I really love U2. They are my favourite band in the world at the moment.
The way they arrange their music plus the way that Bono shapes his lyrics is nothing short of pop songwriting perfection.

I reckon you could really learn a lot by studying U2's discography. I know I have.

The article I mentioned earlier is called "Instinct Drives U2" and it's basically Bono and The Edge giving us their views on songwriting and an insight into the way U2 put their songs together.

I found it insightful because even after all of the years that they've been together they are still not afraid to try new things. Bono also uses words like honesty, instinct, feeling, integrity, exploration and invention when describing the whole U2 philosophy from writing to performing, a refreshing change to all of the maunufactured formulaic stuff that is out at the moment.

Pay close attention to the part where it starts describing the studio songwriting process. There are bits that I have been talking about in previous articles and then there are other bits where it seems to be breaking the rules of songwriting convention.

An example of this is when Bono declares that "craft and taste can be the enemy of songwriting". I can just see all of the songwriting guru's going white with horror at a comment like that.

There is great pop and there is awful pop. U2 are living proof that writing pop songs is just as artistically satisfying as any other form of writing.

Enjoy the article.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriting/Musician/Avid U2 Fan

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