How Bob Dylan inspired U2 to make ‘Rattle and Hum’
Every aspect of U2’s music has been indebted to the sounds of classic rock. Even though the band may have started in the vein of post-punk happening around the same time, their love of everyone from The Beatles to Joni Mitchell to Patti Smith comes out in every one of their songs from the moment Bono opens his mouth. Although the group may have been known to stretch their muscles now and again, it took Bob Dylan to give them the strength to reach outside their comfort zone.
Then again, U2 have lived off the concept of taking risks that no other band had thought of before. Even if some of their actions may have turned into colossal mistakes when they came to fruition, the band have always prided themselves on going against the usual formula for what a rock band is supposed to do, whether that’s with their charity work or their botched job at putting their music on everyone’s phone.
Before the band had even started, though, Dylan was known for twisting the standards of what a rock band was supposed to be. After being brought up in the local folk scene in New York, Dylan started to go beyond his Woody Guthrie dreams with albums like Bringing It All Back Home. Off the back of the rock revolution, Dylan was on the cusp of making songs that cut just as hard as the ‘British Invasion’ bands were doing around the same time.
Beyond the raw sound of his music, Dylan was also looking to toy with fans’ expectations of what he stood for. On the track ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, Dylan cast himself as the rebel rebelling against what he had created, wondering how all those looking on as part of the counterculture feel now that they have no direction.
As U2 found themselves at a similar crossroads in their career, they decided to broadcast their disillusionment in the live album/concert film. Going through their tour of America, the band are seen in a different light throughout every piece of the film, from being cagey about what their songs are about to holding the audience in the palm of their hands during performances of songs like ‘Pride’.
When discussing putting the movie together, though, Bono recalled Dylan giving them the incentive to put it out, telling Rolling Stone, “Dylan was responsible for Rattle and Hum because he’s the one who said that you have to understand the past, where the music comes from. He was talking to me about the McPeake family and The Clancy Brothers and then Hank Williams and Leadbelly, none of whom I knew”.
While the movie is primarily a concert film showing the band’s journey throughout America, it’s also a study of each and how they relate to American music. Despite being an open book about which artists have inspired them, many of the trademark moments in the film revolve around the bandmembers visiting different locations, including Larry Mullen Jr making a voyage down to Elvis Presley’s haunt, Graceland.
The band would even play tribute to Dylan midway through the film, ripping through a version of ‘All Along the Watchtower’, albeit with Bono changing a fair bit of the words to suit the moment. While U2 may have gotten ridiculed by fans and artists who see their music as pretentious, they have always been able to pay tribute to those who have come before them.
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