It was only able to be removed after the backlash. Apple had to build a tool for it, and users had to be connected to tech media enough to know that existed. And if they didn’t do it already, it’s too late.
The U2 episode is a perfect example of something that went unnoticed by people who already used iTunes heavily, but became a major pain point for anyone who didn’t already have a large library on their phone.
If your iTunes was filled with songs, it got lost in the noise. This probably describes all of the Apple employees who thought it was a good idea.
If your iTunes was empty, U2 became that annoying song that played by default when you connected your phone to your car for any reason or other systems that played music by default. For years I can remember this happening to people in random situations and then everyone around would groan.
That doesn’t sound easily removed to me.