The legendary American grunge singer U2’s Bono called “my Elvis Presley”
Elvis Presley earned his moniker as ‘The King’ for a reason, and to this day, he remains one of the most influential heroes in the history of music, inspiring countless musicians to adopt a rebellious flair into their attitude and stage presence, but Bono, on the other hand, became mesmerised by an entirely different force of brilliance.
Through his efforts both as a musician and philanthropist, Bono has become one of the most divisive figures in music. Mainly, this is because a lot of what he achieved in the band and as a solo artist has been through a hefty amount of trial and error, the errors of which are usually met with the most unforgiving eyes, especially in an arena as oftentimes cutthroat as rock.
When it comes to rubbing people up the wrong way, one of the most notable instances was, of course, their infamous iTunes incident, when they uploaded Songs of Innocence onto millions of the platform’s users for free. However, U2 have been ruffling feathers since long before 2014, for a multitude of reasons that include everything from poor spontaneous decisions during performances to intense technical difficulties throughout an entire tour run.
Now, such “controversies” are only natural when a band has been around for as long as U2. However, many of U2’s are harder to forget because they were so out of pocket at the time that it’s hard to imagine any other band ever replicating their mishaps. Their stint at Live Aid, for instance, is still discussed in many forums today, as is the mess that happened during the early PopMart tour dates, as well as the disaster that occurred during their Sarajevo performance during the same tour.
Over the years, the band has been accused of making even poorer artistic decisions, some of which have prompted long-time admirers to question their integrity in the current landscape or whether they’re merely a shadow of what they once were. A few years back, Bono addressed these claims following a streak of questionable moves, including issues with fanclub memberships, scalpers inflating ticket prices, their iPod ad, and their performance at the Super Bowl.
At the time, Bono reiterated to the Chicago Tribune that all he (and U2) ever want to do is what feels right to them, and if that means they lose fans or get lost in translation, then that’s all part and parcel of being in the rock spotlight. He also said that people are “right to give rock bands a kicking when they deserve it” and that U2 “have deserved it at times.”
However, he also said that rock is something that needs to progress, and that people often forget to take a step back and “look at what we’ve done” apart from “the codified rules and regulations that are suffocating rock music right now.” Perhaps this is all why Bono, during their Sphere residency in 2023, called Eddie Vedder “my Elvis Presley” before dedicating ‘All I Want Is You’ to him.
As one of the last surviving vessels of rage, Vedder has always represented something that Bono feels music is missing, specifically its edge, which he believes is best epitomised by the Pearl Jam leader himself. In fact, in 2017, Bono said as much when asked why rage is missing from the rock arena, concluding that “Eddie has that rage”.
As such, Vedder is to Bono what Presley is to many music lovers: a true icon of something that music will never have again, a force of raw talent that explodes any room he’s in, a manifestation of true brilliance that comes from deep within. It’s pure and organic, with an attitude you only have if you feel it in your soul.
