Archive-name: music/U2-faq/part4
Alt-fan-U2-archive-name: fan/U2-faq/part4

   3. ZooTV - Achtung Baby and Zooropa 

  3.1 What characters does Bono use in shows?

[M]   Bono has played three different characters on stage.  They are The Fly,
the Mirrorball Man, and Mr. MacPhisto.  The Fly is supposed to represent the
typical "rock star" with his black, shiny leather clothes and his bug-eyed
glasses.  His excess and posing for the cameras is to make fun ofthe way rock
has become impersonal and fake.  The next character is the Mirrorball Man, who
is a Television Evangelist.  He wears shiny, sparkling clothes that look like,
what else, a disco ball. 
The last character, who was seen in the Sydney concert, is Mr. MacPhisto, an
aging thespian/rock star.  Both the Mirrorball Man and Mr. MacPhisto are
representations of, if not the devil, then very evil characters.  The Mirrorball
Man was only seen in the US and MacPhisto was created for the rest of the world.
This was done because it was felt that European and worldwide audiences would
not be able to relate to the evangelist character.


   3.1.1 Who's in the picture on MacPhisto's dressing table in the Sydney video?

[CB] Mario Lanza. (this is a confirmed answer).

[MJS]  I second that. Mario Lanza was an American opera-style singer in the
1950. He had no formal training but sang in a light operatic style in several
MGM musicals.  He was touted as "the American Caruso." In fact, Mario was a
truck driver from Philadelphia and could handle neither the stress of fame nor
MGM's insistence that he sing like Caruso but weigh only slightly more than his
leading ladies.  He died of a heartattack in his '30's.  Bono said in an
interview with Spin magazine that Mario Lanza's singing impressed him as a
child.


  3.2 What is Automatic Baby? Will there be an album?

[SL] In January 1993, when the USA were celebrating the inauguration of  Bill
Clinton's office, there were several 'Rock&Roll Inaugural Balls'. On the 20th,
REM's Michael Stipe and Michael Mills joined U2's Larry and Adam in a
performance of "One". This is recorded and some bootlegs actually include this
rather unique reunion. The union of these artists was immediately labeled
'Automatic Baby' (as in 'Automatic for the People' and 'Achtung Baby', their
latest albums), and the outcome was so good that the idea of an Automatic Baby
album  project was mentioned for some time, but has now faded.


  3.3 Who is Wim Wenders?

[AC] A movie producer and writer. He seems to be well respected by a lot of
people - but most notably, not by Hollywood and all of that b.s. This means he
might be good. The soundtracks to his last 2 movies, "Until the End of the
World" and "Far Away, So Close" have had lots of major international musicians
on them. Obviously, this includes U2!

[SR] Wim Wenders is a German movie director. He started working with U2 for his
movie called "Until The End Of The World" whose soundtrack includes the U2-song
of the same name. I think Wim and the boys became friends and their meet is
probably due to the fact that the band stayed in Berlin during the recording of
Achtung Baby. However the next WW movie, called "Faraway, So Close" also
includes the U2 song of the same name. 

[SL] Wim also directed the video for "Stay", and the images of Bono climbing up
some statue are an allusion to the movie "Faraway, So Close" which is a
follow-up to "Wings of Desire"

[MPZ] Wim Wenders will be directing "The Million Dollar Hotel", which Bono wrote
the screenplay for.


  3.4 Who is Charles Bukowski?

[JC] The movie 'Barfly' with Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway is based on the
life of Charles  Bukowski.  I've only watched a half hour of it.  It depicts
the lives of two alcholics, Rourke  playing the Bukowski role.  Despite his
alcoholism, Bukowski was somewhat of an 'urban poet'  and some of his work was
published.  For more answers, see the movie.

[RA] Charles Bukowski was an internationally famous contemporary poet and prose
stylist. He  was born in Andernach, Germany, and came to the US at the age of
13. He has published 45  volumes, both novels and poetry. Unfortunately, Mr.
Bukowski passed away a couple months ago  at the age of 74. He wrote with a very
raw and honest style. A good sampling of Bukowski's  work can be found in
_Septuagenarian Stew: Stories and Poems_ or _Love is a Dog From Hell_,  both
published by Black Sparrow Press.


  3.5  Who is William Gibson, and what is Neuromancer?

[IM] In case you don't know this yourself, Bono based a lot of stuff  from
Zooropa on this  person's work. William Gibson wrote a book called  Neuromancer
which is about cyberspace and  virtual environments.  (This might explain the
Virtuality helmet that appears on the inlay card  of  the Zooropa CD.)


   3.6 What's all this fuss about the 'Lemon' video?

[K] A friend of mine who's just graduated film school got really psyched after
seeing "Lemon."  There's this very important early film that recorded horses,
people etc. walking and running (the  film maker was trying to prove something
about the physics of galloping etc.) Anyways, in this  film underneath the
sequence is the captions "horse running", "man walking" etc. The caption in
"Lemon" are very similar to the font type used in the original film. There were
other similariites,  but since I've only seen both works once (the historic
piece in some histoy of communication/film  class), I can't remember what else
led my friend to beleve U2 must have seen this earlier film (it  was like one of
the first uses of the moving camera or something...)  Anybody else familar with
this?  
[JK] Now that ya mention it, yeah!  Umm, the horses one was the first experiment
using motion  photography, I believe it was like 6 frames a second for a few
seconds?  Anyways, yeah...also  they had markers in the background to help
measure/show the movement, maybe this could be  related to the grid in Lemon?

