Bono thinks that music has 'gotten very girly'

'And there are some good things about that, but hip-hop is the only place for young male anger at the moment'

We were so close to the finishing line of 2017 but, just like an unwanted U2 album on your iTunes, Bono had to stick his neck in.

His personal entry into the competition for the dumbest thing said this year is as follows: speaking to Rolling Stone, the frontman claimed that "music has gotten very girly. And there are some good things about that, but hip-hop is the only place for young male anger at the moment – and that's not good."

Comments seemingly without any substantiation: whatever Bono's interpretation of the situation may be, Billboard found back in September that women accounted for just 14% of U.S. Top 10 hits in the first eight months of 2017, marking an all-time-low. So, not "very girly" after all.

"When I was 16, I had a lot of anger in me," he continued. "You need to find a place for it and for guitars, whether it is with a drum machine – I don't care. The moment something becomes preserved, it is f*cking over. You might as well put it in formaldehyde. In the end, what is rock & roll? Rage is at the heart of it. Some great rock & roll tends to have that, which is why the Who were such a great band. Or Pearl Jam. Eddie has that rage."

While knee-deep in nostalgia by falling back on the old classics, Bono also echoed his son Eli's belief that "a rock & roll revolution is around the corner." Presumably, he's hoping it'll offer back a place for "young male anger".

According to The New York Times, meanwhile, that revolution is already here, and it's being led by women, citing the likes of up-and-comers Snail Mail, Vagabon, Sheer Mag, Diet Cig, and War on Women.

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