U2 are a
rock band formed in
Dublin,
Ireland. The band consists of
Bono (
vocals and
guitar),
The Edge (guitar,
keyboards, and vocals),
Adam Clayton (
bass guitar), and
Larry Mullen, Jr. (
drums and
percussion).
The band formed in 1976 when the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency. By the mid-1980s, the band had become a top international act. Their success as a live act was greater than their success as a record selling act until their 1987 album
The Joshua Tree, which according to
Rolling Stone, elevated the band's stature "from heroes to superstars". U2 responded to the
dance and
alternative rock revolutions and their own sense of musical stagnation by reinventing themselves with their 1991 album
Achtung Baby and the accompanying
Zoo TV Tour. Since 2000, U2 have pursued a more conventional rock sound that retains the influence of their previous musical explorations.
U2 have sold more than 145 million albums worldwide
[3][and have won 22
Grammy Awards,
[5] more than any other band.
[6] In 2005, the band were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone magazine listed U2 at #22 in its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.
[7] Throughout their career, as a band and as individuals, they have campaigned for
human rights and
social justice causes, including
Amnesty International, the
ONE Campaign and Bono's
DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa) campaign.
Contents[
hide]
1 History1.1 Formation and early years (1976–1979)1.2 Boy, October, and War (1980–1983)1.3 The Unforgettable Fire and Live Aid (1984–1985)1.4 The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum (1986–1989)1.5 Achtung Baby, Zoo TV, and Zooropa (1990–1993)1.6 Passengers, Pop, and PopMart (1994–1999)1.7 "Reapplying for the job of the best band in the world" (2000–2006)1.8 No Line on the Horizon and U2 360° Tour (2007–present)2 Musical style2.1 Lyrics and themes2.2 Influences3 Campaigning and activism4 Other projects5 Discography6 Awards7 References7.1 General7.2 Notes8 External links//
[
edit] History
[
edit] Formation and early years (1976–1979)
U2 in their early years: (left to right) Clayton, Mullen, Bono, Edge
The band formed in Dublin on 25 September 1976.
[8] Larry Mullen, Jr., then 14, posted a notice on his secondary school notice board (
Mount Temple Comprehensive School) seeking musicians for a new band. Seven teenage boys attended the initial practice in Mullen's kitchen. It was, as Mullen put it, "'The Larry Mullen Band' for about ten minutes, then Bono walked in and blew any chance I had of being in charge." The group featured Mullen on drums,
Paul Hewson (Bono) on lead vocals,
Dave Evans (The Edge) and his brother
Dik Evans on guitar,
Adam Clayton, a friend of the Evans brothers on bass guitar, and initially Ivan McCormick and Peter Martin, two other friends of Mullen.
[9] Soon after, the group settled on the name "Feedback", because it was one of the few technical terms they knew.
[10] Martin did not return after the first practice, and McCormick left the group within a few weeks. Most of the group's material initially consisted of cover versions, which the band said was not their forte.[
citation needed] The original material the band did write demonstrated a sound influenced by their
post-punk peers.
[11]We couldn't believe it. I was completely shocked. We weren't of an age to go out partying as such but I don't think anyone slept that night.... Really, it was just a great affirmation to win that competition, even though I've no idea how good we were or what the competition was really like. But to win at that point was incredibly important for morale and everyone's belief in the whole project.
—
The Edge on winning the CBS competition
[12]In March 1977, the band changed their name to "The Hype".
[13] Dik Evans, who was older and by this time at college, was becoming the odd man out. The rest of the band was leaning towards the idea of a four-piece ensemble and he was "phased out" in March 1978. During a farewell concert in the
Presbyterian Church Hall in
Howth, which featured The Hype playing covers, Dik ceremoniously walked offstage. The remaining four band members completed the concert playing original material as "U2".
[14] Steve Averill, a punk rock musician and family friend of Clayton's, had suggested six potential names from which the band chose "U2" for its ambiguity and open-ended interpretations, and because it was the name that they disliked the least.
[15]On
Saint Patrick's Day in 1978, U2 won a talent show in
Limerick, Ireland. The prize consisted of £500 and studio time to record a demo which would be heard by CBS Ireland. This win was an important milestone and affirmation for the fledgling band.
[14] The band recorded their first demo tape at Keystone Studios, in Harcourt Street, Dublin, in April 1978.
[16] Hot Press was influential in shaping the band's future; in May,
Paul McGuinness, who had earlier been introduced to the band by the magazine's journalist Bill Graham, agreed to be U2's manager.
[17] U2's first release, an Ireland-only EP entitled
Three, was released in September 1979 and was the band's first Irish chart success.