[pat38@aol.com]
Yes, that is correct, the photographer is Edward Muybridge who did hundreds of
motion studies  during the late 1800's. This started as a bet between two rich
guys and Muybridge was hired to  settle the bet with his invention of a series
of many still cameras set up with wire triggers rigged to  expose film as a
horse ran past. The resulting set of time-lapse prints formed the first 'photo
flip  book'. He proved that a horse indeed has all four legs in the air at a
point during a run. If you look  up these photos at your local library you will
see where the styling for parts of the Lemon video  came from.  In fact, since
U2 has decided to depart from stark visuals their work has become an  art
student's smorgsaboard, a dizzying assemblage of related and disparate elements
which could  keep an art historian busy for years.


  3.7 What does Vosprung durch Technik mean in Zooropa?

[MJS]  It is a German phrase meaning roughly "lead by/through technology." A
more elegant translation is "A step ahead through technology." It was an
advertising slogan used by a German car company, Volkswagen or Audi, just like
many of the other phrases in the song. 


   4. Discography
 [SL]  I have decided to include a minute discography here, since the idea of
mentioning all the singles, maxi-singles and related stuff would make this file
far too big. For those who are really interested in the B-sides to All I WantYou
when it was released in Guatemala, Greg's discography is what you're looking
for. He can be reached at
 Greg Murphy (gregm@koko.csustan.edu)


  4.1  What studio albums have been released?

 1. Boy        
 I Will Follow \ Twilight \ An Cat Dubh \ Into The Heart \Out Of Control {LP}\
Stories For Boys \ The Ocean \ A Day Without Me \Another Time, Another Place \
The Electric Co. \ Shadows And Tall Trees
[Steve Lillywhite \ November 1980]

 2. October     
 Gloria \ I Fall Down \ I Threw A Brick Through A Window \ Rejoice \ Fire{LP}\
Tomorrow \ October \ With A Shout \ Stranger In A Strange Land \Scarlet \ Is
That All?
[Steve Lillywhite \ November 1981] {10/81}

 3. War       
 Sunday Bloody Sunday \ Seconds \ New Year's Day \ Like A Song...\ Drowning Man
{LP}\ The Refugee \ Two Hearts Beat As One \ Red Light \Surrender \ "40" [Steve
Lillywhite  February 1983] 

 4. Under A Blood Red Sky [mini-album]
  Gloria \ 11 O'Clock Tick Tock \ I Will Follow \ Party Girl {LP}\ Sunday Bloody
Sunday \ The Electric Co. \ New Year's Day \ "40" 
[Jimmy Iovine \ November 1983]  [U2's only commercial live album]

 5. The Unforgettable Fire
 A Sort Of Homecoming \ Pride (In The Name Of Love) \ Wire \The Unforgettable
Fire \ Promenade {LP&Tape} 4th Of July \ Bad \ Indian Summer Sky \ Elvis Presley
And America \ MLK
 [Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois \ September 1984]

 6. Wide Awake In America [mini-album]
 Bad (live) \ A Sort Of Homecoming (live) {LP}\The Three Sunrises \ Love Comes
Tumbling
[U2 except A Sort Of Homecoming produced by Tony Visconti \ May 1985]

 7. The Joshua Tree
  Where The Streets Have No Name \I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For \
With Or Without You \Bullet The Blue Sky \ Running To Stand Still {LP&Tape}\Red
Hill Mining Town \ In God's Country \ Trip Through Your Wires \One Tree Hill \
Exit \ Mothers Of The Disappeared
[Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno \ March 1987]

 8. Rattle And Hum
 *Helter Skelter \ Van Diemen's Land \ Desire \ Hawkmoon 269 {LP}\ *All Along
The Watchtower \ *I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For \ =*Freedom For My
People \ *Silver And Gold \ *Pride (In The Name Of Love){LP&Tape}\ Angel Of
Harlem \ Love Rescue Me \ When Love Comes To Town \ Heartland \LP\ God Part II \
==*The Star Spangled Banner \      *Bullet The Blue Sky \ All I Want Is You
[Jimmy Iovine \ October 11, 1988]
[*live][The 1st 30 sec. (approx.) of guitar on Watchtower is NOT live.]
[=*performed by Sterling Magee and Adam Gussow]
[==*recording of Jimi Hendrix]

 9. Achtung Baby
      Zoo Station \ Even Better Than The Real Thing \ One \Until The End Of The
World \Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses \So Cruel {LP&Tape}\ The Fly \
Mysterious Ways \ Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World \ Ultra Violet
(Light My Way) \ Acrobat \ Love is Blindness
[Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois]

10. Zooropa
      Zooropa \ Babyface \ Numb \ Lemon \ Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
{LP&tape}\Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car \ Some Days Are Better Than
Others \ The First Time \ Dirty Day \     The Wanderer
[Flood, Brian Eno, & The Edge]
[July 5, 1993 \ Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Europe]
[July 6, 1993 \ US, Canada]

[CL] Incidentally, the first U2 release was U2:3, an Irish-only EP which had Out
Of Control,
Stories For Boys, and Boy/Girl. The first two songs were later redone and put on
the Boy album.


