The New York Times feature marking the band’s 50th anniversary — the hook for this week’s “Crossroads” podcast — starts with U2 returning to Mount Temple to celebrate on the stage where the quartet did one of its first gigs. The lengthy interview: “50 Years In, What’s the Point of U2? Bono and the Edge Have Answers.”
God showed up very early in the Times interview. David Marchese asked this basic question: “When you say there are ideas that you want to be in the mainstream, what are they?” Bono replied:
The metaphysical thing, the gospel side of U2 — that was only allowed in rock ’n’ roll if you were Black. You can’t be white people talking about God, because generally white people who talk about God make our audience very nervous, you know? But not in the Black church in America. Coming to the United States, we’d just seen those televangelists, and we were like, Wow, these people are in deep trouble. Then you walk into a Black church and you hear the abandonment of the singing and that feeling — it’s fervor, but not freaky fervor. So being able to sing songs of faith and devotion and songs of doubt, to put the gospel with the blues, which is rock ’n’ roll.
That leads to this follow-up: “You said that talking about God in your music can be a little uncomfortable for your audience, but I would argue that U2’s religious impulse is hugely important to your audience. It’s a big part of why people feel so connected to the band.” The Edge responded:
I mean, yes, but we weren’t seeing it as a selling point. We were seeing it as the thing we have to speak about because it’s where we’re coming from. But people have said that we’re the band that people who don’t know that they believe in God like. It’s in the work in such a natural way. There’s no polemic there. It’s just our search, our inquiry. And it involves so much doubt. It has to, I think. Because if it’s not dogma, then it’s constantly in flux. I would say I’m agnostic about half of the week, and then the rest of the week I’ve got an incredibly strong faith. But it’s always changing, ready to be upgraded.
A “selling point”? This sounded rather familiar to me, for some obvious reasons….
So, @U2 has carried on for 50 years. Guess what? The big Qs in a long @NYTimes piece are the same Qs Bono and Co. faced in 1982. How do I know that? I was there and asked the Qs. @ActonInstitute @amsacramone @GetReligion @scottderrickson @Joeinblackhttps://t.co/sv5PVN9ezJ https://t.co/kG80vY3Wl8
— Terry Mattingly (@tweetmattingly) November 6, 2026
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