an aspiring rocker-turned-music journalist who happened to go to school with the lads from U2. The book doesn't actually do anything as a bio of U2, instead it's a bio of someone who happened to cross paths several times in his life with a group of folks whose fame threatens to eclipse everything he can ever hope to accomplish with his life. Quintessentially Irish and Punk-rock, it's a story of the times.So there are two main reasons why I enjoyed this book, but if you aren't me, these two may not apply to you:
1. As a U2 fan, especially of their early stuff, it was nice to read a rather unvarnished account of their early years. McCormick didn't set out to chronicle or deify U2s formative days, he just happened to be there, which is nice. They do seem, through McCormick's description, to be genuinely nice, human beings, who are irrationally and unreasonably famous, but it couldn't have happened to nicer folks.
2. As someone who is interested in rock and roll and punk rock culture, it is interesting to read about someone who lived through the punk revolution, and took all the wrong lessons from it. Neil McCormick didn't get punk. Neither did his pals in U2, but they somehow stumbled into fame and fortune. McCormick still doesn't get punk, and doesn't understand that U2 didn't, either. It's a fascinating read about the scumminess and stupidity that pervades the industry of popular music.
