Odd Enough: People are seriously pissed about rockstar Bono's latest interview — here's why

In the course of two wide-ranging conversations with the magazine, Bono touched on a number of topics: that time he almost died; the 2016 election; and the alleged sapping of anger from today's music, which he believes has left us with a "very girly" selection of tunes.

U2 frontman Bono is fielding a barrage of criticism today over comments he made in an interview with Rolling Stone.

In the course of two wide-ranging conversations with the magazine, Bono touched on a number of topics: that time he almost died; the 2016 election; and the alleged sapping of anger from today's music, which he believes has left us with a "very girly" selection of tunes.

That last idea isn't going over so well online.

Explaining that his children are his inroad to musical discovery these days, Bono mused: "I think music has gotten very girly.

And there are some good things about that, but hip-hop is the only place for young male anger at the moment—and that's not good."

He went on to suggest that rageful boy teens find themselves a loud instrumental outlet like he did, lest music be fatally bled of its necessary anger, and rattled off a few examples of white-man fronted rock bands that meet his standards.

This apparent sexism—coupled with its hints of racism—is rich stuff from a man who spent a portion of his Rolling Stone interview expounding on the merits of his woman-centric humanitarian efforts, including the "Poverty Is Sexist" and "Girls Count" campaigns.

It is also somewhat fitting at the tail end of 2017, a year that showed us many high-profile men struggling to understand issues like the #MeToo movement.

In any case, the blunder has unleashed some of that anger Bono seems to like so much, although admittedly most of the criticism hasn't come from men.

Bono: Music is too "girly" and there's not enough rage in that sound.

Me: *plays Jagged Little Pill in full*

Bono: Okay, but that's not a kind of rage that makes my fragile masculinity comfortable.

— Charlotte Clymer?? (@cmclymer) December 28, 2017

Where do you even start with this: The sexism? The racist stereotyping? The positioning of hyper-masculine aggression as a positive thing? Fuck off Bono. pic.twitter.com/6b7Z2PPTyh

— Roisin O'Connor (@Roisin_OConnor) December 28, 2017

Lol at Bono claiming that rock music has lost its anger because there are too many female musicians. Has he MET any women this year? pic.twitter.com/i7tv3Na1id

— Charlotte Lydia Riley (@lottelydia) December 28, 2017

Bono thinks music is too girly and there's not enough anger? I'm a girl and I was really angry when he put a U2 album on my phone without asking me

— Jessie Thompson (@jessiecath) December 28, 2017

News stressing you out? Try this yoga pose for stress relief:

Bono has not yet issued any kind of statement addressing the backlash. Could it be possible he's missed it—along with all the other widespread, ungendered anger-inducing moments that have come to define 2017?

In the course of two wide-ranging conversations with the magazine, Bono touched on a number of topics: that time he almost died; the 2016 election; and the alleged sapping of anger from today's music, which he believes has left us with a "very girly" selection of tunes. Read Full Story