U2 singer Bono (aka Paul Hewson) told Britain’s Observer Music Monthly that his much-publicized political activities and charity work caused so much tension with his fellow band mates that he feared it would lead to the veteran Irish rock outfit’s demise.
“It’s dangerous,” the 48-year-old singer said of his controversial public profile outside U2, “And it worries Larry, and it worries the whole band, if truth be told. But, you know, here's the thing - they thought, all of them, Larry, Edge, Adam, that my campaigning would sink the ship.
“There is a danger that people start to perceive U2 as a part of the Bono show,” drummer Larry Mullen admitted in the same article. “Now, I admire and support everything he does, but that is categorically not the case."
Bono says one moment in particular drew the ire of his U2 band mates – his meeting with then-president George W. Bush.
“Edge pleaded with me right at the start not to meet Bush,” Bono admitted. “They all did.”
Despite his band’s objections, Bono not only met with Bush, but engaged the former president in an impromptu theological debate.
“I would always use the scriptures to argue my corner,” the singer said of the controversial meeting. “There are 2,103 verses of scripture pertaining to dealing with the poor. That helps, and it also helps to know that. Boy, did my days of Bible study come in handy! And, by the way, it's an offense to me that religious people can close their eyes to this stuff. It's just really not allowed.”
But producer Brian Eno, a U2 associate since the early ‘80s, thinks it’s precisely Bono and the band’s non-musical passions that have kept them intact for 33 years.
“One of the reasons for U2's longevity is that they are not in music for entirely selfish reasons. I don't want to make them appear as evangelists, which, of course, they were seen as by some sections of the music media in the early 80s, but I do believe that they really think that what they do serves some greater purpose than simply filling their bank accounts.”