The Fly

By 1991, U2 was immensely famous, and lead singer Bono beared the brunt of that fame. Along with the accolades came slings that he was magnanimous and overly righteous - this is, after all, the guy who sang "thank God it's them instead of you" in "Do They Know It's Christmas?" But behind the facade he was insecure, feeling like he was merely playing the part. "The Fly" was his way to parody himself by doing a send-up of a vainglorious rock star. "Part Dada, part art attack, part Shakespearean fool, I loved the freedom I found as I stepped into my role as contrarian court jester," he wrote in his memoir Surrender. "Gone was old and earnest Bono, taking a finger in the eye from his shadow self, the importance of not being earnest Bono."

This song was inspired by the work of Jenny Holzer, an artist who displays short, provocative statements using various media, which can be anything from T-shirts to projections on buildings. Here's an example: "I repeat, for the sake of a last, simple sweetness: the sun goes around the Earth, yes" Some are more pointed - the stuff that memes are made of: "Abuse of power comes as no surprise" After U2's wardrobe assistant Fintan Fitzgerald bought Bono a book of Holzer's statements, Bono started writing his own to form the basis of this song: "A liar won't believe anybody else" "A friend is someone who lets you down" Since these statements didn't reflect Bono's true beliefs, he created a character to say them, which is how The Fly was born.

On a French TV show called Rapido the band explained that they wanted to build a song "a la Pixies." Bono and The Edge were big fans of the band.