ABSTRACT
Pop stars have featured prominently in campaigns about nuclear weapons, civil, gay and women's rights, famine and environmental issues. Protests against the war in Iraq are just one recent example of pop stars assuming the guise of political activists. The fact that musicians can perform as politicians is also a product of the way in which politics has been transformed. Most pop stars, most of the time, are not making political statements or gestures. The musician as politician might, therefore, be seen as the product of this larger trend. The study of popular music has paid woefully little attention to the business of creativity, but it has spent even less time on how it connects to political expression, to the link between creativity and conscience. Although Bono's political involvement may be unusual to the extent that he directly engages with political and other leaders, in other ways it is almost commonplace.
