Some bands cannot help but be hated by large swathes of music lovers, and one outfit that has long been a divisive name despite their eye-watering success is U2. As with any notable group that attracts widespread ire, there are several reasons for the discontent. The story of these Irish rockers is particularly fascinating, given how their status has evolved over the years. Once esteemed heroes they are now more consistently derided as forgettable pop merchants.
If you speak to most fans of guitar bands from a certain age, particularly those born in the mid-to-late 1960s, they will tell you that there was a time when U2—comprised of vocalist Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton, and drummer Larry Mullen Jr—were at the forefront of rock and even considered “cool”. Formed in 1976 and initially operating under the names Feedback and The Hype until they settled on their world-famous moniker U2 in 1978, they emerged from the punk scene and put an atmospheric and contagious twist on the post-punk sound.
Their 1980 debut, Boy, which produced the undisputed classic ‘I Will Follow’, featured Bono’s assertive vocals, The Edge’s dynamic guitar work, and an active rhythm section, setting the scene for future successes. The 1981 follow-up, October, remains a favourite among the band’s original fans, with tracks like ‘Fire’ and ‘Gloria’ emphatically asserting U2 as hot property.
They were great songs comprised of dynamism and a penchant for robust melody, all under the remit of post-punk. Furthermore, their undeniably expansive predilections during this era, epitomised by The Edge’s refreshing, effects-laced assault, instilled muscle into a genre which had always been slightly lightweight.
In 1983, U2 took proceedings up a few gears with the 1983 Steve Lilywhite-produced masterpiece, War. Not only did the album tap into the confusion, heartbreak and anger stoked by the ongoing Troubles in their homeland, but the music became ‘big’, ushering in a new chapter for rock in the decade, wherein expansive sonics were all the rage. Of course, Lilywhite’s other work had a significant role in this change in tastes, but with cuts such as ‘New Year’s Day’ and ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, U2 increased their prominence greatly.
While firmly grounded in reality, there’s an intangible potency coursing through the album, hinting at the band’s future artistic evolution. They fulfilled this promise in their next chapter with 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire. Co-produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, the album delved deeper into atmospheric soundscapes, becoming an art-rock classic that embraced Eno’s ambient innovations.
Of course, what followed it is their ostensible masterpiece, 1987’s The Joshua Tree, produced by Eno and Lanois again. A departure from its predecessor, the towering rock sound comprising it produced many hits, such as ‘With or Without You’, ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ and album tracks such as ‘Bullet the Blue Sky’. The record was a global number-one, producing chart-topping hits. It won two Grammy Awards and became the fastest-selling album in British history and one of the world’s best-selling titles. From that moment on, they were no longer just post-punk heroes celebrated for their boundary-pushing creativity; they were a global leviathan.
So, why are U2 hated?
Undoubtedly, the members are adept songwriters and musicians at their core, but like all groups who are so extremely loathed, U2 are to blame for the hatred.
The classic ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ video typifies why they are so widely derided. Performing on the roof of a liquor store in Los Angeles, U2 explicitly aimed to shut down the streets, attracting a large crowd from all over to witness their performance. They later stated that their goal was to create chaos, which they successfully achieved. However, despite the pandemonium, their stunt didn’t come across as punk as it was intended to be.
While the police interactions depicted in the video were real due to the city’s safety concerns, it was all a rouse for commercial purposes. In 2007, the band’s then-manager, Paul McGuinness, revealed that the spat with the authorities was greatly exaggerated. U2 wanted to get shut down to sensationalise their video. Ultimately, the police gave them several extensions on the shoot.
This stunt plays into the point Liam Gallagher once said about U2’s place in rock and what they represent: “They pass themselves as a rock ‘n’ roll band, but what the? C’mon on, man, I’ve never seen fucking Bono. I mean, I’ve never seen any of them do anything remotely rock ‘n’ roll.”
Despite their continued commercial success, U2’s music has deteriorated greatly since their 1987 peak. This is heard clearly across 1993’s Zooropa, 1997’s weird dance-rock hybrid Pop, and more recent releases such as 2009’s No Line on the Horizon, which produced the infinitely corny ‘Get on Your Boots’. The single is undoubtedly one of the group’s worst efforts in every aspect—it is comically bad.
Elsewhere, ‘Vertigo’, taken from 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, epitomises their humorously bland work. The song, wretched from start to finish, features Bono’s perplexingly erroneous opening yell, “Unos, dos, tres, catorce” (“one, two, three, fourteen” in English). Despite Bono’s claim that alcohol influenced this mistake, the band’s decision to include it in a track with a horrid chorus, guitars, and lyrics raises questions about their self-awareness and their place in the music world.
In this post-Joshua Tree period, U2 have come to embody the very worst and least-self-aware aspects of stadium rock and superstardom. Musically, Bono’s performances and The Edge’s once scintillating reliance on effects are now tired caricatures of their former glory.
In this light, it is undeniably strange that they continue to have such an undying fanbase, but without getting too bogged down in this aspect, there is a reason the likes of Coldplay and Nickelback remain so successful: not everyone can be a fan of great music. I’m loathe to say it, but the masses love trash. Dangle an obvious, dumb hook into the commercial seas and you’re likely to land all the fish you need.
Even U2’s rhythm section, once considered among the best, has faced criticism. Outspoken connoisseur Henry Rollins harshly critiqued the efforts of Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr, stating, “They have the worst rhythm section in big rock. That is the most plodding, corny rhythm section ever to fill a stadium.”
Rollins further added, “If you look at some of those records, they’re mediocre Brian Eno records with a bad band in the way.”
It’s not just their music, either. Bono himself symbolises why U2 faces so many objections. His many moments of lacking self-awareness and perceived virtue signalling have added to the pile-on. This has confirmed him as arguably the most hated member of the band and one of music’s most reviled figures. His opinion on U2’s position is significant. Echoing Liam Gallagher’s point, he told Rolling Stone in 2005: “We’re not really a rock and roll band. We’re pretending to be a rock and roll band, and sometimes we get away with it.”
That’s agreeable, and it was surprising to see a man notorious for being so detached from reality speak such words. However, he quickly reverted to type: “Sometimes a song like ‘Desire’ or ‘Vertigo’ will arrive, and you go, Whoa! That’s rock and roll! But what we actually do is something completely different.”
Things took on a new dimension in 2014 when U2 surprise released Songs of Innocence on iTunes, and it placed—and irremovable—for free in all customers’ libraries. People were outraged that the band believed all users would instantly desire their music. The main criticism was that they had given their mediocre work away for free because no one wanted to pay for it. The group then doubled down, drawing more flak.
Ultimately, the dislike for U2 stems from a combination of overexposure, Bono’s controversial persona, the infamous iTunes album incident, perceived musical stagnation, and their overt political commentary. These factors together contribute to the polarising reception of the band, making them a target for criticism despite their significant and undeniable impact on music and culture.