[18] In December 1979, U2 performed in London for their first shows outside Ireland, although they failed to get much attention from audiences or critics.
[19] In February 1980, their second single "
Another Day" was released on the CBS label, but again only for the Irish market.
[20][
edit] Boy, October, and War (1980–1983)
Island Records signed U2 in March 1980, and "
11 O'Clock Tick Tock" became the band's first internationally released single that May.
[21] The band's debut album, the
Steve Lillywhite produced
Boy, followed in October, and received generally positive reviews.
[22] Although Bono's lyrics were unfocused and seemingly improvised, a common theme was the dreams and frustrations of adolescence.
[23] The album included the band's first United Kingdom hit single, "
I Will Follow". Boy's release was followed by U2's first tour of continental Europe and the United States.
[24] Despite being unpolished, these early live performances demonstrated U2's potential, as critics noted that Bono was a "charismatic" and "passionate" showman.
[25]The band's second album,
October, was released in 1981 and contained overtly spiritual themes. During the album's recording sessions, Bono and The Edge left the band due to spiritual conflicts, and U2 ceased to exist for a brief period of time.
[26] Bono, The Edge, and Mullen had joined a Christian group in Dublin called the 'Shalom Fellowship', which led them to question the relationship between the Christian faith and the rock and roll lifestyle.
[27] Recording was further complicated when a briefcase containing lyrics for several working songs was stolen from backstage during the band's performance at a nightclub in
Portland, Oregon; it was recovered and returned to the band in 2004, nearly a quarter century later.
[28] The album received mixed reviews and limited radio play. It did not sell well outside the UK, which put pressure on their contract with Island and focused the band on improvement.
[29]Bono performs in Norway during the
War Tour in 1983.
Resolving the doubts of the October period, U2 released
War in 1983.
[30] A record where the band "turned pacifism itself into a crusade",
[31] War's sincerity and "rugged" guitar was intentionally at odds with the "cooler" synth-pop of the time.
[32] The album included
"Sunday Bloody Sunday", where Bono had lyrically tried to contrast the events of
Bloody Sunday with
Easter Sunday.
[33] Rolling Stone magazine wrote that the song showed the band was capable of deep and meaningful songwriting. War was U2's first album to feature the photography of
Anton Corbijn, who remains U2's principal photographer and has had a major influence on their vision and public image.
[34] U2's first commercial success, War debuted at number one in the UK, and its first single, "
New Year's Day", was the band's first hit outside Ireland or the UK.
[35]On the subsequent
War Tour, the band performed to sold-out concerts in mainland Europe and the U.S. The image of Bono waving a white flag during performances of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" became a familiar sight.
[36] U2 recorded the
Under a Blood Red Sky live album on this tour, as well as the
Live at Red Rocks concert film, both of which received extensive play on the radio and
MTV, expanding the band's audience and cementing the band's prowess as a live band.
[37] Their generally unfavourable record deal with Island Records was coming to an end, and in 1984 U2 signed a highly lucrative extension. They negotiated the return of their copyrights (so that they owned the rights to their own songs), an increase in their royalty rate, and a general improvement in terms, at the expense of a larger initial payment.
[38][
edit] The Unforgettable Fire and Live Aid (1984–1985)
We knew the world was ready to receive the heirs to
The Who. All we had to do was to keep doing what we were doing and we would become the biggest band since
Led Zeppelin, without a doubt. But something just didn't feel right. We felt we had more dimension than just the next big anything, we had something unique to offer. The innovation was what would suffer if we went down the standard rock route. We were looking for another feeling.
—
Bono on The Unforgettable Fire's new direction.
[39]The Unforgettable Fire was released in 1984. Ambient and abstract, it was at the time the band’s most marked change in direction.
[40] The band feared that following the overt rock of the War album and tour, they were in danger of becoming another "shrill", "sloganeering arena-rock band".
[41] Thus, experimentation was sought
[42] as Adam Clayton recalls, "We were looking for something that was a bit more serious, more arty."
[39] The Edge admired the ambient and "weird works" of
Brian Eno, who, along with his engineer
Daniel Lanois, eventually agreed to produce the record.
[43]"The Unforgettable Fire" (1984)Sample of "The Unforgettable Fire" from the album The Unforgettable Fire (1984). Typical of the album, the song has a rich, symphonic sound built from ambient guitar and driving rhythm; a lyrical "sketch".
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The Unforgettable Fire has a rich and orchestrated sound. Under Lanois' direction, Larry's drumming became looser, funkier, and more subtle and Adam's bass became more subliminal; the rhythm section no longer intruded, but flowed in support of the songs.
