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 Through their longevity and keen sense of adventure — plus an intoxicating mix of ego and humility — U2 has ascended past ordinary superstardom into a rarified place of rock mythology. Over the course of more than 30 years together, they’ve experimented on their core foundation of anthemic rock with musical journeys into American folk music and tweaked electronica, and returned safely back home again. Lyrically, their songbook hews loudly to the political left, with regularly occurring treatises on the mysteries of love. The most magnetic piece of U2’s puzzle is the man who delivers their message, the ceaselessly charismatic Bono. The case for his sainthood is furthered by his impassioned efforts to end world poverty, among other important social causes.
Larry Mullen Jr., Paul Hewson (Bono), Dave Evans (The Edge) and Adam Clayton met in Dublin in 1976 when they were schoolboys. The topics of faith and Irish fists-and-hearts struggles in their early recordings often pegged them as a Christian rock band. Signed to Island Records in 1980, their first substantial hits were “I Will Follow,” “Gloria” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” which — with the emergence of Edge’s echoing guitar, Mullen’s rat-a-tat drums and Clayton’s liquid bass — found exposure worldwide through a young MTV. Their scrappy post-punk-drenched early tours of the U.S. also fueled their early fame.
From this humble beginning, U2 produced a series of now-iconic recordings including War (1983), The Joshua Tree (1987) and Achtung Baby (1991). After glittery runs with Zooropa (1993) and Pop (1997), the group grounded themselves in solid rock again with both All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000) and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004). Longtime collaborative producers Steve Lillywhite, Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno helmed the group’s 12th studio effort, No Line on the Horizon, a worldly effort recorded in Morocco, London, New York and Dublin.
Provenance: Dublin, Ireland
Latest Release: No Line on the Horizon (2009)
© 2009 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
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