Ongoing History daily: Teaching U2

All kinds of university courses focus on some pretty specific things when it comes to music. Nebraska Wesleyan University in Omaha offered a course devoted entirely to the study of U2.

First-year students had to spend several months listening to music, watching concerts and documentaries, and reading critical scholarship about the band, and then write a paper on which 10 songs, albums, people, and/or events best reflect the music and meaning of U2. This sounds a bit weird at first, but when you think about it, it makes sense. The course emphasizes things like activism, environmental causes and cultural influences, all of which can be discussed in the context of U2 in a very scholarly way.  Think about it: Live Aid, the Irish Troubles, the logistics of the 360 Tour, Christianity.

Some of the papers have been fascinating, certainly good enough to explain to parents why their tuition went to taking a class on U2.