DUBLIN, IRELAND – JULY 24: Bono and Larry Mulen Jr from U2 perform at Croke Park on July 24, 2009 in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Phillip Massey/WireImage)
Within 48 hours of inserting Songs of Innocence into the folders of half-a-billion Apple users, the tech giant’s deal to give away U2’s new album came under attack from music fans and iPhone owners across the globe. Described on some corners of the internet as “the U2 virus”, the album deal became one of the band’s and Apple’s biggest ever PR gaffs.
Speaking at the launch in 2014, Bono said it was all about reaching a new, younger audience. “From the very beginning, U2 have always wanted our music to reach as many people as possible, the clue is in our name, I suppose, so today is kind of mind-blowing to us,” he said.
“It’s exciting and humbling to think that people who don’t know U2, or listen to rock music for that matter, might check us out.”
Others were not so optimistic. “U2, Apple and rock-and-roll as dystopian junk mail”, bleated the Washington Post while the LA Times delivered a self-admitted “cheap shot” about the world’s biggest band “leveraging itself into your life without permission” and “recipients getting what they pay for”.
Ten years on from the incident, was the reaction justified, or are we just a nation of begrudgers?
Today on the Into Daily, Tabitha Monahan is joined by music journalist and the Irish Independent’s own Dave Hanratty to discuss the unforgettable Apple and U2 blunder that was Songs of Innocence and the many PR storms Bono has weathered over the decades.
