Bono: 'I Need A Row To Get Out of Bed In The Morning'

U2’s Bono has told Hot Press that he’s totally immune to the begrudgery of internet keyboard warriors.

Speaking to Olaf Tyaransen about the social media storm that followed the controversial iTunes giveaway of Songs of Innocence last month, the singer explained: “I have an umbrella. I've had it with me for 30 years now. When the shit-storm comes, as it continually does, I just put it up. You know, the thing about [song] 'Cedarwood Road', I realised that a lot of me still lives there. I'm still on that street. Still need an enemy. The worst ones, I can't say."

Not only is he unbothered by the critical slings and arrows, but he claimed to almost enjoy the hostility.

“I almost like all this. I must just need a row to get up out of bed in the morning,” he said, "because I keep finding myself in them. If you repeat behaviour, then you must like it. It's like a bad relationship: 'I don't know how that happened! I met that girl and she ran off with all my best friends… but it happened to me three times'. You might have something to do with it. So I've just gotta accept that that's who I am.”

However, Bono does acknowledge that his ability to wind his critics up can make life difficult for his bandmates: “I feel sorry for the band because I do tend to get them into these controversies. But isn't it great to be part of the conversation? In the zeitgeist. People talking about you. People arguing about you. It's kind of a great compliment.”

Read the full interview in the new Hot Press, which is on shelves now. To read Niall Stokes on U2, click here.

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