[45] Complementing the sonic atmospherics, the album's lyrics are open to many interpretations, providing what the band called a "very visual feel".
[40] Bono's recent immersion in fiction, philosophy, and poetry made him realise that his songwriting responsibility — about which he had always been reluctant — was a poetic one. Due to a tight recording schedule, however, Bono felt songs like "
Bad" and "
Pride (In the Name of Love)" were incomplete "sketches".
[46] "Pride (In the Name of Love)", about
Martin Luther King, was the album's first single and became the band's biggest hit at that point, including being their first to enter the U.S. top 40.
[47]Much of
The Unforgettable Fire Tour moved into indoor arenas as U2 began to win their long battle to build their audience.
[48] The complex textures of the new studio-recorded tracks, such as "The Unforgettable Fire" and "Bad", were problematic to translate to live performance.
[40] One solution was programmed
sequencers, which the band had previously been reluctant to use, but are now used in the majority of the band's performances.
[40] Songs on the album had been criticised as being "unfinished", "fuzzy", and "unfocused", but were better received by critics when played on stage.
[49]U2's performance at
Live Aid was a turning point in their career.
U2 participated in the
Live Aid concert for
Ethiopian famine relief at
Wembley Stadium in July 1985.
[50] U2's performance was a turning point in the band's career.
[51] During the song "Bad", Bono leapt down off the stage to embrace and dance with a fan, showing a television audience of millions the personal connection that Bono could make with audiences.
[52] In 1985, Rolling Stone magazine called U2 the "Band of the 80s", saying that "for a growing number of rock-and-roll fans, U2 have become the band that matters most, maybe even the only band that matters".
[53][
edit] The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum (1986–1989)
Motivated by friendships with
Bob Dylan,
Van Morrison, and
Keith Richards, the band looked back to the roots of rock music, and Bono focused on his skills as a song and lyric writer.
[54] Realising "that U2 had no tradition", the band explored American
blues,
country, and
gospel music.
[55] For their fifth album, the band wanted to build on The Unforgettable Fire's atmospherics, but instead of its out-of-focus tracks, they sought a harder-hitting sound within the strict discipline of conventional song structures.
[56] U2 interrupted their 1986 album sessions to serve as a headline act on
Amnesty International's A Conspiracy of Hope tour, but rather than be a distraction, the tour added extra intensity and power to their new music.
[57] In his 1986 travels to
San Salvador and
Nicaragua, Bono saw the distress of peasants bullied in internal conflicts subject to American political intervention. This first-hand experience later became a central influence on the new music. The band wanted music with a sense of location, a 'cinematic' quality; the album's music and lyrics draw on imagery created by American writers whose works the band had been reading.
[58]The wild beauty, cultural richness, spiritual vacancy and ferocious violence of America are explored to compelling effect in virtually every aspect of The Joshua Tree—in the title and the cover art, the blues and country borrowings evident in the music ... Indeed, Bono says that "dismantling the mythology of America" is an important part of "The Joshua Tree's" artistic objective.
—
Rolling Stone[59]The Joshua Tree[60] was released in March 1987. The album juxtaposes antipathy towards America against the band's deep fascination with the country, its open spaces, freedom, and what it stands for.
[61] It became the fastest-selling album in British chart history, and was number one for nine weeks in the United States.
[62] It won U2 their first two
Grammy Awards.
[63] The album's first two singles, "the rock & roll
bolero" "
With or Without You"
[41] and the rhythmic gospel "
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", quickly went to number one in the U.S. U2 became the fourth rock band to be featured on the cover of
Time magazine,
[64] which declared U2 "Rock's Hottest Ticket".
[65] The album brought U2 a new level of success and is cited by Rolling Stone as one of rock's greatest.
[66] The Joshua Tree Tour was the first during which the band played numerous stadium shows alongside smaller arena shows.
[67]The documentary
Rattle and Hum featured footage recorded from The Joshua Tree Tour, and the accompanying double album of the same name included nine studio tracks and six live U2 performances. Released in record stores and cinemas in October 1988, the album and film were intended as a tribute to American music.
[68] The film included tracks recorded at
Sun Studios in
Memphis and tracks performed with
Bob Dylan and
B. B. King. Despite a positive reception from fans, Rattle and Hum received mixed reviews from both film and music critics;
[69] one Rolling Stone editor spoke of the album's "excitement", another described it as "bombastic and misguided".
[70] The film's director,
Phil Joanou, described it as "an overly pretentious look at U2".
