Clutch: Army of Bono Meaning

Army of Bono Lyrics

Hold the presses Mikey! Hot news on the wire!
Hundreds see an image of a Guinness drinking choir.
Celebrities and cameras are headed to the scene
While presidents are fleeing to their speeding limousines.

Don't worry, it's just...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Mar 31st 2008 !⃝

   "Hold the presses Mikey! Hot news on the wire!
   Hundreds see an image of a Guinness drinking choir.
   Celebrities and cameras are headed to the scene
   While presidents are fleeing to their speeding limousines."
   
   When there's a major news event, people now seem to look to celebrities for solutions (charity events etc) and opinions; in this instance the 'guinness drinking choir'boy Bono. Politicians are conspicuous by their absence or lack of action in the face of disasters in comparison. When the president should have been making his prescence felt after the hurricane in the US, instead you saw Kanye West. In the UK we had a celebrity chef making an issue of child obesity, rather than the prime minister.
   
   "Don't worry, it's just stigmata.
   Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother."
   
   Celebrity culture has also replaced religion (linking to 'choir' earlier) - Bono has been portrayed as a christ like figure. This might be a comment on his implied arrogance or on his deification by media and public.
   
   "Your local programming interrupted
   by the mindless banter of a soulless talking head.
   Roll out the red carpet, dripping bloody tongue.
   Pay no mind to blue berets and all their shiny guns."
   
   Celebrity is a distraction from the real issues at hand - the blue berets with the guns. Celebrity talking head peices (i.e. The clicking fingers ads) represent an outporing of their opinion, and an excuse for people to get behind them with regard to a specific problem and not to think for themselves what deserves their attention as in...
   
   "Who you gonna call when the man brings his hammer down?
   Goose stepping with a smoking Irish fly."
   
   "goose stepping" with Bono's alter ego 'the fly' - following celebrity blindly, oblivious to 'the man' i.e. Some higher power (government, god?) who has more real power than the celebrities. That or the celebrities may replace 'the man' as figures of political power, despite their only qualification being fame.
   
   "And when our world is over, children by the fire
   Raise their hands and pray that they may see a new Messiah.
   And somewhere in the darkness a flag goes running by.
   The smell of cigarettes and love are incense for the fly."
   
   The world is being shaped by rock stars etc who's ideology of 'ciggarettes and love' isn't practical; we'll all end up as tribes sat around fires again.
   
   just my guesses. cheers
2. anonymous

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   Nov 10th 2014 !⃝

   its about the end of America ...
   
   the blue berets are the UN troops who will be sent in like goose stepping Nazi troops to implement the new world order as the man brings his hammer down ...
   
   but people don't worry .. just keep you eyes on the television and on your phones
   
   the celebrity news teams will be there with their cameras to keep you entertained ...
   
   Your Local Programming Interrupted
   By The Mindless Banter Of A Soulless Talking Head.Roll Out The Red Carpet, Dripping Bloody Tongue.Pay No Mind To Blue Berets And All Their Shiny Guns.
3. anonymous

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   Sep 13th 2007 !⃝

   It sounds like it's saying something about how the media or the government distracts people about the issues they should be concerned about, with garbage like Paris Hilton going to jail. meanwhile there's a WAR going on, and people's families are being torn apart. yet the big headlines are Anna Nicole smith. People are more interested in the glittery stuff. "Roll out the red carpet, dripping bloody tongue. Pay no mind to blue berets and all their shiny guns."
   this part: "And when our world is over, children by the fire Raise their hands and pray that they may see a new Messiah" I think it's saying that people are expecting the children of Baghdad to embrace the US after their city and their culture has been destroyed, which is absurd, and a complete insult.
4. anonymous

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   Jun 10th 2007 !⃝

   It seems to be a comment on the political ramblings of Irish "supergroup" U2's singer, who's called Bono...ironically........erm
5. anonymous

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   May 23rd 2007 !⃝

   "Your local programming interrupted by the mindless banter of a soulless talking head"
   
   Perhaps it simply represents TV news casters or the like.
6. anonymous

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   May 17th 2007 !⃝

   It's simply a take on the modern day reaction to a mythological miracle. Someone descending from above, a god assuming a human form, whatever. Idiotic "experts" cutting in with breaking news, military units surrounding the area, celebrities trying to get screen time with whatever it is to increase their status.
7. anonymous

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   Feb 14th 2007 !⃝

   The first two lines of the 2nd verse state:
   
   Your local programming interrupted
   by the mindless banter of a soulless talking head.
   
   
   I think I've figured out what this means. On November 22nd, 1987, WGN and PBS were hacked by an unknown TV pirate wearing a mask of Max Headroom, a TV character from the mid-80's. If anybody knows anything about Max Headroom you'd know how well "mindless banter of a soulless talking head" fits.
   
   Here is a website which describes the entire event and has a transcription of the footage as well.
   http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=776
   
   And here is a link to a YouTube video of the actual footage.
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnDYssFcNxc
   And news footage of what happened.
   http://www.youtube.com/watchv=h5mzkt4N77s&mode=related&search=
   
   And for anybody that doesn't know who Max Headroom is, here is yet another website that describes him and the show.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_%28character%29
   
   As you can tell, I've put a lot of time into this because I am almost 100% confident that this is what they're referencing to...what it has to do with the song, I have no idea, but that's not to much of a surprise for Clutch.

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