U2 were once "geeks" who use their music for "revenge".

Singer Bono and guitarist The Edge have recorded lyrics and music for a stage production of 'Spider-Man' - due to open on New York's Broadway next February - and say they identify with the story of lead character Peter Parker, an ordinary man who turns into a superhero.

The Edge said: "Every rock and roll star probably started out as the geek who got bullied in school, and eventually their form of revenge was to write songs or learn to play guitar."

The rockers say the agreed to take on the project because of the link between comic books and music.

Bono added to U2Place: "We were open to the idea of musical theatre, but 'Spider-Man', that's a different thing again, because that's comic books, and there's a whole series of relations between punk rock and rock bands and comic books, that goes back years."