[71] Most of the album's new material was played on 1989's
Lovetown Tour, which primarily consisted of shows in Australia and Europe. With a sense of musical stagnation, Bono announced at an end-of-decade concert that U2 had come to the end of an era and had to "...go away and just dream it all up again".
[72][
edit] Achtung Baby, Zoo TV, and Zooropa (1990–1993)
Buzzwords on this record were trashy, throwaway, dark, sexy, and industrial (all good) and earnest, polite, sweet, righteous, rockist and linear (all bad). It was good if a song took you on a journey or made you think your hifi was broken, bad if it reminded you of recording studios or U2 ... Berlin became a conceptual backdrop for the record. The Berlin of the Thirties—decadent, sexual and dark—resonating against the Berlin of the Nineties—reborn, chaotic and optimistic...
—
Brian Eno on the recording of Achtung Baby
[73]Stung by criticism of Rattle and Hum, the band made a calculated change in musical and thematic direction for their seventh studio album,
Achtung Baby; the change was their most dramatic since The Unforgettable Fire.
[74] The band began work on Achtung Baby in East Berlin in October 1990 with producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, seeking inspiration and renewal on the eve of
German reunification.
[75] The sessions instead proved to be difficult. In Berlin, conflict arose within the band over the quality of material and musical direction. While Adam and Larry preferred a sound similar to U2's previous work, Bono and The Edge were inspired by
alternative rock and European
dance music and advocated a change. Weeks of slow progress, arguments, and tension subsided when the band rallied around a chord progression The Edge had written, creating the song "
One".
[76] The band completed the album in Dublin.
In November 1991, U2 released Achtung Baby. Sonically, the album incorporated dance,
industrial, and alternative rock influences of the time and the band referred to the album as the sound of "four men chopping down the Joshua Tree".
[77] Thematically, it was a more inward-looking and personal record; it was darker, yet at times more flippant, than the band's previous work. Commercially and critically, it has been one of the band's most successful albums and was a crucial part of the band's early 1990s reinvention.
[78] Like The Joshua Tree, it is cited by Rolling Stone as one of rock's greatest.
[66]The Zoo TV stage featured a complex setup with over 30 video screens.
[79]"The Fly" (1991)Sample of "
The Fly" – chosen as the first single from
Achtung Baby (1991) because its hip-hop beats, distorted vocals, and hard industrial edge sounded nothing like the traditional U2 sound.
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The
Zoo TV Tour of 1992–1993 was a
multimedia event, and showcased an extravagant but intentionally bewildering array of hundreds of video screens, upside-down flying
Trabant cars, mock transmission towers,
satellite TV links,
subliminal messages, and Bono's over-the-top stage characters such as "
The Fly", "Mirror-Ball Man", and "(Mister) MacPhisto". The extravagant shows were intentionally in contrast to the austere staging of previous U2 tours, and mocked the excesses of rock and roll by appearing to embrace these very excesses. The shows were, in part, U2's way to represent the pervasive nature of cable television and its blurring of news, entertainment, and home shopping.
[81] Prank phone calls were made to
President Bush, the
United Nations, and others. Live satellite uplinks to war-torn
Sarajevo caused controversy.
[82]Quickly recorded and released during a break in the Zoo TV tour in mid-1993, the
Zooropa album continued many of the themes from Achtung Baby and the Zoo TV tour. Initially intended as an
EP, the band expanded Zooropa into a full-length
LP album. It was an even greater departure from the style of their earlier recordings, incorporating
techno influences and other electronic effects.
[83] Johnny Cash sang the vocal on the "
The Wanderer". Most of the songs were played at least once during the 1993 leg of the tour, which extended through Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan; half the album's tracks became fixtures in the set.
[84][
edit] Passengers, Pop, and PopMart (1994–1999)
In 1995, U2 released an experimental album called
Original Soundtracks 1. Brian Eno, producer of three previous U2 albums, contributed as a full partner, including writing and performing. For this reason, and due to the record's highly experimental nature, the band chose to release it under the moniker "Passengers" to distinguish it from U2's conventional albums. It was commercially unnoticed by U2 standards and it received generally poor reviews. However, the single "
Miss Sarajevo" featuring
Luciano Pavarotti, and which Bono cites as one of his favourite U2 songs,
[85] was a hit.
It's not enough to write a great lyric; it’s not enough to have a good idea or a great hook, lots of things have to come together and then you have to have the ability to discipline and screen. We should give this album to a re-mixer, go back to what was originally intended, so that 'Mofo' is on top of the stickiest groove with a proper plastic attack, 'Do You Feel Loved' is done as a liquid bass line hook that carries the intimacies whispered on top of it, 'If God Will Send His Angels' should be
diamonds and pearls.
