U2 Inspired The Black Eyed Peas to Write Their Biggest Hit

U2 influenced numerous classic rock bands, however, they don’t sound too much like The Black Eyed Peas. Regardless, a music executive revealed “I Gotta Feeling” wouldn’t exist without U2’s music. Here’s a look at how a record Bono said sold poorly had a massive impact on the pop charts.

Bono felt this U2 album was ‘challenging’ for younger people

It all started with an album Bono thought was too challenging for people: No Line on the Horizon. According to The Quietus, Bono was disappointed with the sales of the record. He felt it failed to connect with people for a very specific reason.: it didn’t have enough pop songs. “We weren’t really in that mindset and we felt that the album was a kind of an almost extinct species, and we should approach it in totality and create a mood and a feeling, and a beginning, middle and an end,” he said. “And I suppose we’ve made a work that is a bit challenging for people who have grown up on a diet of pop stars.” Certainly, by the time of No Line on the Horizon’s release in 2009, rock music had considerably receded from the zeitgeist compared to how prominent it was during U2’s 1980s and 1990s heyday.

Music executive dishes on why he disliked that U2 album

Jimmy Iovine is a producer who worked with everyone from Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith to Iggy Azalea and Gwen Stefani. In addition, he worked with U2 on the albums Under a Blood Red Sky and Rattle and Hum. During an interview with Rolling Stone, Iovine revealed he disliked the album. He said he didn’t consider it to be truly finished. However, he felt the song “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” deserved to be a hit.

How U2 inspired The Black Eyed Peas

Iovine revealed how “I’ll Go Crazy If I Go Crazy Tonight” influenced the Black Eyed Peas. “‘I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight’ is a great idea,” he said. “I’ll tell you a funny story about that one. I sent Will.i.am over there [points toward the studio across the street] to do some remixes on ‘I’ll Go Crazy.’ He works on them for two weeks, comes back and writes ‘I Gotta Feeling.’ The chords are U2 chords, 100 percent. He told them.”

‘I Gotta Feeling’ was bigger than almost any other song in the history of the American charts

So how did “I Gotta Feeling” perform? The song became the sixth best-performing song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem,” LeAnn Rimes’ “How Do I Live,” Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife,” Santana and Rob Thomas’ collaboration “Smooth,” and Chubby Checker’s “The Twist,” are, in order, the only songs to perform better. While “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” wasn’t a massive hit, it did inspire one of the most popular songs in the history of the American charts.