I remember a recent interview when Bono talked about moments in their studio sessions when they hear the "progressive rock bug" creep in as they are jamming, and the band immediately tries to rid themselves of it. I tried so hard to find that interview to no avail. Instead, I came across these quotes from Bono over the years about progressive rock...
Circa 2001:
"The thing that separated us from temporary, sophomoric, white-bread fucking art students is the thing that puts us in with hip-hop: Taking care of business, as Elvis Presley described it, is the thing that marks how much artists care about what they do. When rock stops trying to communicate on the level of mass media, it becomes progressive rock; it becomes solipsistic."
"... when you put (progressive) with rock - progressive rock. We've banned that word. There are a few things we've banned actually on the album (All That You Can't Leave Behind). But it's funny if you ban something it's like prohibition it seems to come up again. Things that you keep trying to keep down sometimes bite back. We banned progressive rock, that is the enemy. And gothic, we banned gothic ...Progressive rock is glabby and dizzy. Unfortunate there is a lot of progressive rock on the rise, sadly. Progressive, if you mean innovation if you mean discovering new ground than I like the term. But progressive rock recalls for me the seventies, long solos and even worse haircuts."
Circa 2005:
"Progressive rock was the enemy in 1976. And it still is. And it has many, many faces. This beast is lurking everywhere. It can describe itself as indie rock. It's the same [blanking] thing. It's misery. I have seen so many great minds struck down by it."
"To be relevant, to set the imagination off on a new generation coming up. Songs that up the ante. That's your chorus? Make it your verse, then write a better chorus. That's what it's going to take. Basic songwriting. I think what happened in the UK music scene is instructive. Oasis came around and they weeded out progressive rock-itis, and brought ambition back to songwriting, and got a band to promote itself. "
Circa 2009:
"We grew up on the rock & roll 45. It is, in an evolutionary way that Brian should, but doesn't, appreciate, the Darwinian peak of the species. It is by far the most difficult thing to pull off, and it is the very life force of rock & roll: vitality, succinctness and catchiness, whether it's the Sex Pistols, Nirvana, the Pixies, the Beatles, the Who, the Rolling Stones. And when rock music forgets about the 45, it tends toward progressive rock, which is like a mold that grows on old, burned-out artists who've run out of ideas. We have a soundtrack/Pink Floyd side of our band, and it has to be balanced by fine songwriting. And it's an infuriating thing for me to see indie rock & roll give up the single to R&B and hip-hop. And that's why I love the Kings of Leon album or the Killers album: These are people who have such belief in their musical power that they refuse to ghettoize it."
Circa 2014:
“There’s awful progressive rock lurking around, but I have enough of a memory of 1977 to not surrender to it. There were incredibly pure thoughts in music then. You knew what the song was about. You knew the melody. You knew the hook. We’re going for a bit of that on the new album.”
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In short, Bono (and presumably the rest of U2) are not fans of progressive rock music. They have never cited any progressive rock band as an influence or peer. What I am saying is that I don't think we will be hearing U2 make any Neil Peart tributes or statements soon.
On another note, have U2 ever mentioned Rush or any progressive rock band in an interview or snippeted any of their songs?
Cheers,
J