In a recent episode of the Awards Chatter podcast, Bono has admitted that along with ‘still’ disliking U2 as a band name, he can’t listen to his vocals on early U2 material.
The podcast has made headlines for Bono’s comments – understandably – with the frontman going in on his singing skills (or lack thereof) on earlier cuts.
Claiming he’s only really learned how to sing recently, Bono has said that most vocal performances ‘make me cringe a bit’ and that the band’s 2004 smash ‘Vertigo’ is ‘probably the one I’m most proud of’.
According to Bono, ‘Addicted To Love’ singer Robert Palmer also thought he was doing the most as a vocalist back in the day. Allegedly, Palmer told U2 bassist Adam Clayton back in the ’80s, “‘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’.”
When it comes to his disdain for U2’s name, Bono said that it was the group’s first manager who sold the marketing angle of ‘U2’ to him.
“I still don’t. I really don’t.” Bono said of not liking the name. “But I was late into some kind of dyslexia. I didn’t realise that The Beatles was a bad pun either. 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. I still don’t really like the 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’.”
The latest U2 album came in 2017 with Songs Of Experience. Back in November, the band teased new material via TikTok in the form of the track, ‘Your Song Saved My Life’.
Listen to the full Awards Chatter episode below.
