. Ok guys, this is my 6000th post. I'm now Mr. Macphisto. Thanks to Jeremy, Gerard, Dan, Ali, Sergio, Johnny, Remy, Harry, Rob, Nikki, Casper, and all the usual suspects. And now, time for a little info on Macphisto.........Originally posted by wikipediaMacPhisto
MacPhisto was created to parody the devil. Bono said of his creation, which was named after Mephistopheles of the Faust legend, "We came up with a sort of old English Devil, a pop star long past his prime returning regularly from sessions on The Strip in Vegas and regaling anyone who would listen to him at cocktail hour with stories from the good old, bad old days." MacPhisto wore a gold suit with gold platform shoes, wore pale make-up and lipstick, and wore devil's horns atop his head. The idea of the horns came from Gavin Friday, according to Bono. He spoke with an exaggerated upper-class English accent, not unlike that of a down-on-his-luck character actor. He would make telephone calls nightly, like the Mirror Ball Man, but the targets would change with the location of the concert. Bono enjoyed making these calls, saying, "When you’re dressed as the Devil, your conversation is immediately loaded, so if you tell somebody you really like what they’re doing, you know it’s not a compliment." The band intended for MacPhisto to add humor while making a point. Said The Edge, "That character was a great device for saying the opposite of what you meant. It made the point so easily and with real humor."
MacPhisto's speech at the Sydney 1993 concert exemplified the character:
“ My time among you is almost at an end... Before I go, I have some messages for the world. People of America, I gave you Bill Clinton—I put him on CNN, NBC, C-SPAN. Too tall to be a despot, but watch him closely. People of Asia, your time is coming—without your tiny transistors, none of this [gestures to Zoo TV stage set] would be possible. People of Europe—when I came among you, you were squabbling like children. Now you're all hooked up to one cable, as close together as stations on a dial. People of the former Soviet Union—I gave you capitalism, so now you can all dream of being as wealthy and glamorous as me.
People of Sarajevo, count your blessings... There are people all over the world who have food, heat and security, but they're not on TV like you are. Frank Sinatra, I give you the MTV demographic; Salman Rushdie, I give you decibels. Goodbye "Squidgy," I hope they give you Wales; goodbye Michael... Goodbye all you neo-nazis, I hope they give you Auschwitz.[14]
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This character would subsequently figure prominently in the 1995 music video for "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" from the soundtrack of the movie Batman Forever.
