‘Most of the songs make me cringe!’ U2 singer Bono says he hates the name of the band and struggles to listen to their tracks out of embarrassment
Having become of the most successful bands in the world, you would think Bono would be proud to be the frontman of U2.
But the singer has claimed he does not like the band’s name and finds most of their songs cringeworthy.
The 61-year-old, who has been a part of the band since its formation in 1976, told the Awards Chatter podcast: ‘I still don’t [like the name]. I really don’t.
Shocking: U2 singer Bono has claimed he does not like the band’s name and finds most of their songs cringeworthy in a new podcast interview (pictured in 2018)
‘But I was late into some kind of dyslexia. I didn’t realise that The Beatles was a bad pun either.
‘So the U2 if we thought the implication and the number – in our head it was like the spy plane, U boat, it was futuristic – as it turned out to imply this kind of acquiescence, no I don’t like that name.
‘Paul McGuinness, our first manager did say “look, it’s a great name, it’s going to look good on a T-shirt, a letter and a number”.
Bono also admitted that he cringes at most of their songs and can’t listen to his voice in their early albums as he has only recently been able to sing well.
Not a fan! The 61-year-old, who has been a part of the band since its formation in 1976, told the Awards Chatter podcast: ‘I still don’t [like the name]. I really don’t’ (pictured in 2017)
He said: ‘I’ve been in the car when one of our songs has come on the radio and I’ve been the colour of, as we say in Dublin, scarlet. I’m just so embarrassed.
‘It’s the voice. The band sound incredible, though I just find the voice very strained and kind of not macho, and my Irish macho was kind of strained by that and has been.
‘I only became a singer like recently – maybe it hasn’t happened yet for some people’s ears and I understand that.
‘Robert Palmer, he met Adam Clayton somewhere nice in the eighties and he said “God, would you ever tell your singer to just take down the keys a little bit, he’d do himself a favour and he’d do us all a favour who have to listen to him”.
Opinion: Bono also admitted that he cringes at most of their songs and can’t listen to his voice in their early albums as he has only recently been able to sing well (pictured L-R Adam Clayton, Bono, the Edge and Larry Mullen Jr in 2019)
The Irish singer said he is most proud of their song Vertigo claiming it connects with the crowd and the track he can listen to the most is Miss Sarajevo.
‘Most of the other ones make me cringe a little bit,’ Bono added.
‘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 met his bandmates the Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton at school in Dublin.
U2 is one of the most successful bands in history and has sold more than 157 million albums and won 22 Grammy Awards.
He said: ‘I’ve been in the car when one of our songs has come on the radio and I’ve been the colour of, as we say in Dublin, scarlet. I’m just so embarrassed’ (pictured with Adam in 2018)
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