Come on, folks, the lead singer in any band is the one who gets all the press. No one knows who the rest of the band is unless you're into music, and you barely know the drummer & bassist unless you're into the band. If the band is really famous, you know the singer & the lead guitar. I bet there are dozens of people on here who can't tell me who the rest of the Rolling Stones are besides Mick & Keith. Besides Steven Tyler, who else is in Aerosmith? Sure, a bunch of us know--but we're all on a band forum. Regular old people who don't give a rat's ass about music can't tell you. How many people in the world can really tell you who on earth Larry Mullen Junior & Adam Clayton are?
To the world, the lead singer is the figurehead of the band.
All that said, I think that U2 in general is a bit overexposed at the moment.