KIND OF LIKE RADIOACTIVE WASTE, THEN

As if the dire predictions of the future awaiting our children, and our children's children, and Michael Jackson's children aren't bad enough, now Bono is predicting that his music will be around for 100 years. Admittedly, this is only one-tenth the time Adolf predicted his reich would last, but both seem to have been driven by a matching sense of certainty of history flowing their way:

A dedicated lobbyist for the world's poor and AIDS-stricken, the U2 frontman told CBS' "60 Minutes" that "I think my work - the activism - will be forgotten.

"And I hope it will. Because I hope those problems will have gone away," he said in an interview that aired Sunday.

Since 1999, Bono has helped persuade Republicans and Democrats, presidents and lawmakers, to provide millions to help end the scourge of AIDS, eliminate poverty in Africa and forgive Third World debt.

The Irish rocker also predicted that his music will still be around in 100 years, explaining that his songs occupy "an emotional terrain that didn't exist before our group did."

Sometimes, when we suggest that Bono has the kind of self-regard visible from space, people tell us we're being unfair. We kind of think our point might have been proven here. There's little you can say about this claim - that Bono has invented a whole new set of emotions for rock - apart from "bollocks." Even Sting had had a wander over that bombastic-but-introverted style of rock a good decade before Bono had bought his first pair of Snoopy Sunglasses.

And Bono said he has no intention of slowing down. He noted that people in rock 'n roll burn out at age 40, and said he wanted to see if his band could continue making "extraordinary" music.

Yes, people burn out at the age of 40, Bono. Paul McCartney being the exception. Along with The Rolling Stones. And Debbie Harry, Patti Smith, Mick Jones and Siouxsie. And...

music bono u2