Bono is seen backstage at the "American Idol" finale on Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)What would you do if you came home from a long day at work and discovered a friend had dropped by unannounced and prepared a gourmet meal just for you?
Would you: A) offer your profuse thanks and tuck in, or B) offer your rude gesture of choice and show them the door?
Unless your last name is "The Grouch," I'm guessing most of you would probably opt for some version of option A.
And yet, plenty of people were outraged last month when U2's "Songs of Innocence" album magically appeared in their iTunes account free of charge.
I know I wasn't alone in rolling my eyes when Bono and Apple CEO Tim Cook went all Wonder Twins during a live press event, touching their forefingers to signify the digital "launch." But I certainly didn't throw a fit about getting music on the house.
Plenty of people were plenty mad, though, and started braying their irritation when the album unexpectedly showed up on their devices.
"It's taking up our precious storage space," they said.
"We don't like U2," they said.
It didn't help that the album proved difficult to remove. Eventually, Apple took matters into its own hands and offered up a quick fix to purge "Songs of Innocence" from devices with a minimum of fuss.
And yet the pitchforks were still upraised, the torches still being brandished threateningly in Apple's direction.
Last week, Bono officially apologized for the release.
"I had this beautiful idea, and we got carried away with ourselves," he said in a Facebook Q&A.
My question is: What does it say about us that we're complaining about getting something for nothing? This is the case that disproves the economic wisdom that, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Isn't it?
Yes, there's a dramatic irony to the fact that is yet another example - and arguably the most egregious - of Bono foisting his unique brand of soapbox rock on us. Yes, you didn't ask for it.
That's beside the point.
It's free, and most importantly, you don't HAVE to listen to it. It can sit there, unobtrusive and silent, in your iTunes library without you ever having to press "play."
It seems we've become so attached to the idea of controlling what we listen to that we can't stand music being forced on us, no matter the cost. If we want to hear something, we'll Spotify it, thank you very much.
Apparently, we've become a society of Golden Corral fans. We prefer our music in the form of a no-holds-barred smorgasbord. We don't want to sit down to a curated, chef-selected menu.
I guess that'll teach Bono to cook for us.
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-62o5. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.