CHAPTER 5

New Beginnings

Bono’s faith and his relationship with God had always been very important to him. When he was onstage playing to an audience, he felt closest to God. Music was his way of sharing his faith. In the song “Gloria,” he sang, “Oh Lord, if I had anything, anything at all, I’d give it to you.” The song was a prayer asking God to sing through him.

But why did some religious people—like the Shalom prayer group—think that rock and roll couldn’t exist alongside a true love of God? Music was like prayer to the Edge as well. It seemed so wrong to both him and Bono that they should have to make such a choice.

Eventually, both Bono and the Edge chose U2. Bono stayed friends with many of the people in Shalom, but he had to follow his own heart.

The new album, October, was released in October 1981. U2 went back on tour in Europe and the United States to promote it. At that time, something new and exciting was emerging within the music industry: the cable television channel called MTV.

U2’s video for the song “Gloria” was one of the earliest videos to be played on the new station. People in the United States were starting to get to know U2.

MTV (Music Television)

MTV started broadcasting on August 1, 1981. The channel played music videos twenty-four hours a day with breaks only for commercials and news. Its target audience was teenagers and young adults.

MTV quickly became an important force in music, first in the United States and then worldwide. A popular video could make a band, a singer, or a song famous overnight. Very quickly, the fashion industry, movies, and other television networks all looked to MTV and music videos for inspiration, trends, and hot topics.

On August 21, 1982, Bono and Ali got married just outside of Dublin. Bono had asked Adam to be his best man. At the wedding reception, Bono’s older brother, Norman, put him on his shoulders and carried him around the room while everyone, including Bono’s father, cheered. Bono and Ali had been dating for five years. She knew what it would be like having a husband in a rock band who was often on tour. She was busy studying political science at University College Dublin.

Bono and Ali traveled to Jamaica for their honeymoon. When they returned home, Ali went back to school and Bono went back on tour with the band.