Bono is an Abba fan, but ‘macho pressure’ stopped him admitting it

Abba were regarded as 'unhip' in the late 1970s, but Bono and The Edge are now lauding them. Photo: Getty

Alex Green

March 17 2023 02:30 AM

Bono has said the pressure to look macho as a young man stopped him from admitting he enjoyed the music of Abba.

The U2 singer (62) said he did not have the courage to own up to liking the Swedish pop superstars, but was now able to see that “you can’t be empirical about everything in art”.

Bono spoke alongside guitarist The Edge (61) during an hour-long special for BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room, on which they played songs from their new album, Songs Of Surrender.

The Edge said: “We’re big fans of this Scandinavian band, appreciators of their work in a way that grew over years.

“We are fans of the Bee Gees, which people wouldn’t have imagined. We’re fans of lots of great songwriters who aren’t necessarily seen as very hip, and I guess we’re just appreciators of their work.”

Bono said he had told one of their recording band “I didn’t have the courage to own up to this next band when I was 16 in the middle of punk rock”.

“But I did get to The Bee Gees and I was ready to own up to the songs Massachusetts and Tragedy – I mean these are just crazy good,” he said.

He added that John Lennon had also been vocal about his love of The Bee Gees, saying: “But there’s a bit of a macho ‘I don’t want to own up to Abba’. But I’ll tell you what – they’re just better songs. You can’t be empirical about everything in art.”

Bono said the music of Abba was like “the national anthem for young mothers” when they were growing up around Dublin in the 1970s.

“Certainly at closing time at our local pub, often young women would sing Thank You For The Music and I would sing it and I was very thankful for the music,” he said.

“But I was like, what is this phenomenon? This is before their musicals and all that. What is going on with Abba?”

He also recalled inviting Abba co-songwriter Benny Andersson on stage with U2 during a show in Stockholm in 1992, joking that they had “murdered” the track Dancing Queen with their cover.