Love him or hate him, Bono has been one of the most mercurial frontmen in rock history.
His eclectic changes in style and vision have been drawn from a well of artistic influences that span the history of music, and in commemoration of his 60th birthday, the musician has shared a playlist of songs which pay tribute to that.
To celebrate his 60th birthday, Bono has put together a playlist of the 60 songs that changed his life along with letters to a number of the artists.
Now we can finally see where he draws all these influences from. As a welcome gift (unlike U2‘s 2014 Songs of Innocence fiasco) Bono has shared a playlist of the 60 songs that changed his life on his 60th birthday.
Even though he is ageing a little, it’s clear that Bono is keeping up to date with all new music. The not-so-small collection features newer material from Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, and Kanye West. It also delves back into his early influences including Bob Dylan, The Clash, Iggy Pop, and David Bowie.
Bono also featured a number of short letters dedicated to some of the artists describing his love and admiration for their music. These include letters to Bowie, Billie Eilish, Daft Punk, Massive Attack, and Kraftwerk. He also pays his respects to Kraftwerk’s Florian Schneider who died last week.
In the Instagram post discussing the playlist, Bono explained, “These are some of the songs that saved my life. The ones I couldn’t have lived without… the ones that got me from there to here, zero to 60… through all the scrapes, all manner of nuisance, from the serious to the silly… and the joy, mostly joy.”
Check out Bono’s post and the full fantastic list below:
