In an unexpected revelation, Billy Corgan shared an anecdote about providing advice to U2 singer Bono. The intriguing story was shared during a recent conversation with Apple Music, where Corgan reminisced about his trip to Dublin around 2000.
During his visit to Ireland, the singer had the opportunity to spend a night at Bono’s residence. As fate would have it, the two were the only ones awake early in the morning following the all-nighter. The U2 vocalist, with a piece of work in progress, wished to share it with Corgan.
Bono was seeking an outside perspective on the work and asked for Billy’s honest opinion. Despite the initial disbelief that such a well-established artist would want his input, Corgan offered his thoughts on the music. To his surprise, the rocker later discovered that Bono and U2 had taken his advice to heart, incorporating it into the final product of the album.
Here is how Corgan shared his memory with Bono:
“Can I tell you a good story? I’m over in Dublin circa 2000, and I go to visit Bono at his house. We stayed up all night, and in the morning, for some reason, me and him are the only people up, and he says, ‘I want to play you something. We’re going to have to go out in the car because I don’t want to wake the house up.’ So it’s me and him like freezing in the driveway, and he pops in.
He’s playing me what became the ‘Beautiful Day’ album, and it’s kind of not all the way there but sort of there, and he goes tell me, ‘Honestly, what do you think?’ I’m like, ‘You really want me to give you my opinion?’ and I told him what I thought, and they actually used my advice. Let me know later, like, ‘Hey, we used your advice.’ I thought he was just being nice.”
Thus, Billy Corgan initially thought that Bono’s acknowledgment of his advice was merely a polite gesture, but it turned out to be a genuine appreciation and implementation of his feedback. Yet, he had to wait for it until he listened to the album.