—
Bono on Pop
[86]On 1997's
Pop, U2 continued experimenting;
tape loops,
programming, rhythm sequencing, and
sampling provided much of the album with heavy, funky dance rhythms.
[87] Released in March, the album debuted at number one in 35 countries, and drew mainly positive reviews.
[88] Rolling Stone, for example, stated that U2 had "defied the odds and made some of the greatest music of their lives".
[89] Others felt that the album was a major disappointment and sales were poor compared to previous U2 releases.
[90] The band was hurried into completing the album in time for the impending pre-booked tour, and Bono admitted that the album "didn't communicate the way it was intended to".
[91]The giant screen from the
PopMart Tour stage
The subsequent tour,
PopMart, commenced in April 1997. Like Zoo TV, it poked fun at pop culture and was intended to send a sarcastic message to those accusing U2 of commercialism. The stage included a 100-foot (30 m) tall golden yellow arch (reminiscent of the
McDonald's logo), a 150-foot (46 m) long video screen, and a 40-foot (12 m) tall mirrorball lemon. U2's "big shtick" failed, however, to satisfy many who were seemingly confused by the band's new kitsch image and elaborate sets.
[92] The late delivery of Pop meant rehearsal time was severely reduced, and performances in early shows suffered.
[93] A highlight of the tour was a concert in
Sarajevo where U2 were the first major group to perform following the
Bosnian War.
[94] Larry Mullen, Jr. described the concert as "an experience I will never forget for the rest of my life, and if I had to spend 20 years in the band just to play that show, and have done that, I think it would have been worthwhile."
[95] One month following the conclusion of the PopMart Tour, U2 appeared on the 200th episode of
The Simpsons, "
Trash of the Titans", in which
Homer Simpson disrupted the band on stage during a PopMart concert.
[96][
edit] "Reapplying for the job of the best band in the world" (2000–2006)
All That You Can't Leave Behind is easy to relate to, full of solid songs that appeal to a wide audience with its clear notions of family, friendship, love, death, and re-birth. More Lanois than Eno on first impression, the sounds on this album come from a band that has digested the music it started to consume while making Rattle and Hum. This time they are neither imitating or paying tribute. This time it's soul music, not music about soul.
— Caroline van Oosten de Boer
[42]Following the comparatively poor reception of Pop, U2 declared they were "reapplying for the job ... [of] the best band in the world",
[97] and have since pursued a more conventional rock sound mixed with the influences of their 1990s musical explorations.
[98] All That You Can't Leave Behind was released in October 2000 and reunited the band with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. The album was considered by many of those not won over by the band's 1990s experimentation as a return to grace;
[99] Rolling Stone called it U2's "third masterpiece" alongside The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.
[100] The album debuted at number one in 22 countries
[101] and its worldwide hit single, "
Beautiful Day" earned three
Grammy Awards. The album's other singles, "
Walk On", "
Elevation", and "
Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" also won Grammy Awards.
U2 perform at
Super Bowl XXXVI Halftime Show, 3 February 2002
For the
Elevation Tour, U2 performed in a scaled-down setting, returning to arenas after nearly a decade of stadium productions. A heart-shaped stage and ramp permitted greater proximity to the audience. Following the
September 11 attacks, the new album gained added resonance.
[102] In October, U2 performed a series of sold-out shows at
Madison Square Garden in New York City. In later interviews, Bono and the Edge called these New York City shows among their most memorable and emotional performances.
[103] In early 2002, U2 performed during halftime of
Super Bowl XXXVI,
[104] which
SI.com ranked as the best halftime show in Super Bowl history.
[105]"Vertigo" (2004)Sample of "Vertigo" – propelled by an aggressive riff, the song became a hit worldwide and was used extensively in a cross-promotion with
Apple.
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The band's next studio album,
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, was released on 22 November 2004. Sonically, the band was looking for harder-hitting rock than All That You Can't Leave Behind. Thematically, Bono states that "A lot of the songs are paeans to naiveté, a rejection of knowingness."
[106] The first single, "
Vertigo", was featured on a widely-aired television commercial for the
Apple iPod, in conjunction with the release of a special edition U2 iPod and an
iTunes U2 box set. The album debuted at number one in the U.S. where first week sales doubled that of All That You Can't Leave Behind and set a record for the band.
[107] Claiming it as a contender as one of U2's three best albums, Bono said, "There are no weak songs. But as an album, the whole isn't greater than the sum of its parts, and it freaking annoys me."
