About John Paul, Bono noted that "A lot of rock stars have a Pope complex. This Pope had a rock star complex!"
Calling the Catholic Church "the glam rockers of religion," he said that upon meeting the Pope to discuss debt relief for impoverished nations, that he, Quincy Jones and Bob Geldof were nervous and excited. Bono took off his sunglasses and held them in his hand, but noticed that the Pope kept looking at them. He said, "Holy Father, would you like some fly shades?" The Pope put the sunglasses on and then winked and smiled.
I remember Bono telling this story at a concert on the Vertigo tour, shortly after the Pope passed away - great to finally see the picture!
I think there's a lot to what Bono is saying here, identifying Glam's roots in Catholicism. I had a related conversation with my Creative Writing students yesterday, in reference to Flannery O'Connor. I asked them why her work would be described as "[Southern] Gothic." Our conversation turned to the various uses of Gothic, originally an aesthetic style born of Roman Catholicism. Now often used to refer to fashions that are closely related to Glam. We discussed that these various uses are not linguistic perversions and coincidences, but, in fact, all related. The ornament and wonder and theatricality is present in soaring spires, and gold-laden naves, and Robert Smith's hair, and Dylan Klebold's trench coat, and desperate women's stories of desperation hidden by the shadows of kudzu vines. Perhaps Bono's increasing practice of glam, more than his tradition and politics, signals his Irishness (or, at least, non-Englishness).
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