Myth, Fan Culture, and the Popular Appeal of Liminality in the Music of U2: A Love Story

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U2s ongoing popular appeal is constructed in the spaces between band and fan, commercialism and community, spirituality and nihilism; finding meaning in a surface-oriented popular culture and contradiction in the depths of political and faith-based institutions. The bands long-term success and continued relevance is a result of their ability to hold these energies in tension without one subsuming the otherto live in the liminal space that such contradictions invite. U2s mythic trajectory was born from a bygone electronic era, realized in our current digital era but with an eye on the forthcoming virtual era; it is a new myth for the whole world, found in the most unlikely of places, popular culture. This book approaches the bands mythic trajectory through a combination of rhetorical analysis and autoethnographic explorations that unveil the more personal experiences most of us have with media. Drawing heavily upon the works of Marshal McLuhan, Joseph Campbell, Thomas S. Frentz, and Janice Hocker Rushing, Myth, Fan Culture, and the Popular Appeal of Liminality in the Music of U2 unpacks U2s popular appeal through the lenses of Agape (spiritual, communal love), Amor (romantic love), and Eros (erotic love).

Reviews

Reading Brian Johnston and Susan Mackey-Kalliss Myth, Fan Culture, and the Popular Appeal of Liminality in the Music of U2: A Love Story is an uplifting experience. Building on work in fan culture studies, Johnston and Mackey-Kallis offer a compelling account of U2s musical biography while intertwining autoethnographic insights drawn from their experiences as long-time fans of the band. The result is a powerful love story, both of fans love for the artists who move them and of a band whose entire musical career has illustrated the inseparable and liminal nature of three types of love (eros, agape, and amor). Together, the authors vividly illustrate how U2 and its fans travel together on a quest for unity and social justice in the world. -- Roger C. Aden, Ohio University
Johnston and Mackey-Kallisdeliver an original, compelling, and intimate analysis of U2 across the lastfour decades. An essential book for scholarsof music, mythology, politics, andpopular culture. -- Tony Adams, Bradley University
Johnston and Mackey-KallisMyth, Fan Culture, and the Popular Appeal of Liminality in the Music of U2: A Love Storyis much more than an academic study of the super-band U2 and its fan community. It is a deeply moving meditation on the complex character of love one that deftly draws critical inspiration from psychoanalysis, medium theory, and media erotics to illuminate the ways that the music, at its best, stirs the soul, creates community, and calls on all of us to realize our better natures. Full of passion, pleasure, and insight,U2: A Love Storyinvites readers to fall in love with a band that has left an indelible mark on both rock music and its fans. -- Brian L. Ott, Texas Tech University

Author Bio

Brian Johnston is visiting assistant professor in the Department of Media, Journalism and Film at Miami University. Susan Mackey-Kallis is associate professor in the Department of Communication at Villanova University.