The best “rock ’n’ roll band on record” ever, according to Bono
U2 frontman Bono is often regarded as a bit of an annoyance in rock music circles. His devotion to charity and willingness to spread the message have meant he is often considered somewhat sanctimonious. But that’s a bit harsh.
Not only is he part of one of the best-selling rock groups in modern memory, but U2’s early output is rightly considered some of the finest of the era. It was only in their latter days that they ventured too close to the pop sun and had their wings badly burned. But, perhaps most importantly, Bono is also a devout lover of music.
He has accumulated an encyclopedic knowledge of music spanning his lifetime and beyond. Throughout his career, Bono’s ears have been glued to the ground, waiting for the next act to rock his world. Although Paul Hewson is now a veteran of the music business, his interest has never waned, but there’s one band that entered his life during his teenage years that he holds on a pedestal.
While U2 are now established as the archetypal stadium-rock band specialising in anthemic choruses, their roots are in punk. At the start of their journey, U2 were inspired by the swath of bands that emerged in the late 1970s, such as The Clash, but there was no group that Hewson admired more than anarchic rockers the Sex Pistols.
At the time, they were still lacking experience in their chosen instruments and were yet to be as technically proficient as they would in years to come. However, U2 didn’t believe this was the most important attribute a band needed because the Sex Pistols proved that having heart, desire, and a crucial message that fans could buy into mattered more.
Despite only releasing one album, the impact of the Sex Pistols is among the most significant in the history of British music. They single-handedly changed the cultural landscape, including how people dressed, acted, thought and, most importantly, their approach to making music.
To celebrate his 60th birthday in 2020, Bono listed their track ‘Anarchy In The UK’ as one of the 60 songs responsible for saving his life. He also penned a sincere letter to the band explaining the importance of their work to him, which began with the Irish singer stating: “Dear John, Steve, Paul, Sid and Glen, I don’t think there has ever been a better rock’ n’ roll band on record. The production of all your songs… peerless. That Chris Thomas knew how to serve rage and turn it into beauty… well, I think he must’ve had some… good. Steve Jones, the maximum minimalist that you are has never been bettered through pure, visceral, rock’ n’ roll guitar.”
He continued: “That Johnny Rotten fella was something wasn’t he… looking back, you were part Richard III, part vaudeville, part soothsayer but always truth-teller with a voice like a bagpipe that could march armies of lovers and haters into battle… and it did. I couldn’t make up my mind which side I was on, but then I realized that all depended on what you loved and what you hated.”
Bono then claimed John Lydon’s Irish heritage was responsible for providing his work with the same delectable Anglo-Irish sneer as The Beatles, Elvis Costello, Morrissey Oasis and Declan McKenna, noting: “The Irish do well with English words and music, and the English do well with us”.
“The opening line ‘I am an Antichrist’… it was a lot to take in, but then again my own family said the same of me… Your fan, Bono,” he concluded the letter by writing.
Lydon will likely appreciate Bono’s warm words, but he certainly doesn’t feel the same way about the Irish rock group. During an interview with the Daily Star, he once scathingly said of the band: “U2 — that’s a band that never should have existed. There’s no life experience in any of their songs.”
Nevertheless, despite Lydon’s characteristically cruel comments about U2, nothing he can say will ever affect Bono’s everlasting love of the Sex Pistols.
