Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story

by Bono

We were in London only because Paul had said we weren’t ready for him to bring our music here, and we decided we’d do it ourselves. So, now that the Holy Spirit had found me and Ali our lodgings, all I had to do was to generate some critical acclaim. And get signed. And find a cool producer. And I had seven days. I headed to the West End and the first-floor offices of Record Mirror near Shaftesbury Avenue. I bluffed that I had an appointment. Me: “I’ve come to meet Chris Westwood.” Receptionist: “Oh yeah, hold on a second.” I couldn’t quite believe it when Chris Westwood, one of the writers whose stories we read every week, came out to reception. This was more straightforward than I’d anticipated. Me: “Chris, I loved your ‘In Search of the Cure’ piece. This is our demo tape; we’re called U2.” Chris: “Oh, great, thanks very much.” Me: “I’ll be back in an hour then.” Chris, looking confused: “An hour?” Me: “Yeah, we’re from Dublin and only here for a few days so I just need to know what you think. If that’s okay?” Chris, uncertainly: “Er…sure.” — I pulled off the same stunt with Dave McCullough, a well-known writer at Sounds, a more punk indie weekly. We’d been introduced to Dave through Philip Chevron, Steve Averill’s foil in The Radiators from Space, who’d recorded Ghostown, one of the best-ever Irish albums. My luck ran out at the NME, which was a shame because there were a few writers there who I so enjoyed reading.