Foster the People Frontman Has Hand in 'Spider-Man' Musical Song With U2

There is a longstanding tradition of respected rock acts writing great pop songs. Even the greatest rock writing duos of all time, the Beatles' John Lennon and Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, penned pop masterpieces for others -- Peter and Gordon's 'World Without Love' and Marianne Faithfull's 'As Tears Go By,' respectively -- as their fledgling musical careers were blossoming.

As the author of one of the year's catchiest tunes, 'Pumped Up Kicks,' Mark Foster, frontman for indie rock group Foster the People, has been hailed as the inheritor to MGMT's intelligent pop crown. So it's only logical that, when U2's Bono and the Edge were seeking a verse writer for one of the songs in their 'Spider-Man' musical, 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,' the powers that be called upon Foster's penchant for pop hooks to help augment their soaring chorus.

"I just wrote a song with Bono that's for the 'Spider-Man' musical!" Foster enthuses to Spinner. "I was in the studio with a producer called Alex the Kid and we were just songwriting together. We worked on this tune and it turned out it was a Bono/the Edge song that I wrote the verses for."

The resulting tune, 'Rise Above 1,' was recently sung by Bono, the Edge and 'Spider-Man' actor Reeve Carney on 'American Idol.' Though he's yet to meet his co-songwriters in person (the deal went down via the Internet) or even see the result of his work in person ("too busy"), he hopes the opportunity will lead to more pop songwriting outside his band, if only to make his accountant happy.

"I would totally work with Bieber," he laughs. "My bank would love that."

Watch Foster the People Perform on The Interface @ SXSW 2011
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