Bono Admits He Hates His Own Voice And The Name ‘U2’

U2 lead vocalist Bono spoke to the Awards Chatter podcast and shared his feelings and ideas about the band’s name and his own voice, saying that he never liked it. Also, the singer revealed his favorite U2 songs that he still feels proud to have created alongside the ones that make him ‘cringe.’

One day, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. posted an announcement, looking for members for his new band while studying at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, and it marked the beginning of U2 when Bono, The Edge, Dik Evans, Adam Clayton, and Ivan McCormick joined him. Initially, the band’s name was The Hype, and then they decided to change it to U2 because it was the only name they hated the least and was Steve Averill’s suggestion.

During his interview, Bono stated that he never liked the name and he still doesn’t while admitting that they wanted a more futuristic thing like U-boat. However, the frontman stated that their then-manager Paul McGuinness found U2 more promising commercial success and popularity. Also, he surprised his fans by saying that even though U2 sounds incredible, Bono doesn’t like his ‘Irish macho’ voice and continued to reveal that most of their songs’ make him cringe.’

Bono named two songs his favorites which he enjoys performing and listening. One of them is ‘Miss Sarajevo,’ which was a product of U2 and Brian Eno’s side project, for which they used Passengers as a pseudonym. They teamed up with legendary tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who performed the opera solo in the song. The other is ‘Vertigo’ which was released on U2’s eleventh studio album ‘How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.’

Bono shared his ideas, saying:

“I still don’t. I really don’t. But I was late into some kind of dyslexia. I didn’t realize that The Beatles was a bad pun either. In our head, it was like the spy plane, U-boat, it was futuristic — as it turned out to imply this kind of acquiescence, no I don’t like that name. I still don’t really like the name. Paul McGuinness, our first manager, did say, ‘Look, it’s a great name, it’s going to look good on a T-shirt, a letter and a number.

I’ve been in the car when one of our songs has come on the radio and I’ve been the color of, as we say in Dublin, scarlet. I’m just so embarrassed. The band sounds incredible, but the problem is the ‘Irish macho’ voice, which comes across as ‘strained.’ The one that I can listen to the most is ‘Miss Sarajevo’ with Luciano Pavarotti. Genuinely, most of the other ones make me cringe a little bit. Although ‘Vertigo’ probably is the one I’m proudest of. It’s the way it connects with the crowd.”

You can check out the songs below.