Bono Reveals He’s ‘Just So Embarrassed’ by U2 But is Still Proud of ‘Vertigo’

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Bono is proving that you really are your own worst critic.

Appearing on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast alongside bandmate the Edge, the Irish rockstar revealed that several aspects of U2 now make him “cringe.”

“I’ve been in the car when one of our songs has come on the radio and I’ve been the color, as we say in Dublin, scarlet. I’m just so embarrassed,” he revealed. “I do think U2 pushes out the boat on embarrassment quite a lot, and maybe that’s the place to be as an artist — you know, right at the edge of your level of embarrassment.”

Bono went on to share that he isn’t a fan of U2’s lyrics, saying, “I feel that on ‘Boy’ and other albums, it was sketched out, very unique and original material. But I don’t think I filled in the details.”

“I look back and go, ‘God!’” he continued.

While Bono admitted that many of his songs make him “cringe a bit,” he’s still proud of some of his hits.

“The one that I can listen to the most is ‘Miss Sarajevo’ with Luciano Pavarotti,” he said, adding, “Although ‘Vertigo’’ probably is the one I’m proudest of. It’s the way it connects with the crowd.”

The rock star went on to stress that all criticisms of U2 are aimed at himself and not at his bandmates, whom he believes are “incredible” musicians.

“I just found the voice very strained and kind of not macho and my Irish macho was kind of strained by that,” he said of his vocals.

“A big discovery for me was listening to the Ramones and hearing the beautiful kind of sound of Joey Ramone and realizing I didn’t have to be that rock-and-roll singer. But I only became a singer recently. Maybe it hasn’t happened yet for some people’s ears, and I understand that.”

Apparently, Bono isn’t the only one who took issue with his voice, as the singer revealed that in the 1980s, Robert Palmer complained about U2’s vocals to bassist Adam Clayton.

“God, would you ever tell your singer to just take down the keys a little bit?” Bono recalled Palmer saying. “He’d do himself a favor, his voice a favor, and he’d do us all a favor who have to listen to him.”

Edge also revealed that the band didn’t love their name at first, saying, prompting Bono to admit that he still doesn’t love the name

“It wasn’t that it jumped out to us the most, but it was the one that we hated the least. We loved that it was not obvious from the name how this band would sound like or be about,” said Edge. “At that age, we understood that we didn’t want to be lumped in with other artists… We didn’t really love it at first.”

Bono went on to say that he was “late into some kind of dyslexia,” adding,”I didn’t realize that The Beatles was a bad pun either.”

“In our head, it was like the spy plane, U-boat,” he continued. “It was futuristic, as it turned out to imply this kind of acquiescence. No, I don’t like that name. I still don’t really like the name.”

Listen above, via Awards Chatter.