Bono says he doesn't like the name of his band U2 and gets 'embarrassed' listening to their music

• Bono said he is "embarrassed" by U2's music.
• The musician said he also dislikes the band's name.

Bono has said that he dislikes the name of his band, U2, his own singing voice, and the majority of songs he had sung for the band.

During an interview on the Awards Chatter podcast, the 61-year-old singer and philanthropist said he finds many of U2's songs cringeworthy and he now struggles to listen to his own vocals.

"I've been in the car when one of our songs has come on the radio and I've been the color of, as we say in Dublin, scarlet. I'm just so embarrassed," Bono told the podcast.

"I do think U2 pushes out the boat on embarrassment quite a lot and maybe that's the place to be as an artist, you know, right at the edge of your level of embarrassment."

The Dublin-born musician said that he is most proud of U2's 2004's single "Vertigo," but added: "Most of the other ones make me cringe a little bit."

He said: "The lyrics as well, I feel that on 'Boy' and other albums it was sketched out very unique and original material, but I don't think I filled in the details, and I look back and I go 'God.'"

Later during the interview, Bono said that he believes U2 — which consists of Bono as a frontman as well as musicians The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Junior who all met in school in Dublin — sound "incredible" but it is his voice that is "strained."

The frontman said he has only recently reached his full singing potential and his breakthrough was aided by the music of the rock band the Ramones.

"The big discovery for me was listening to the Ramones and hearing the beautiful kind of sound of Joey Ramone and realizing I didn't have to be that rock'n'roll singer," he said.

It is the name U2, however, that Bono said he most dislikes about his band.

"In our head, it was like the spy plane, U-boat, it was futuristic – as it turned out to imply this kind of acquiescence, no I don't like that name. I still don't really like the name," he said.