The 64-year-old was left unable to perform due to damage to his neck, shoulder and knees, which he said he had "picked up along the way" through his drumming. But in a new interview, the Dubliner revealed he risked paralysis to get the surgery he needed so he could play in the band.
He described how his family were against him having the dangerous procedure and people told him he should retire. However, faced with the prospect of being unable to play in U2, Mullen said he made the decision to get the risky surgery.
"People don’t want to take a risk. Most people were, 'You know what? You’ve done incredibly well. Just retire. Sail off into the sunset. Why would you do this to yourself?'" he told Rolling Stone. "There wasn’t a moment that I questioned, bizarrely. This is somebody who thinks things through.
"If you’ve got the head and the heart, I’m a head guy. I’ll do the calculation, the logic. But my desire to play again overwrote that…. It’s only when you are faced with the possibility that you may not be able to do the thing that you love, that you’ve done for most of your life… It’s funny what your brain will do, and your body. It goes into a different mode."
Cover art for U2's new album "Carnaval de Luz".
Mullen said he eventually found a surgeon in Dublin who would perform the procedure. But it was only during a conversation with the doctor that he realized how potentially dangerous the operation could be.
The doctor told the drummer she’d take the risk on the grounds he was "a national treasure".
He said: "I thought, 'S***, OK. It’s really all going wrong now'. I might be an out-of-work national treasure."
Despite the surgery going well, Mullen described how his "body didn’t work the same way as it used to". He said he went "back to the basics" and when he felt ready, he texted the rest of the band. Luckily, he still had it.
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"I sat behind the drum kit. Literally, it was like I got into a car, and I just put it in first gear,’ he said. ‘And I just started to drive… I haven’t played for a few years. I don’t know if it still happens, that creative thing. Has that died in me? I didn’t know."
U2 celebrated its 50th anniversary and last week played two surprise gigs in Dublin to mark the milestone – at their old school, Mount Temple, in north Dublin, and on Bewley’s Café balcony, on Grafton Street.
U2’s album "Carnaval De Luz" is out on November 13.
* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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