Larry Mullen, Jr.

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Tony Blair is a war criminal, and I think he should be tried as a war criminal. Then I see Bono and him as pals, and I'm going, 'I don't like that.' Do I think George Bush is a war criminal? Probably - but the difference between him and Tony Blair is that Blair is intelligent. So, he has no excuse.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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Companies like Spotify, the new Apple service, and all the others are really going to have to pay artists more. And I think it's a matter of time; I think a lot of these companies and the individuals that are involved in them realize that as well. They know that artists are not getting what they should be getting.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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When you're in the music business, everything is very personal, because you are invested in everything; there's a very deep, personal attachment to your music.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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In the music world, ageism is a big issue. It's about youth and youth culture. There's no other art form that I know that requires you to be a certain age.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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It's a tough life being a pop star. You know, at the end of the day when you've paid all the bills and put the kids through college and that, you know, there's only enough left for a small island off the South Pacific.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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I joined a band to hit things.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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I don't know what I'm qualified to do, film-wise... So it's really down to a director or a casting director to find something that they think I could do.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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I've always had an interest in doing something that was outside my comfort zone; I had this thing about standing on the edge of the cliff and deciding to jump.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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I have had an amazing career for a man who hits things for a living.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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I was in Cannes two years ago at our 'U23D' movie premiere. I love the French.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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I'm not a violent person, but I've got a hard core streak and have a reputation about living dangerously.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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The big issue with rock stars becoming actors is that sometimes it's not believable, and vice versa with actors becoming rock stars. Sometimes just doesn't fit.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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Relevance, for me, is about being creative and doing things that you believe in, whether that's music or acting or painting a picture, or whatever that is.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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I will never be a career actor, I don't think. I don't feel that I have the skill set to jump into it that way, although I wouldn't mind giving it a try.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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We need to be creative, on the cutting edge, challenged, and it's really hard going. It's relentless, and we're relentless, and we have a history of breaking engineers, producers. I mean, people come out of working with U2 and just go, 'I just don't know what's happened; it feels like a lifetime has passed by.' And that's just the way we work.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
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I think I look cool. I don't know about the other three but I look cool, I am cool.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Thinking
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If Bono left, we could carry on. If I left, we'd be screwed.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Left
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Then Bono arrived, and he meant to play the guitar, but he couldn't play very well, so he started to sing. He couldn't do that either. But he was such a charismatic character that he was in the band anyway, as soon as he arrived. I was in charge for the first five minutes, but as soon as Bono got there, I was out of a job.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Jobs
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It doesn't matter what songs we sing. I'm a drummer. Chicks dig me.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Song
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We all have views on what our Irishness means to us. Two members of the band were born in England and were raised in the Protestant faith. Bono's mother was Protestant and his father was Catholic. I was brought up Catholic. U2 are a living example of the kind of unity of faith and tradition that is possible in Northern Ireland.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Mother
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People say, 'Why don't you do interviews? What do you think about this? What do you think about that?' My job in the band is to play drums, to get up on stage and hold the band together. That's what I do. At the end of the day that's all that's important. Everything else is irrelevant.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Jobs
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I don't think anybody could imagine the life that I've been lucky enough to have. It's been an incredible journey.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Thinking
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I love the Elvis movies. I used to watch them. In every single one of his movies he wasn't acting as a car salesman - he was acting as a car salesman who loved to play guitar.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Guitar
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The longer you've been acting, normally, the better you are at it. As a musician, it doesn't work like that.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Acting
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Relevance is a big, big question. It's more about what's your definition of being relevant. In the music world, agism is a big issue. It's about youth and youth culture. There's no other art form that I know that requires you to be a certain age.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Art
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There's a thin line between interesting music and self-indulgence. We crossed it on the Passengers record.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Self
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The only thing I wouldn't like to do is to play roles as a musician. I'm not sure that I would be comfortable doing that, and I'm not sure I'd be very good at it. I think I would be better served, and would be a better partner, if I was in something outside of myself.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Thinking
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Unfortunately, as far as the music is concerned, what defines relevance is whether you are on the radio or whether you are on the cover of a magazine or whether you're winning MTV awards, and so on and so forth.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Winning
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And if I had to spend 20 years in the band just to play that show, I think it would have been worthwhile.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Thinking
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I've often thought that it would be great to do some acting because nobody would think that I would be able to do it and it scares the living hell out of me.
- Larry Mullen, Jr.
Collection: Thinking