Five Years Later, It’s Time To Admit We Overreacted About Apple Putting A Free U2 Album On Our Phones

Posted on Aug 22, 2019

Culture critic Steven Hyden argues that U2’s Song’s of Innocence was unfairly maligned.

But looking back all these years later, I can’t help but wonder: Why were we so mad about U2 putting a free album on our phones? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live again in a pre-Trump world, where you had the luxury to get worked up about a so-called Orwellian scheme involving a melancholic late-period U2 record? Isn’t it crazy that people cared so much about this?

I listened to that album a couple times when it appeared on my iPhone, but found it forgettable. I may just give it another shot, now that I am no longer irate about getting it for free from Apple. 😜