Has success spoiled U2 -- and do they need defending?

 

Those are kind of funny questions to be asking 35 years into an amazingly successful career, but an article posted Sunday at Salon.com examines why the biggest band of the modern rock era has become such a lightning rod for criticism. Titled Leave U2 Alone: Why Did One of Our Best Rock Bands Become So Loathed?, the piece lays out some reasons why the group seems to be surrounded by a "thicket of negativity."

 

Writer Annie Zaleski contends that "once musicians reach a certain level of fame, it’s open season on everything from their background to their intentions to their (perceived) overexposure." Their hugeness leads to them seeming "out-of-reach and untouchable," which in turn makes them "particularly vulnerable to scrutiny." She points out how Bono, in particular, can come across as both arrogant -- as with his defense of the band's forced download of Songs of Innocence on iTunes -- and humble, as when he self-deprecatingly described his recent bicycle accident.

 

She concludes that while U2 are very serious about their "music, politics and charity," they "often aren’t taking themselves very seriously." That, she says, is what has helped them survive as long as they have, and may enable them to get past what seems like a never-ending stream of hostility.

 

NEW ORDER: Killer(s) Guests on Album

 

New Order have announced a couple of killer guests on their upcoming album, Music Complete.

Brandon Flowers of The Killers, who took their name from the New Order track "Crystal," sings on the album's closer, "Superheated." And Iggy Pop appears on a track called "Stray Dog."

Music Complete, New Order's first full-length album in a decade, will be out on September 25th.

 

GRATEFUL DEAD: Big Bucks for Charity

 

Not only did The Grateful Dead bring their 50-year career to an end on Sunday at Soldier Field in Chicago, they also helped raise more than half-a-million dollars for HeadCount, a non-profit that "works with musicians to promote participation in democracy."

The four core members -- Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart -- along with their support staff of Bruce Hornsby, Trey Anastasio and Jeff Chimenti, signed a guitar that was auctioned for $526,000 on Sunday. Weir played the guitar during the June 28th Fare Thee Well show in Santa Clara, California.

 

In addition to the signatures, the guitar also features the words "Fare Thee Well" and the band's skull logo on the back.

 

YOKO ONO: Outrage at "Jihadi John"

 

Yoko Ono is outraged that a key ISIS terrorist took his nom-de-guerre from her late husband. She says that Mohammed Emwazi's calling himself "Jihadi John" is "very distasteful" and runs against everything that she and John Lennon believed in.

 

Long known as a commited pacifist -- as was her late husband, as symbolized by their song "Give Peace a Chance" -- Ono adds, "I’m not going to let them destroy John Lennon or The Beatles... I don’t like to use the word optimistic because that sounds like it’s not really true, but I think we’re actually on the road to world peace."

 

Emwazi, who lived in London for nearly 20 years, is believed to have beheaded at least five hostages, including American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

 

IN OTHER NEWS

 

Courtney Barnett will open up Blur's concerts at the Hollywood Bowl on October 20th and at New York's Madison Square Garden on October 23rd.

 

Jake Bugg has been working on his third album with Mike D of Beastie Boys.

 

Keane singer Tom Chapin has posted a new solo demo called "Love Wins" on his SoundCloud page. He says it was inspired by "a song title submitted by a fan and inspired by the good news of things changing in America."