generally I dont subscribe to U2.

I dont believe politics has much of a place in music,
but more than that,
Musicians shouldn't have a place in politics.
above that,
Anyone who thinks that they can change the world should be committed.
furthermore,
He ... ney, They.... just seem like a bunch of self appriciating knobs.
Put Porcupine Tree back on. :)

Politics has been an integral part of music for as long as we have recorded our music in one from or another.
Music has been used as propaganda to emotionally charge those who were going into battle and those supporting
either side.The Native American's song and dance preformed prior to their war parties is alive today, as is the music
and dance of African nations where drums, dance, musical instruments, and song implored the warrior to superhuman feats.
Because this music has been passed down for thousands of years we know that music has been integral to activities such as
warding off evil spirits,victory over ones enemies. Humans are political animals and politics seems to bring out the music
in the human.Perhaps the most famous voices of protest at the time of the Civil War, at least in America, were the Hutchinson Family Singers . From 1839, the Hutchinson Family Singers became well known for their songs supporting abolition .A topical parlor song that is arguably a precursor of environmental movement is an 1837 musical setting of "Woodman, Spare That Tree!"

For some of us the music of the 60's during the war in Vet Nam will never be forgotten and the artists like Dylan,Hendrix, CS&N Young, the Eagles, CCR, The Fish (What's that spell ?) and the list goes on and on. Politics have always given people a reason to sing out in support, protest, sadness and joy, and I believe this will always be the case.

I dont believe politics has much of a place in music

... U2 didn't seem to figure out how to write comparatively atrocious material until much later in their career.

You grossly exaggerate the number of covers the Beatles recorded on their first six albums. Of the 14 songs on Please Please Me, six were covers. The same ratio holds for With the Beatles and Beatles for Sale. All songs on Hard Days Night were credited to the Beatles, as were all but two of the tracks on Help.

So, in fact, of the 69 songs on their first six albums, one of the Beatles wrote 49, or 70%.

I think the band's early years of touring in Hamburg contributed a lot to their prolific output in the early part of their career. They arrived at EMI studios tight, rehearsed and ready to record.

This is from the Wikipedia article on Please Please Me:
Therefore, at 10:00 am on Monday, 11 February 1963 at EMI Studios (whose name was later changed to Abbey Road Studios), The Beatles and George Martin started recording what was essentially their live act in 1963, and finished 585 minutes later (9 hours and 45 minutes).<3> In three sessions that day (each lasting approximately three hours) they produced an authentic representation of the band's Cavern Club-era sound, as there were very few overdubs and edits.

Keep in mind, also, that recording was much more like a live performance in those days. It wasn't until multi-track recorders came in to use that "records" became artistic ventures in their own right, rather than documents of the artists' live performances. The Beatles (and the Beach Boys, and Hendrix etc ...) pioneered many of the studio techniques that later expanded the artistic horizons of artists like U2, while at the same time limiting their output.

None of the things he 'secured' at Gleneagles and elsewhere, together with fellow hobnobbers like Bob "give us yer fockin' money" Geldof, have come to pass. The politicians basked in the 'cool' presence of St Bonio et al, made some vague promises, then went back on them. St Bonio's impact on world politics has pretty much been to add 'cool cred' to statesmen in suits. U2 can be a half-decent band, but I do wish they'd stuck to music, as St Bonio's grander ambitions have done little other than stroke his own ego. Oh, and I certainly haven't forgiven the band for its tax evasion/avoidance (a distinction for m'learned friends to make) in its native Ireland. They earn 00s of millions of Euros yet do their damnedest to keep a cent from going into the Republic's tax coffers, money which could be of direct benefit to the people of their country.