U2's Openly Christian Lead Bono Confesses to 'A Drop of Megalomania,' Offers Humble Apology for 'Self Promotion'
U2's frontman Bono made a public confession of self-promotion and pride this week, one month after Apple and U2 released the band's new album directly into the iTunes accounts of every user without their permission.
The album, "Songs of Innocence," reached over 26 million iTunes users free of cost, but not everyone who received the new U2 music were fans of the group. Sounding down-to-earth, Bono addressed one Facebook user's complaint about the album being downloaded into his iTunes playlist without his consent.
"Can you please never release an album on iTunes that automatically downloads to people's playlists ever again? It's really rude," the Facebook user asked.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
In an honest reply complete with a hint of sadness, Bono offered an apology before he explained his band's thinking behind the unusual album release.
"Oops… I'm sorry about that," the singer stated in the video interview, hosted by Facebook. "I had this beautiful idea. [We] might have gotten carried away with ourselves."
Furthermore, Bono called out his own mistakes while also pointing to the arrogance and vanity commonly found in music business today.
"Artists are prone to that thing- a drop of megalomania, a touch of generosity, a dash of self-promotion, and a deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years might not be heard," the singer said. "There's a lot of noise out there. I guess, we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it."
Nevertheless, Bono's response to criticism and admission of error reflects his Christian faith, which has sculpted his entire career. The son of a Roman Catholic father and a Protestant mother, Bono's faith is stronger than ever today. While speaking to the Irish news channel RTE, the singer revealed his belief in Jesus Christ.
"[Who Christ is] is a defining question for a Christian," Bono said. "You're not let off easily by saying He was a great thinker or a philosopher… He went around saying he was the Messiah, He was crucified… Because He said he was the Son of God. He either was the Son of God or nuts, [and] I find it hard to accept that millions of lives have felt their lives touched and inspired by some nut. I don't believe it."
Then, during subsequent interview with Jim Daly of Focus on the Family last year, the singer discussed his faith and his career.
"We have a pastor who said to us, 'Stop asking God to bless what you're doing, Bono. Find out what God is doing, 'cause it's already blessed,'" Bono recalled. "When you align yourself with God's purpose as described in the Scriptures, something special happens to your life."
In addition to offering the apology this week for the delivery of "Songs of Innocence," Bono shared U2's new music video for "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)."
Watch the clip here.
