U2 rail against President Trump and the Ku Klux Klan in the new video for “Get Out of Your Own Way.” The animated clip was developed by the Broken Fingaz Crew, an Israeli graffiti collective.
The imagery in the video alternates between images of anguish – a woman crying, a skull enveloped by flames – and direct political references: Ku Klux Klan members march across the screen, torches in hand, while President Trump looks on from the Oval Office. In the background, U2 pair a call to action with shiny, arena-ready post-punk. “Fight back,” Bono instructs. “Don’t take it lyin’ down, you got to bite back.”
Broken Fingaz Crew envisioned the clip as a direct response to many of the headlines in 2017. “2017 for us was the year fascists worldwide felt confident enough to raise their heads again, encouraged by Trump and other world leaders who use people’s fear to build more walls and segregation,” they explained in a statement. “The song is both a personal letter and a clarion cry to the global situation, and in the same way, we’ve combined our psychedelic pop style with political imagery.”
“Get Out of Your Own Way” appeared on Songs of Experience, U2’s 14th studio LP, which came out last December. The band sold 186,000 album-equivalent units opening week, which earned them the top spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart. U2 is the only band to score Number One albums in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.
