For over several decades, singer and songwriter Bob Dylan has been actively shaping and redefining the definition of popular music, reinventing the sound, so when he speaks about the future of music most people tend to listen. His distinct baritone voice has not only been the voice behind many hit songs such as “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Blowin’ in the Wind”, but he also has the ability to recognize lasting greatness in others. Dylan’s influence and musical talent didn’t just stop at his own catalog. Beyond his own songwriting genius, he was able to spot that the rock band U2 would be a musical act that would last decades.

The Moment Bob Dylan Told Bono U2 Would Outlive Every Era

Bob Dylan has, of course, long been revered for his artistry, so much so, in fact, that Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him as the best songwriter of all time, followed by another great legend, The Beatles’ Paul McCartney. And at 84, after nearly 60 years in the music industry, he is still going strong, with his last studio album, Shadow Kingdom, released in 2023 to critical and commercial success. Given Dylan’s prolific career, which includes 10 Grammy Awards, it might seem surprising that there are any artists of his caliber that he would single out as superior in talent, let alone hail them as having a career that would be remembered for a century or more.

However, according to the rock ‘n’ roll and folk icon, there is at least one band whose music deserves such high praise. That band is U2. U2 is, of course, the iconic Irish rock band formed in 1976. Known for their eclectic sound, fervent lyrics, and dedication to various political causes, the group, led by Bono, has attained worldwide fame with hit albums such as How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and Under A Blood Red Sky. The popular band, which cites the Ramones, T. Rex, and David Bowie as inspirations, has also influenced artists such as The Killers and Muse. But to impress Dylan, well, that’s a special feat all on its own. According to Bono in his autobiography of the band, U2 by U2: The Definitive Band History, when he expressed admiration for Dylan, the latter shocked him with his own praise for the group: “I said to Bob Dylan, ‘People are going to be playing your songs for thousands of years. He said, ‘Man, they’re going to be listening to your songs too. It’s just no one’s going to know how to play them.”

Bob Dylan’s Admiration for the Beatles Reveals a Complicated Relationship

U2 aren’t the only artists Bob Dylan has praised. While it is well known that Dylan and The Beatles had a rather complicated relationship, often fraught with creative tensions, each act did heap both criticism and praise on the other, and there is no denying that the group drew inspiration from Dylan. However, Dylan had on occasions voiced his admiration for the Fab Four’s artistry and songs, particularly in their classic 1963 song “Do You Want to Know a Secret, which was primarily written by John Lennon with George Harrison as lead vocalist.

The nearly two-minute pop ballad was released as the second single off their hit debut album Please Please Me. “The radio was on from beyond a wall, and the sound was coming through in static,” Dylan once recalled about the track on 2004’s Chronicles: Vol 1. “They were so easy to accept, so solid. I remember when they first came out. They offered intimacy and companionship like no other group. Their songs would create an empire. It seemed like a long time ago. ‘Do You Want to Know a Secret’. A perfect ’50s sappy love ballad, and nobody but them could do it. Somehow, there was nothing wussy about it.”

Related

Bob Dylan’s Classic ‘Just Like a Woman’ Features The Most Heartbreaking Lyrics of His Career

A track that dives into the devastating highs and lows of an unnamed woman whose identity remains debated today.

In addition to “Do You Want to Know a Secret”, Dylan also praised another Beatles song, “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” In 2015, he told NME Magazine, he praised not only the single but their legendary Ed Sullivan performance, “’I Want To Hold Your Hand’…They were doing things no one else was doing. Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous, and their harmonies made it all valid… I knew they were pointing in the direction of where music had to go.”