[106] Using a similar setup and stage design as the previous tour, the
Vertigo Tour featured a set list that varied more across dates than any U2 tour since the Lovetown Tour, and included songs not played since the early 1980s. Like the Elevation Tour, the Vertigo Tour was a commercial success.
[108] The album and its singles won Grammy Awards in all eight categories in which U2 were nominated. In 2005,
Bruce Springsteen inducted U2 into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
[109] A
3-D concert film,
U2 3D, filmed at nine concerts during the
Latin America leg of the Vertigo Tour (
Mexico,
Chile,
Argentina and
Brazil), was released on 23 January 2008.
In August 2006, the band incorporated its publishing business in The Netherlands two months after Ireland capped its artists' tax exemption at €250,000.
[110][
edit] No Line on the Horizon and U2 360° Tour (2007–present)
The band began work on their twelfth album
No Line on the Horizon in 2006, originally writing and recording with producer
Rick Rubin, but the material was shelved. The band subsequently chose to begin writing and recording for the album with producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno in June 2007. A two-week trip to
Fez, Morocco where the six recorded led to the band experimenting with North African sounds and indicating the album would be more experimental than their previous efforts. During the album sessions, on 31 March 2008, it was confirmed that U2 signed a 12 year deal with
Live Nation worth an estimated $100 million (£50 million),
[111] which includes Live Nation controlling the band's merchandise, sponsoring, and their official website.
After 16 months in the studio, the band completed No Line on the Horizon in December 2008, and it was released on 27 February 2009.
[112] The album received generally positive reviews, but critics noted the end result was not as experimental as expected. The band have confirmed plans to release another album by the end of the year, provisionally titled Songs of Ascent, consisting of material recorded during the sessions for No Line on the Horizon. Bono says it will be "a more meditative album on the theme of pilgrimage".
[113][114]U2 have begun a worldwide stadium tour entitled the
U2 360° Tour to support No Line on the Horizon. The tour began on 30 June 2009 at Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain and will feature European and North American legs in 2009, each approximately 6 weeks long, with additional shows to follow in 2010.
[115] The tour features a 360-degree staging/audience configuration, in which the fans will surround the stage from all sides.
[116][
edit] Musical style
Since their inception, U2 have developed and maintained a distinctly recognisable sound, with emphasis on melodic instrumentals and expressive, larger-than-life vocals.
[117] This approach is rooted partly in the early influence of record producer
Steve Lillywhite at a time when the band was not known for musical proficiency.
[118] The Edge has consistently used a rhythmic echo and a signature
delay[119] to craft his guitar work, coupled with an Irish-influenced
drone played against his syncopated melodies
[120] that ultimately yields a well-defined ambient, chiming sound. Bono has nurtured his
falsetto operatic voice
[121] and has exhibited a notable lyrical bent towards social, political, and personal subject matter while maintaining a grandiose scale in his songwriting. In addition, The Edge has described U2 as a fundamentally live band.
[120]U2 in their hometown of Dublin during the Vertigo Tour
Despite these broad consistencies, U2 have introduced new elements into their musical repertoire with each new album. U2's early sound was influenced by bands such as
Television and
Joy Division, and has been described as containing a "sense of exhilaration" that resulted from The Edge's "radiant chords" and Bono's "ardent vocals".
[122] U2's sound began with post-punk roots and minimalistic and uncomplicated instrumentals heard on Boy and October, but evolved through War to include aspects of rock anthem, funk, and dance rhythms to become more versatile and aggressive.
[123] The two albums were labelled "muscular and assertive" by Rolling Stone,
[41] influenced in large part by Lillywhite's producing. The Unforgettable Fire, which began with the Edge playing more keyboards than guitars, as well as follow-up The Joshua Tree, had
Brian Eno and
Daniel Lanois at the production helm. With their influence, both albums achieved a "diverse texture".
[41] The songs from The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum placed more emphasis on Lanois-inspired rhythm as they mixed distinct and varied styles of gospel and blues music, which stemmed from the band's burgeoning fascination with America's culture, people and places. In the 1990s, U2 reinvented themselves as they began using
synthesizers,
distortion, and
electronic beats derived from alternative music, dance music, and
hip-hop on Achtung Baby,
[124] Zooropa and Pop.
[125] The 2000s had U2 returning to a stripped-down sound, with less use of synthesizers and effects and a more traditional rhythm.
[
edit] Lyrics and themes
Social and political commentary, often embellished with
Christian religious and spiritual imagery,
[126] are a major aspect of U2's lyrical content. Songs such as "
Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Mothers of the Disappeared" were motivated by current events of the time. The former was written about
the troubles in
Northern Ireland,
[127] while the latter concerns the struggle of
mothers whose children were kidnapped and killed under
Argentina's military dictatorship that began in 1976.
