When Italian soccer fans were victorious at the World Cup recently, they adopted the White Stripes’ iconic riff from “Seven Nation Army” as their official anthem and the Rolling Stones were even joined by two star players for an a capella version soon after. The song has since become a stadium chant at matches all over Europe, where many soccer hooligans aren’t even aware of its origin at this point. “I am honored that the Italians have adopted this song as their own,” White said. “Nothing is more beautiful in music than when people embrace a melody and allow it to enter the pantheon of folk music.”

Well, it may be okay for a stadium of sports fans, but White wasn’t too keen on his It Might Get Loud co-star taking liberties with said “folk” riff. Daily Express reports that U2’s the Edge wrote a guitar melody and performed it for his brother, who warned him that it was too similar to White’s guitar (detuned down an octave) riff. “I went back and listened, and it wasn’t exactly (Seven Nation Army),” the Edge said. To be completely sure (and probably to avoid an embarrassing plagiarism lawsuit), Edge brought it to the man himself: “I played it for Jack, and he was like, ‘Mmm, it’s a bit close, isn’t it?’”

See that, Coldplay? If you had only let Joe Satriani and Cat Stevens hear your demos, that whole mess could’ve been avoided.

In case you haven’t been following, Bono and the Edge’s Spider-Man musical is actually happening. Evan Rachel Wood stars as Mary Jane Watson, Alan Cumming is the Green Goblin, and the lead role has yet to be announced, but rehearsals have begun and this random (even Larry Mullen thinks so) U2/Broadway mashup is actually going down. At least we get this funny bit: Rolling Stone reports (via The Playlist) that Evan Rachel Wood was on the Jimmy Fallon show the other day and she dished about a workshop for the musical where she told Bono to lighten up.

“I got to do the workshop, sit down with them playing guitars going over the music, and I was making jokes going, watch by the end of this, I’ll be telling them what to do,” Wood said. “And by the end I was! I was like, Bono, I know you want to save the world and everything, but in this song you’re talking about poverty and world hunger and it’s Broadway, can we lighten this up a bit, can I just not sing this? And he was like, [in Irish accent] ‘You’re right, I know, we have to try, we have to try.’”

Poor, Bono. These independent women just won’t leave him alone.

Bono and the Edge seem a little insecure about their Spider-Man musical’s rock credentials, but I don’t really see why. Sure, bandmate Larry Mullen, Jr. sort of dissed the project, but Larry’s always disagreeing with Bono. I think a simple “we’re the freakin’ guitarist and singer of U2, so we’ll do whatever we want” should suffice.

Either way, Bono and the Edge spoke to Italian fansite U2place (via RS) recently and were adamant that their foray into musical theater is actually very punk rock: “We were open to the idea of musical theater,” Bono said, “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.”

Okay, I get it. A lot of rockers like comic books. The Edge takes the idea a little further though, saying that Peter Parker is “sort of like every rock & roll star’s story, in a weird way. Every rock & roll star probably started out as the geek who was bullied on in school, and eventually their form of revenge was to write songs or learn to play guitar or to sing or play drums and some of us ended up in big bands.”

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark premieres on Broadway on September 12, 2009, so grab your tickets now to see Peter Parker use this whole “superhero” thing as a springboard into rock stardom.

It looks like U2 drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. had the same reaction that we did when we heard about Bono and The Edge’s Spider-Man musical. He told STV Entertainment, “I’m not convinced about that. I think it’s a Bono and Edge project and I think that’s really valuable and really good. But I wouldn’t have chosen ‘Spider-Man’ as my theatrical debut.”

This is certainly not the first time Mullen has publicly disagreed with other members of U2. Late last year, Mullen spoke out about his discomfort with seeing Bono meeting with former British PM Tony Blair and former U.S. President George Bush. He even added, “Do I think George Bush is a war criminal? Probably.” It’s no wonder we don’t usually see Mullen doing interviews with his bandmates.

For more from STV Entertainment’s scoop, including a bit about how Bono thinks Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark could be as good as The Who’s Quadrophenia, click here.

Casting agents for Bono and The Edge’s Spider-Man musical have announced open call auditions in six major U.S. cities (NY, LA, Seattle, Chicago, Austin, Orlando). The press release said they are “seeking principals and understudies for the roles of ‘Peter Parker,’ ‘Mary Jane,’ and ‘Female Lead Villain.’ The production is looking for performers with dynamic rock/pop voices including those with experience in bands and as solo performers. Regardless of experience, anyone who thinks they might be qualified is encouraged to audition.”

Said “Female Lead Villian” should have “an amazing rock voice. Think Sinead O’Connor with a Middle Eastern/Bulgarian/Greek twist. Foreign accents are great.” Oh, of course the villain has to be a Pope-hater with a Middle Eastern accent. That’s kind of messed up.

So get on your Spidey boots and start practicing ‘cause the first audition date is less than a week away.

U2 gave Rolling Stone an advanced listen to their upcoming album No Line on the Horizon at their London studio. The Edge describes how meeting Jack White and Jimmy Page while filming the upcoming documentary It Might Get Loud inspired the bluesy riffs on their new song “Stand Up Comedy.” He told RS, “I was just fascinated with seeing how Jimmy played those riffs so simply, and with Jack as well.”

Descriptions of all the new songs are here.