Welcome to our collection of quotes by Larry Mullen, Jr. . We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Larry Mullen, Jr.
Lawrence Joseph Mullen Jr. (born 31 October 1961) is an Irish musician and actor, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band U2. Mullen's distinctive, almost military drumming style developed from his playing martial beats in childhood marching bands. Some of his most notable contributions to the U2 catalogue include "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Pride (In the Name of Love)", "Where the Streets Have No Name", "Zoo Station," "Mysterious Ways", and "City of Blinding Lights".
Mullen was born in Dublin, where he attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School, where he co-founded U2 in 1976 after posting a message on the school's notice board. A member of the band since its inception, he has recorded 14 studio albums with U2. Mullen has worked on numerous side projects during his career. In 1990, he produced the Ireland national football team's song "Put 'Em Under Pressure" for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. In 1996, he worked with U2 bandmate Adam Clayton on a dance re-recording of the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". Mullen has sporadically acted in films, most notably in Man on the Train (2011) and A Thousand Times Good Night (2013).
As a member of U2, he has been involved in philanthropic causes throughout his career, including Amnesty International. Mullen has received 22 Grammy Awards and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2016, Rolling Stone ranked Mullen the 96th-greatest drummer of all time.
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.
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.
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.
There's a thin line between interesting music and self-indulgence. We crossed it on the Passengers record.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I'm not a violent person, but I've got a hard core streak and have a reputation about living dangerously.
I was in Cannes two years ago at our 'U23D' movie premiere. I love the French.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