  4.2  Solo projects/collaborations.

Under Construction.

   4.2.1  Solo 

Captive
[Edge wrote and performed the entire album, with Sinead O'Connor and Michael
Brook] [1986]


  4.2.2 Collaborations

[MJS] Special thanks to Pleeker for alerting me to this list, compiled by:
ULISSE PEROTTA
[UP] 
Jah Wobble, The Edge, Holger Czukay
LP:SnakeCharmer(Island,Apr83)
Notes: Edge plays the guitar on the tracks "Snake Charmer", and "Hold On To Your
Love". The latter was also written by the Man himself!

Band Aid
7'/12': Do They Know It's Christmas (Mercury, Dec 84)
Notes: With Bono and Adam, among the huge number stars who recorded this to
raise money for Ethiopia.

Artists United Against Apartheid
7'/12': SunCity (EMI, Nov 85)
Notes: Bono sings on the track "Sun City" and also plays "Silver & Gold"
(written by himself), together with Keith Richards and Ron Wood.

Clannad
LP: Macalla (RCA, Nov 85)
Notes: Bono sings with Maire O'Brennan on the track "In A Lifetime". It also
came out as a single.

T-Bone Burnett
LP: Behind The Trap Door (Demon, Nov 85)
Notes: Bono co-writer of the track "Having A Wonderful Time"

Paul Brady
LP: Back To The Centre (MCA, Apr 86)
Notes: Larry plays the drums on the track "Airwaves"

The Edge
3LP: Captive (Virgin, Sep 86)
Notes: Original soundtrack, written by The Edge, with Michael Brook.
The track "Heroine" is sung by Sinead O'Connor. On the same track, Larry plays
the drums. It also came out as a single (7'/12')

Christy Moore
7': Let's Make It Work (??? 1986)
Notes: Larry plays the drums.

Robbie Robertson
LP: Robbie Robertson (Geffen 1987)
Notes: U2 plays "Sweet Fire Of Love" and "Testimony"

Various Artists
LP: A Very Special Christmas (A&M, Oct 87)
Notes: Charity record. U2 plays the song "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home", by
Phil Spector.

 T-Bone Burnett
LP: Talking Animals (CBS, May 88)
Notes: Bono is the co-writer of the song "Purple Heart".

Folkways
LP: A Vision Shared (CBS, Oct 88)
Notes: A tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. U2 plays "Jesus Christ", by
Woody Guthrie.

Roy Orbison
LP: Mistery Girl (Virgun, Jan 89)
Notes: Bono writes "She's A Mistery To Me" and produces it with The Edge. Also
as a single (7'/12')

Melissa Ethridge
5LP: Brave & Crazy (Island, Oct 89)
Notes: Bono plays the harmonica on the track "Royal Station".

Daniel Lanois
LP: Acadie (Opal, 1989)
Notes: Larry and Adam play on the tracks "Still Water" and "Jolie Louise". Bono
sings background on "Still Water."

Neville Brothers
LP: Brother's Keeper (A&M, 1990)
Notes: Bono and Cyril Neville are co-writers of the song "Jah Love".

Various Artists
LP: Red Hot & Blue (EMI 1991)
Notes: A tribute to Cole Porter, to raise money for the AIDS research. U2 plays
"Night And Day":

Bono, Gavin Friday, Maurice Seezer
CD: In The Name Of The Father (Island 1994)
Notes: Original movie soundtrack. There's also a CD-single with the title track,
with guest vocalist Sinead O'Connor.

[MJS]
Flyer - Nancy Griffith
Adam and Larry played on 4 tracks - These Days in an Open Book,Don't forget
about Me (also remixed by Larry); On Grafton Street (also remixed by Larry);
This Heart (also remixed by Larry).

[PG]  Larry contributed to 'Put 'em under pressure' by the Irish National Soccer
Team, for the world championships in Italy, 1990.  


  4.2.3  Soundtracks

Movie; song; date
1. They Call It an Accident - October  [1982]

2. The Last American Virgin - I Will Follow [1982]

3. The Courier - Walk to the Water [1987]

4. Until the End of the World - Until the End of the World [1990]

5. Faraway, So Close - Stay (Faraway, So Close) and The Wanderer [1993]

6. Reality Bites - All I Want Is You [1993]

7. Pret-a-Porter - Lemon Remix [1994]

8. Threesome - Dancing Barefoot [1994]

9. Blown Away - 

10. Johnny Mnemonic - Alex Descends Into Hell [1995]

11. Batman Forever - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me [1995]