Bono's personal conflicts and turmoil related to family colour songs like "
Mofo", "
Tomorrow" and "
Kite". An emotional yearning or pleading is another frequent conveyance,
[117] in tracks such as "
Yahweh",
[128] "
Peace on Earth", and "
Please". The investigation of loss and anguish coupled with hopefulness and resiliency, which is central to The Joshua Tree,
[41] has motivated much of U2's songwriting and music. Some of this lyrical ideation has been amplified by Bono and the band's personal experiences during their youth in Ireland, as well as Bono's campaigning and activism later in his life. U2 have used tours such as
Zoo TV and
PopMart to caricature social trends, such as media overload and consumerism, respectively.
[125]While the band and its fans often affirm the political nature of their music, U2's lyrics and music have been criticized as apolitical because of their vagueness and "fuzzy imagery", and a lack of any specific references to actual people or characters.
[129][
edit] Influences
The band cites
The Who,
[130] The Clash,
[131] Ramones,
[132] The Beatles,
[133] Joy Division,
[134] Siouxsie & the Banshees[135] and
Patti Smith[136] as influences.
Van Morrison has been cited by Bono as an influence
[137] and his influence on U2 is pointed out by the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
[138] Other musicians and bands such as
Snow Patrol,
[139] The Fray,
[140] OneRepublic,
[141],
Coldplay,
[142] This Allure,
[143] The Academy Is...,
[144] The Killers,
Your Vegas[145] and
Angels & Airwaves[146] have in turn been influenced by the work of U2. U2 have also worked and/or had influential relationships with artists including
Johnny Cash,
Green Day,
Leonard Cohen,
Bruce Springsteen,
B.B. King,
Luciano Pavarotti,
[147] Bob Dylan,
Elvis Costello,
Wim Wenders,
R.E.M.,
Salman Rushdie, and
Anton Corbijn.
[
edit] Campaigning and activism
Bono with
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of
BrazilSince the early 1980s, the members of U2—as a band and individually—have collaborated with other musicians, artists, celebrities, and politicians to address issues concerning poverty, disease, and social injustice.
In 1984, Bono and Adam Clayton participated in
Band Aid to raise money for
Ethiopian famine relief. The initiative produced the hit charity single "
Do They Know It's Christmas?", which would be the first among several collaborations between U2 and
Bob Geldof. In July 1985, U2 played
Live Aid, a follow-up to Band Aid's efforts. Bono and his wife Ali, invited by
World Vision, later visited Ethiopia where they witnessed the famine first hand. Bono would later say this laid the groundwork for his Africa campaigning and some of his songwriting.
[148]In 1986, U2 participated in the
A Conspiracy of Hope tour in support of
Amnesty International and in
Self Aid for unemployment in Ireland. The same year, Bono and Ali Hewson also visited
Nicaragua and
El Salvador at the invitation of the
Sanctuary movement, and saw the effects of the
El Salvador Civil War. These 1986 events greatly influenced The Joshua Tree album, which was being recorded at the time.
In 1992, the band participated in the "Stop
Sellafield" concert with
Greenpeace during their Zoo TV tour.
[149] Events in Sarajevo during the
Bosnian war inspired the song "
Miss Sarajevo", which premiered at a September 1995
Pavarotti and Friends show, and which Bono and the Edge performed at
War Child.
[150] A promise made in 1993 was kept when the band played in Sarajevo as part of 1997's PopMart Tour.
[151] In 1998, they performed in
Belfast days prior to the vote on the
Good Friday Agreement, bringing
Northern Irish political leaders
David Trimble and
John Hume on stage to promote the agreement.
[152] Later that year, all proceeds from the release of the "
Sweetest Thing" single went towards supporting the
Chernobyl Children's Project.
In 2001, the band dedicated "
Walk On" to
Burma's pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi.
[153] In late 2003, Bono and the Edge participated in the South Africa HIV/AIDS awareness
46664 series of concerts hosted by
Nelson Mandela. The band played 2005's
Live 8 concert in London. The band and manager Paul McGuinness were awarded
Amnesty International's
Ambassador of Conscience Award for their work in promoting human rights.
[154]Since 2000, Bono's campaigning has included
Jubilee 2000 with Bob Geldof,
Muhammad Ali, and others to promote the cancellation of third world debt during the
Great Jubilee. In January 2002, Bono co-founded the multinational
NGO,
DATA, with the aim of improving the social, political, and financial state of Africa. He continued his campaigns for debt and HIV/AIDS relief into June 2002 by making high-profile visits to Africa.
