Sunglasses model Bono has admitted that, yes, dropping U2's new album Songs of Innocence on everyone's iPhones without their permission was probably not a very good idea. He's sorry about it.

"Can you please never release an album on iTunes that automatically downloads to peoples [sic] playlists ever again? It's really rude," a presumably former fan of U2 asked during a Facebook Q&A, a thing we're apparently doing now. Bono's overlong and very Bono response:

Oops. I'm sorry about that. I had this beautiful idea and we got carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing. Drop of megalomania, touch of generosity, dash of self-promotion, and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years mightn't be heard.

The band announced that everyone with an iTunes account was getting their new album for free at Apple's much ballyhooed iPhone announcement last month. "For the people out there who have no interest in checking us out, look at it this way…the blood, sweat and tears of some Irish guys are in your junk mail," U2 wrote on their website.

Bono went on to say in the Facebook session that "there's a lot of noise out there," and that the band "got a little noisy ourselves to get through it."

OK.

[Image via Getty]