U2’s Bono Says ‘Music Has Gotten Very Girly’

In his new interview with Rolling Stone, U2 frontman Bono said he thinks today’s music is “very girly,” suggesting that hip-hop is the only place for “young male anger.”

“I think music has gotten very girly,” the 57-year-old Bono told Rolling Stone. “And there are some good things about that, but hip-hop is the only place for young male anger at the moment – and that’s not good.”

“When I was 16, I had a lot of anger in me. You need to find a place for it and for guitars, whether it is with a drum machine – I don’t care,” Bono continued. “The moment something becomes preserved, it is f—–g over. You might as well put it in formaldehyde. In the end, what is rock & roll? Rage is at the heart of it. Some great rock & roll tends to have that, which is why the Who were such a great band. Or Pearl Jam. Eddie has that rage.”

Bono said that his 17-year-old son, Elijah, thinks there will be a “rock & roll revolution around the corner.”

“His angle was, if the rock & roll revolution isn’t happening, we are going to start it,” Bono said of his son.

Over the summer, Ireland’s Extra reported that Elijah is a member of a group called Inhaler in Dublin. He’s a student at St. Andrew’s College.

U2 released their latest album, Songs of Experience, earlier this month. In the interview, Bono said a near-death experience was a big influence on the LP.

Back in 2014, Bono suffered a freak bicycling accident in Central Park. He suffered several injuries, including a “facial fracture involving the orbit of his eye.” He feared he would never play guitar again.

“There is comic tragedy with a bike accident in Central Park – it is not exactly James Dean,” Bono told Rolling Stone. “But the thing that shook me was that I didn’t remember it. That was the amnesia; I have no idea how it happened. That left me a little uneasy, but the other stuff has just finally nailed me. It was like, ‘Can you take a hint?’”

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