Nadine Shah calls U2’s Adam Clayton a “fucking spenk” over remark in Phil Lynott documentary
Nadine Shah has labelled U2 bassist Adam Clayton a “fucking spenk” on social media, pointing to a clip from his appearance in the documentary Phil Lynott: Songs For While I’m Away.
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In the clip that Shah tweeted last night (December 4), Clayton speaks on Lynott’s work as a bassist – in particular his role playing the instrument in Thin Lizzy. “One thing you need to know about the bass is it’s that big, heavy thing that hangs down between your legs,” Clayton said in the documentary.
“The bass is this secret weapon. It’s where the power comes from. It looks in a groove with the drum kit – the drums and the bass gives you that nice, kind of sexy wiggle of the hips. And then all the other kind of girly stuff sits on top, but we are the men of the band.”
It’s this last sentence in particular that Shah took issue with, as she responded to Clayton’s quip with a blunt summary of her thoughts: “Prick.” She expounded on her criticism in a caption shared with the snippet, saying: “Adam Clayton is a fucking spenk. My ‘girly stuff’ shits on what you do.”
Adam Clayton is a fucking spenk. My “girly stuff” shits on what you do. pic.twitter.com/DrCDdsiKwf
— Nadine Shah (@nadineshah) December 4, 2021
Shah has long been vocal in calling out sexist behaviour. Back in October, she detailed several incidents of verbal and sexual assault that she’d experienced in the span of a month. “The abuse of women is everyday and everywhere,” she said at the time.
She’s also addressed themes of sexism in several of her songs, including tracks from her recent fourth album, ‘Kitchen Sink’, such as ‘Buckfast’ and ‘Trad’.
That album landed in June of 2020. In a four-star review, NME’s El Hunt said: “Despite a recurring fixation on forked roads and untrodden paths, ‘Kitchen Sink’ is ultimately rooted in the vague flicker of hopefulness and compassion that Shah embodies so often, and so skilfully; though it dispels the myth that it’s possible to be the woman who truly has it all, she embraces choice, rewriting narratives and multitudes instead.”
