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Author Topic: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??  (Read 1464 times)

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Offline onoB27

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #15 on: March 21, 2012, 07:08:23 AM »
Quote from: Spilling Over the Brim on March 18, 2012, 04:04:40 PM
A Nintendo Game Boy?! Are you serious?! That would indeed be a bizarre twist. Can you confirm this?

The only thing I can think of is that gameboy came out in 1989 and 1990 in Europe, when U2 was recording AB. ZooTV was all about technology/multimedia. At the time, GameBoy was just that. I could just see a 30 year old Bono astounded at this portable tetris player.
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Offline satellitedog01

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #16 on: March 21, 2012, 09:29:04 AM »
Quote from: skelter on March 20, 2012, 05:11:49 PM
That's sweet. All I know is that Bono looked really cool and pretty hot in that get-up/ego, y'know. Very svelte and kinda atheletic. Sporadic moments of Bono being conventionally hot... before POPMart 8)

Wow, I think he never looked less athletic to be honest :-) Well maybe after the back surgery.
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Offline DTH

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #17 on: March 21, 2012, 09:33:43 PM »
The Heads Up Display graphics you see through the camera lens during "Bullet" are meant to remind you of the ones which were seen on a daily basis during the Gulf War, when Coalition forces would release footage from combat aircraft.  This was a HUGE thing at th time, as it was the first conflict where "smart bombs" were widely used, and the first where combat footage was live or nearly live  on our television screens. Bono cited this as a major inspiration for ZooTV, especially a quote he heard from a pilot saying that the footage was very "realistic" (as opposed to real). This stuff is very run of the mill now, but it was new and fascinating at the time.  I guess the curse of being ahead of your time is that if you are right, future generations will look at what you are doing as completely humdrum. 
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Offline kokedera

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #18 on: March 21, 2012, 11:04:01 PM »
Give Matt a kick, he should be able to help you. And, if he doesn't, remember, like many things, it has many sources, the most obvious visually being, yes, Platoon (the arms up pose), and the choppers & smoke pots & drugs (this being one of the many anti-heroin songs) in Apocalypse Now (don't miss the Clash moment with Charlie Don't Surf).

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Offline Velvet Dress

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #19 on: March 23, 2012, 12:39:21 AM »
I can't help thinking of the Nintendo as being somehow related to Edge's "You always remember your first kill" monologue on the Bullet the Blue Sky Outside Broadcast.   The Gulf War as a game of virtual reality?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EGILAkIA1c

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Quote from: DTH on March 21, 2012, 09:33:43 PM
The Heads Up Display graphics you see through the camera lens during "Bullet" are meant to remind you of the ones which were seen on a daily basis during the Gulf War, when Coalition forces would release footage from combat aircraft.  This was a HUGE thing at th time, as it was the first conflict where "smart bombs" were widely used, and the first where combat footage was live or nearly live  on our television screens. Bono cited this as a major inspiration for ZooTV, especially a quote he heard from a pilot saying that the footage was very "realistic" (as opposed to real). This stuff is very run of the mill now, but it was new and fascinating at the time.  I guess the curse of being ahead of your time is that if you are right, future generations will look at what you are doing as completely humdrum. 

hadn't noticed that DTH brought up this point too    :)
« Last Edit: March 23, 2012, 12:41:30 AM by Velvet Dress »
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Offline yellowhat

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #20 on: March 23, 2012, 11:53:00 AM »
Bono was giving homage to Jerry Mele,the head of the security. The fog and red/orange light was symbolizing the Vietnam war..Jerry did'nt know that until somebody told him.He was moved to tears.
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Offline Starman

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #21 on: March 25, 2012, 06:46:24 AM »
That Game Boy is a weird but awesome idea

Quote from: DGordon1 on March 18, 2012, 05:32:48 PM
I think he's been watching Terminator 2 a lot. Unless that was after ZooTV, in which case my argument carries zero weight.

Lol that would explain it (T2 was out in '91)
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Offline @lmighty DS

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #22 on: March 25, 2012, 09:57:11 AM »
Quote from: Starman! on March 25, 2012, 06:46:24 AM
That Game Boy is a weird but awesome idea

be more awesome if he had brought it back for 360
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Offline Kurukira

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #23 on: March 25, 2012, 10:27:42 AM »
Quote from: DesertSky on March 25, 2012, 09:57:11 AM
Quote from: Starman! on March 25, 2012, 06:46:24 AM
That Game Boy is a weird but awesome idea

be more awesome if he had brought it back for 360

Yeah, but the Vertigo kids wouldn't recognize it so he'd have to use a DS instead ^_^
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Offline skelter

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #24 on: March 25, 2012, 10:48:10 AM »
Or a Wii Fit?  ;D (edit to add: for the Ultraviolet segment)

The '91 ZooTV Gameboy wasn't Gameboy Color, right? It was its predecessor?
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Offline @lmighty DS

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #25 on: March 25, 2012, 10:51:39 AM »
Quote from: skelter on March 25, 2012, 10:48:10 AM
Or a Wii Fit?  ;D (edit to add: for the Ultraviolet segment)

The '91 ZooTV Gameboy wasn't Gameboy Color, right? It was its predecessor?

i think the 91 was the yellow/black one
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Offline satellitedog01

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #26 on: March 25, 2012, 01:37:16 PM »
It didn't even have a backlight :-/
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The Grave

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #27 on: March 31, 2012, 09:04:13 PM »
it's too late to be spammed.

that Gameboy this is so funny  :D I wonder if Macphisto was playing it while waiting in his dressing room
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Offline satellitedog01

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #28 on: April 01, 2012, 02:39:05 AM »
He had a gold one, I would imagine.
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Offline Velvet Dress

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Re: What Was The Meaning Behind Bono's "Helicopter Pilot" Persona during Zoo TV??
« Reply #29 on: April 01, 2012, 04:11:41 AM »
No, it was only gold-plated.
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