10 Rock Bands People Love To Hate

Much like Kiss, U2 have managed to survive through a number of generations and decades in the face of unrelenting critical voices. The Irish group was formed by lead vocalist Bono (real name Paul David Hewson) in 1976 when the members were just teenagers. Today, the members admit they were technically limited when it came to musical prowess in their early days, and critics would likely argue they still are. Disregarding this for now, U2 released their debut album, ‘Boy’, in 1980 and sparked a career which would bring unimaginable success.

Live Aid marked a pivotal point in the group's career and they became overnight sensations following the 1985 performance, which was watched by over 1.5 billion people worldwide. Having released some experimental and ambient music in the past, the music which followed Live Aid was distinctly different to what preceded it. U2 now sounded more concise, compact and clear with their musical focus which greatly aided them in the decades to come.

U2, specifically Bono, find themselves on the receiving end of criticism from fans for his flamboyant personality and philanthropy. Beyond personal bereavements against Bono, the band is often heckled by people for being overrated, with fan forums on sites such as Quora and Reddit having no qualms in supporting this claim. No matter what people think, U2 remains one of the most successful bands ever, with 22 Grammy wins (the most of any band in history) and over 150 million record sales to their name, so clearly someone likes them.