[155]Product Red, a 2006 for-profit brand seeking to raise money for the
Global Fund, was founded, in part, by Bono. The
ONE Campaign, the US counterpart of
Make Poverty History, has been shaped by his efforts and vision. Bono has also teamed up with
Yahoo! to promote the ONE Campaign, which Yahoo! has helped to re-develop.
In late 2005, following
Hurricane Katrina and
Hurricane Rita, The Edge helped introduce
Music Rising, an initiative to raise funds for musicians who lost their instruments in the storm-ravaged
Gulf Coast.
[156] In 2006, U2 collaborated with
punk rock band
Green Day to record a cover version of the song "
The Saints Are Coming" by
The Skids to benefit Music Rising.
[157]U2 and Bono's social activism have not been without its critics however. Several authors and activists who publish in politically left journals such as
CounterPunch have decried Bono's support of political figures such as
Paul Wolfowitz,
[158] as well as his "essential paternalism".
[159] Other news sources have more generally questioned the efficacy of Bono's campaign to
relieve debt and provide assistance to Africa.
[160] Tax and development campaigners have also criticized the band's move from Ireland to Netherlands to reduce its tax bill.
[161][
edit] Other projects
The members of U2 have undertaken a number of side projects, sometimes in collaboration with some of their bandmates. In 1985, Bono recorded the song "
In a Lifetime" with the Irish band
Clannad. The Edge recorded a solo soundtrack album for the film
Captive in 1986,
[162] which included a vocal performance by
Sinéad O'Connor that predates her own debut album by a year. Bono and The Edge wrote the song "She's a Mystery to Me" for
Roy Orbison, which was featured on his 1989 album
Mystery Girl.
[163] In 1990, Larry Mullen co-wrote and produced a song for the Irish International soccer team in
Italia '90, called "
Put 'Em Under Pressure", which topped the Irish charts. Together with The Edge, Bono wrote the song "
GoldenEye" for the 1995
James Bond film
GoldenEye, which was performed by
Tina Turner. Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. did a rework of the title track of the movie
Mission: Impossible in 1996. Bono loaned his voice to "Joy" on
Mick Jagger's 2001 album
Goddess in the Doorway. Bono also recorded a spare, nearly spoken-word version of
Leonard Cohen's "
Hallelujah" for the "
Tower of Song" compilation in 1995. Additionally, in 1998, Bono collaborated with
Kirk Franklin and
Crystal Lewis (along with other controversially mainstream artists
R. Kelly and
Mary J. Blige) for a successful gospel song called "
Lean on Me", an interpretation of the
Bill Withers song.
Aside from musical collaborations, U2 have worked with several authors. American author
William S. Burroughs had a guest appearance in U2's video for "Last Night on Earth" shortly before he died. His poem "A Thanksgiving Prayer" was used as video footage during the band's Zoo TV Tour. Other collaborators include
William Gibson and
Allen Ginsberg. In early 2000, the band recorded three songs for the
The Million Dollar Hotel movie soundtrack, including "
The Ground Beneath Her Feet", which was co-written by
Salman Rushdie and motivated by his
book of the same name.
Most recently, Bono appeared and performed
The Beatles songs in the movie
Across the Universe (2007). Bono and The Edge are also writing the music to Spider-Man: The Musical, expected to open in late 2009. The Edge also created the theme song for Season 1 and 2 of
The Batman.
Discography
Main articles:
U2 discography and
List of U2 songsBoy (1980)
October (1981)
War (1983)
The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
The Joshua Tree (1987)
Rattle and Hum (1988)
Achtung Baby (1991)
Zooropa (1993)
Pop (1997)
All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)
No Line on the Horizon (2009)
Awards
Main article:
List of awards received by U2U2 first received
Grammy Awards for the
The Joshua Tree in 1988, and have won 22 in total since, tying U2 with
Stevie Wonder as contemporary artists with the most Grammys. These include
Best Rock Duo or Group,
Album of the Year,
Record of the Year,
Song of the Year and
Best Rock Album. The
British Phonographic Industry has awarded U2 seven
BRIT Awards, five of these being for Best International Group. In Ireland, U2 have won 14
Meteor Awards since the awards began in 2001. Other awards include one
AMA, four
VMAs, ten
Q Awards, two
Juno Awards, three
NME Awards, and a
Golden Globe Award. The band were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in early 2005. In 2006, all four members of the band received
ASCAP awards for writing the songs, "
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", and "Vertigo".
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