Bono has been the face of the Irish rock band U2 for close to five decades. Since 1976, they’ve released 14 studio albums and performed hundreds of live concerts, and have sold millions of records worldwide. It’s not an exaggeration to call the band one of the most influential artists of all time.
It’s the kind of lifelong success that most recording artists can only dream of, but during a recent interview, lead vocalist Bono made some disparaging remarks about his band, dissing everything from the group’s name to specific songs they’ve put out.
The 61-year-old rocker, whose real name is Paul David Hewson, shared his true feelings during an episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s “Awards Chatter” podcast along with fellow bandmate the Edge.
Bono claimed he was never fully supportive of the band’s name. He credited U2’s first manager, Paul McGuinness, who told them the name idea was “great” plus would “look good on a T-shirt; a letter and a number.”
The singer still regrets going along with the idea.
“I didn’t realize that The Beatles was a bad pun, either,” he said. “In our head, it was like the spy plane, U-boat. It was futuristic … It turned out to imply this kind of acquiescence. No, I don’t like that name. I still don’t really like the name.”
Meanwhile, the band’s style has evolved over the years, with early songs drawing inspiration from the post-punk genre. Most of their lyrics include spiritual imagery and deal with social issues and even political themes.
In the late 1980s, critics had called U2 “the greatest rock band in the world,” but Bono seems to disagree that U2’s music is worth celebrating. During the same “Awards Chatter” interview, the Irish rocker said he actually doesn’t like hearing their songs on the radio.
“I’ve been in the car when one of our songs has come on the radio and I’ve been the color of, as we say in Dublin, scarlet,” he said. “I’m just so embarrassed.”
“The one that I can listen to the most is ‘Miss Sarajevo’ with Luciano Pavarotti,” Bono continued. “Genuine, most of the other ones make me cringe a little bit.” The lead singer also said that the song he’s “probably proudest” of is “Vertigo.”
And it’s not that the singer is putting blame on his bandmates. Instead, he blames his own singing ability – or lack thereof – for part of U2 being so terrible.
“I only became a singer, like, recently. Maybe it hasn’t happened yet for some people’s ears and I understand that,” he told THR.
He recounted how singer Robert Palmer told U2 bassist Adam Clayton in the 1980s, “God, would you ever tell your singer to just take down the keys a little bit? He’d do himself a favor, his voice a favor, and he’d do us all a favor who have to listen to him.”
Now Bono sees what Clayton was talking about. “I was thinking out of my body. I wasn’t thinking about singing,” he said. “I didn’t really think about changing keys. Did we ever change a key?”
The rocker finished the conversation with one final remark about his time with U2. “I do think U2 pushes out the boat on embarrassment quite a lot, and maybe that’s the place to be as an artist — you know, right at the edge of your level of embarrassment,” he said.