9 Later Day Musical Crimes Perpetuated By Great Artists

U2’s list of embarrassing moments is a lengthy one, but they mostly revolve around the performatively worthy actions of frontman Bono. While they’re not the powerhouse they once were, musically they’ve stayed pretty consistent over a lengthy career, and have seldom made themselves look foolish.

One exception to this is “Get On Your Boots”, the first single and clear nadir of their otherwise quite good 2009 album No Line On The Horizon. For this, their 12th studio album, the lads returned to their old production team of Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, plus their even older producer Steve Lillywhite, none of whom were able to dissuade Bono from this risible song.

Bono attempts to be arch, with lyrics he obviously finds hilarious and a puckish delivery he hasn’t been able to pull off since 1992. Musically it’s dross, ripping off Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up” with the addition of a U2-by-numbers soaring chorus.

The rest of the album is reserved and experimental to a degree they hadn’t attempted in a good decade. “Get On Your Boots” was their attempt to create a big dumb rocker like the previous record’s “Vertigo” - somehow, they managed to come out with something even worse.