New RT feature documentary explores the remarkable life of Andy Guck Rowen and tells the extraordinary true story that inspired U2's Iconic Song Bad'

Bad: The Song That Saved My Life airs Monday June 15, 9:35pm on RT One and RT Player

Bad: The Song That Saved My Life is a powerful new feature documentary exploring the remarkable life of Andy Guck Rowen, the Dublin man whose struggles with trauma and heroin addiction inspired three U2 songs, including the classic anthem Bad'.

Raised in a strict religious household and traumatised as an 11-year-old witness to the 1974 Dublin Bombings, Andy's life Later spiralled into addiction amid Dublin's vibrant 1980s punk scene. It was growing up on the North Side of Dublin that he met friends and contemporaries including future members of U2 and Virgin Prunes. Andy's unravelling following a near-fatal overdose inspired the writing of Bad', a song which featured on the band's 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire.

The documentary explores how Andy was unhoused and struggling when he was offered one final chance at recovery: a place in a rehab clinic in the United States. A series of extraordinary encounters, including a revelatory moment with the handwritten lyrics of Bad' and an unexpected tribute from Bono before 55,000 fans, help set him on a path toward sobriety and reconciliation.

Bad: The Song That Saved My Life is a fascinating documentary told candidly by Andy himself; family members including Andy's brothers and his daughter; the mother of his first two children; as well as Bono. It intertwines painful personal memory with Irish social history to tell an uplifting story of survival, friendship, faith, and second chances.

Andy said: The only thing I wanted to be when I was small, was good. Unfortunately, I found I couldn't be.

Bono said: He probably had the highest IQ of any kid on our street, and sometimes it seemed he'd memorised the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. He could remember turning two. He could remember a lot of things he would've liked to have forgotten.

Bad: The Song That Saved My Life airs Monday June 15, 9:35pm on RT One and RT Player.

ENDS

Linda Pototzki | RT Communications Lead

LINK:	https://about.rte.ie/2026/06/09/new-rte-feature-documentary-explores-t...
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