I saw him on Saturday Night Live a couple years before I was a U2 fan, and thought he was terrible. Jumping around like an animal and scream-singing. Granted it seems punk has a reputation of being rather on the bad side, but plenty of punk singers can carry a tune to some degree. This guy just sorta shouts. I could see why he does spoken-word so much.
The fact that he rips on U2 only made me think less of him. How sad that the only reason I took any interest in him was because of things he said about a band I like, just to get an idea of who this windbag was.
It's one thing to rip on a band, it's another to rip on one who is better at songwriting in general than yours.