Bono wants U2 to make “fuck-off rock ‘n’ roll album” inspired by AC/DC
Bono pointed to AC/DC producer Mutt Lange’s work as an example to emulate.
Credit: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty
Bono of U2 has detailed his aspirations for the band’s next record, proclaiming he wants U2 to make “our fuck-off rock ‘n’ roll album.”
In a new interview with New York Times, the frontman claimed that following the release of their most recent records Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, the Songs of Ascent album will not be released as “our songwriting returned”, adding, “Now [U2] need to put the firepower of rock ’n’ roll back.”
He continued, “I don’t know who is going to make our fuck-off rock ’n’ roll album. You almost want an AC/DC, you want [longtime AC/DC and Def Leppard producer] Mutt Lange. The approach. The discipline. The songwriting discipline. That’s what we want.”
Describing the need for the band to create a “noisy, uncompromising, unreasonable guitar album,” Bono also explained that part of the motivation was personal to manage his own anger, sharing, “I’m trying to make peace with myself and my maker, I have no intentions of making peace with the world. That’s not on the agenda. I like to think I have the freedom to be whatever I want. My anger at inequality became focused on a community far away from home. You know, you have to pick your fights.”
Bono is set to release his upcoming biography, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story this November 1. In a new excerpt from the book, Bono recalled U2’s record Songs Of Innocence fiasco in 2014, when iTunes users objected to a copy of the album being injected directly into their libraries with no option to remove it.
“I’d thought if we could just put our music within reach of people, they might choose to reach out toward it. Not quite,” Bono recalled. “As one social media wisecracker put it, ‘Woke up this morning to find Bono in my kitchen, drinking my coffee, wearing my dressing gown, reading my paper.’ Or, less kind, ‘The free U2 album is overpriced.’ Mea culpa.”