They are very picky about where they allow their songs to go. U2 allowed us to use Street mission and it is an indication of their support for the film, said McCormick,who is still in contact with his old school friend Bono.

Street mission is included alongside the U2 classic I still havent found what Im looking for. The official soundtrack,released as an album by Sony Music,includes a previously unreleased track by The Hype,as U2 used to be called. I see Larrys kitchen and feel the intense nostalgia of a time of life that wasnt recorded. Those early scenes are very close to the truth of the life we lived, McCormick said. The difference between us and U2 was about 10 percent and that 10 percent was luck. U2 members have seen the film,and,while not vouching for its accuracy,a source close to the band said they enjoyed the comedy and its portrayal of the early days in 1970s Dublin.ĭrummer Larry Mullen founded the group when,as a teenager at school,he posted an advertisement for people to form a band,and Ivan McCormick took part in the first practice sessions in Mullens home. In fact,the book is really about how hard it is in the music business, he explained. ∻ack in the 1980s I counted all my chickens before they hatched and none of them actually hatched, he said.

He said he was less dogmatic than his character in the movie,but actor Ben Barnes,best known for his lead role in Narnia blockbuster Prince Caspian,did capture some key traits that contributed to his downfall as a musician. The beginning is quite similar to mine and then it launches into its own version in a kind of parallel universe.Īnother fictional twist in the film,directed by Nick Hamm,is how McCormick hid the fact that U2 had asked his bandmate and brother Ivan to join them as he was sure that his group Shook Up! would eventually eclipse its rivals. The script takes whatever liberties it wants from the book, said McCormick,rock critic of the Daily Telegraph. Unlike in the movie,for example,McCormick never pulled a gun on his school friend and nemesis Bono,even if much of his youth was consumed with an unhealthy obsession for U2s staggering success and his own failure as a singer.

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