30 Songs - Day 12

Day 12 - A Song From A Band You Hate

And no prizes for guessing who that band will be.

Oh, how do I hate U2... let me count the ways. What's worse? Their world-conquering bombast? Their self-righteous pomposity? Their smug, humourless egotism? That blasphemous Spidey musical? (Oh, the horror.) Or just the fact that Bono is such a cock?

As with many awful bands though - or at least many awful bands who have been around at least half as long as U2 - I don't hate their music quite as much as I hate them. Yes, I'll turn off the radio if I hear the opening bars of With Or Without You or Where The Streets Have No Name, but it's more for the image they bring with them - Bono's big gurning mug, those stupid red sunglasses, the stubble... and that voice. That voice that makes Bob Geldof sound like Julie Andrews. Not the singing voice: the patronising, proselytising, "I'm bigger than Jesus", Here-I-Am-At-The-UN-with-my-mate-the-new-Nazi-Pope-bow-down-before-me-you-ignorant-serfs speaking voice.

That said, if I close my eyes and try to expunge all thoughts of His Holy Smugalot from my mind... I don't abhor every single U2 song. New Year's Day, Desire, One (especially the Johnny Cash version), The Sweetest Thing, Beautiful Day... I wouldn't want them in my mp3 library, but I wouldn't tear off my ears and pour battery acid in the holes to stop me from ever hearing them again.

The track below is as close as I ever came to actually buying a U2 record. Even at the tender age of 16, common sense prevailed, but I've got to at least give them this...