“It would be stupid”: Bono on the U2 song that would never be a pop single
Every rock and roll band is always playing the game with the charts. Even if the Billboard list of the best-selling songs is a thing of the past for most guitar-focused acts, some of the biggest names in the genre are still doing everything they can to make something of a dent in the hit parade. While Bono had been no stranger to the top of the charts whenever U2 came out with an album in the 1980s, he admitted that not all of their classic tunes were exactly cut out to be singles in the same way The Beatles had done.
Because listening to most U2 albums from their prime, they seem to work better as a whole than in parts. Their debut, Boy, is probably the closest thing to a straight-ahead collection of songs in their catalogue, but by the time they hit on albums like The Unforgettable Fire and War, they were interested in creating albums that had a mission statement behind them in the same ay The Clash had years before.
Although the group was still not the most visual band in the world, seeing them gain traction from the videos for tunes like ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ was still a sight to behold. Even when they weren’t doing lavish art pieces the same way that Talking Heads were, it was enough to see the tracks like, with some of their best performances from the time coming from the live album Under a Blood Red Sky or their massive showing at Live Aid.
Considering how many people sang along, it’s strange to see how political the tunes were under the surface. While everyone’s first lesson is not to bring up religion or politics first when addressing the audience, Bono wasn’t scared to touch on what he believed in, which is why people either swear by October or found it a little bit preachy on first listen.
If their sophomore album was the moment they dipped their toes into heavy subject matter, ‘New Year’s Day’ is still one of their most biting pieces of social commentary. Everyone in Ireland at the time had at least a passing knowledge of what the band were talking about in ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday,’ but ‘New Year’s Day’ was a far more critical examination of those who let that kind of human indecency happen in the first place.
Even if the tune was catchy, Bono was absolutely dumbfounded when he saw the tune get turned into a single, saying, “It would be stupid to start drawing up battle lines, but the fact that ‘New Year’s Day’ made the Top 20 indicated a disillusionment among record buyers with the pop culture in the charts. I don’t think ‘New Year’s Day’ was a pop single I don’t think we could have written that kind of song.”
But the beauty behind ‘New Year’s Day’ is because of how they make something so specific seem universal. The whole point behind the title may be about the resolutions that people put into place at the new year, but hearing Bono cynically talk about the fact that nothing really changes is a stark condemnation of those in power who promise change and never deliver on it.
And with years removed from the track, Bono still seemed to hit the nail on the head when it comes to people abusing their power for their own gain while not caring about the people they are hurting in the process. It might have seemed like a miracle that ‘New Year’s Day’ became a hit single in the first place, but its appeal may have simply come from those who knew that they couldn’t take that kind of injustice anymore.
