The musician Bono called the rock and roll version of Bach
Although it’s a claim that’s applicable to many artists around the world, it shouldn’t be any secret that Bono is, and always has been, a huge fan of The Beatles.
This is in no way a controversial or surprising statement that another rockstar could make, and given how the Liverpool band are frequently credited with changing the shape of popular music, to have had a significant impact on the artistry of later acts like U2 is hardly a surprising revelation.
While the Irish group emerged in the 1980s as a more post-punk adjacent act, they’ve evolved over the years to incorporate far more pop elements, and this is what has arguably helped propel them to similar levels of infamy to predecessors like The Beatles, with them selling hundreds of millions of records worldwide and selling out lucrative stadium tours on a global scale.
Because of the nature of how The Beatles operated as a band, with all four of the members having at least some contribution to the songwriting process as well as sustaining their own solo careers and having recognisable public personas, it’s often tough to single out a particular part of the band that was more influential than the others.
Given Bono’s appreciation for the band, when he began to discuss the impact that they had on him as an individual and an artist during an interview with broadcaster Zane Lowe, he would single out many of them for their own individual virtues, focusing specifically on how they all seemed to be in unison about spreading the same message.
While he praised Lennon for his ability to “bleed onto the page” through his emotive lyricism, singling out songs like ‘Mother’ as being among his finest moments, and also commented on the iconic peace sign that Ringo Starr has become famous for, it was Paul McCartney that he had the highest level of praise for.
“I can’t believe that he is still with us,” the frontman exclaimed, “that we are walking around with Johann Sebastian Bach.” This comparison to one of the finest composers in the history of music isn’t a likening that Bono seems to make lightly, and for him to believe that a songwriter who is still living today has certain similarities with someone whose music has been recognised for centuries underlines just how impactful he has been on a modern audience.
Bono would turn back to his praise of Lennon alongside McCartney and highlight one of the key similarities between their approach to songwriting. “Both of them had this vulnerability, and their ability to follow what they thought of as love,” he added. “The Beatles, some would say, overused the word ‘love’, but I think they actually just squeezed every drop out of it. We’re looking for that transcendence, and rock and roll is turning your rage into something beautiful.”
Even though McCartney may have leaned into the same songwriting tropes too often, it’s hard to diminish his contributions, and if we’re to continue to compare him to the likes of Bach, then surely these musings on love that were so prevalent in his work are equivalent to Bach reusing the same motifs in order to put his own stamp on his work. Music has changed significantly in the time between the two artists’ activity, but there’s no denying that the impact McCartney has had in the modern era is comparable to what the giants of classical did centuries before him.
