- Music
- 04 Feb 14
U2’s ‘Invisible’ managed to notch up over three million downloads during the 24-hour period it was available for free, which the Bank of America matched by donating over $3 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The song can now be purchased from iTunes at the normal rate. €1.03 from each download will be added to the donation.
Since being founded in 2006 by Bono and Bobby Shriver, (RED) has raised more than $250m for the Global Fund, with more initiatives on the way.
Following on from his USA Today interview, Bono rang BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe from Dublin yesterday for an on-air chat.
Asked when we should expect the new U2 album, he said: "With U2, our album isn't finished until it's in the stores. It's tricky getting us four boys across the line. But we are very thrilled with 'Invisible.' I'm just delighted that there are still people that are interested in us. We're at nearly two-and-a-half million downloads and there were one million downloads in one hour Sunday. You never really know. With all singers, insecurity is your best security. That's why we're such loud people and why we walk all funny. You think, ‘Are people interested?’ But I think our band has something and they know we don't just put albums out. We do think about it.
“We were trying to figure out, 'Why would anyone want another U2 album?’” he continues. “And then we said, 'Well, why would we want one?' There was some unfinished business. We felt like we were on the verge of irrelevance a lot in our lives. How you get through it is to make stuff that's relevant to you and you have to make an honest account of what you're going through.”
Recording, Bono revealed, is still ongoing.
“We're here in this great nation, in this capital, in some dank basement. Where I'm calling from, as we speak, there were mice spotted earlier. We call it the Oil Rig. Why is it that we always end up hanging out with men in overalls? You start a band when you're 17 and then you get a crew if you're lucky and they're all in overalls and then you go to the studio and there's more people in overalls. Not enough girls. Please, girls out there, start twiddling those knobs."
As for possible influences, Bono noted: "We listened to all this extraordinary music in the late ‘70s and started to think about those times and the things that made us who we were. We went back to why we wanted to be in a band in the first place. It opened up a whole valve for me writing and it was a dam burst of sorts. Punk rock and electronic was when it started for us. We were listening to The Ramones and Kraftwerk and you can hear both of those things on 'Invisible.'"