This week, U2 made history by releasing their brand new album, Songs of Innocence, free of charge on iTunes. With a customer base of 500 million people in the United States alone, Apple was quick to point out that it was the largest album release of all time.
Of course, there’s a catch to that declaration. Because the album was released for free, it’s not eligible to chart, nor will it be in contention for a Grammy in 2015. Also, a great number of Apple’s 500 million customers do not fit U2’s adult rock demo and have no desire to possess Songs of Innocence — even if it was given to them for free. There’s also the subset of individuals who’ve never actually heard of U2.
Just as they did before with Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, and Daft Punk, a number of people on Twitter are asking themselves, “Who is U2?”. That’s despite the fact that they’re one of rock ‘n’ roll’s biggest bands with 150 millions records sold worldwide and 22 Grammy Awards. Maybe Gene Simmons was right.
Here’s a collection of some of the very best tweets: