The one band Bono said he never wanted to follow
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(Credits: Apple TV+)
Throughout every facet of U2’s career, Bono was never someone who lacked confidence.
From the minute they got onstage to eventually working on some of the biggest multimedia experiences in the world, the frontman has always balanced himself somewhere between a philanthropist, a political figure, a sunglasses-clad messiah, and maybe a guy who actually plays music if you’re lucky. But aside from all of his extracurriculars, Bono knew that the one thing that mattered to him most of all in this world is what the music could bring out of people.
As much as U2 has become larger than life throughout the decades, each of them has always valued the whole being greater than the sum of its parts every time they play. Bono would be the first to admit that he would be nowhere without The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr standing beside him, because when you look at the mechanics of rock and roll, it’s all about the magic that happens between a bunch of people in a room playing their hearts out and having a conversation with the audience that couldn’t be done with words.
But for all of the postmodern irony that went into some of their tours, there was nothing smarmy about the way that Bono sang. He could only be honest whenever he stepped in front of the microphone, and while records like Achtung Baby were among the most adventurous pieces of their catalogue, they still had that punk rock ethos that all of the band’s heroes had when they started.
Bono had already grown up in the days before punk was even a genre, but when he heard acts like Ramones, he knew that he was feeling the same thing they felt whenever they took to the stage. Not everything was complicated, but it was about the attitude that was brought across on every tune. So if a bunch of guys in leather jackets and Chuck Taylors could become legendary, The Clash were the ones that showed him what could be done on the live stage.
Joe Strummer may not have been the most technically gifted guitarist and singer, but when looking at the way he attacked the stage, Bono thought no one could possibly compete with them, saying, “The only band that I never want to walk on after, past or present, was The Clash. And I’m not even a fan of all their music and some of it felt phony to me but, from terms of survival instinct, that’s the only band I wouldn’t have wanted to go on after.”
That said, a lot of what Bono picked up on from The Clash was that urgency that turned up in all of their songs. Whenever they got together, it was clear that any song meant everything to them, and when listening to them tear through songs like ‘Brand New Cadillac’ or ‘London Calling’, they were playing as if the world was going to end by the time the final chords rang out. Their music felt important, and U2 would do everything in their power to get anywhere close to that.
Their music was far more expansive than what The Clash did, but listening to the great moments out of Rattle and Hum, Bono clearly knew how to handle a crowd the same way that Strummer did. He isn’t completely immune to a few cringy moments like claiming to “steal” the song ‘Helter Skelter’ back from Charles Manson, but when he goes on a rant about Irish Americans midway through the movie, it was clear that he wasn’t going to rest until he felt that crowd felt every word he said.
That kind of passion may look a little bit different these days, but in between the countless haircuts, sunglasses, and charity drives that he has done over the years, Bono still holds onto that same ethos that The Clash held on to. Yes, it’s only a simple song, but if you play it with heart, something about those chords has the power to change the world.
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