Pushing the envelope

It’s now just over 26 years since a 15-year-old Larry Mullen pinned a notice to the message-board of Dublin’s Mount Temple Comprehensive School, looking to form a rock ’n’ roll band and get to play the kind of rhythms that just didn’t gel with the Artane Boys band.

Ten studio albums, thousands of gigs and more awards than you could fit in 20 Trabants later, the band who played their first show together in their school hall under the inauspicious moniker Feedback (and later The Hype) are still going strong.

And what a wild, rock ’n’ rollercoaster it’s been! Following a long slow-burn on home-turf, encouraged by friends like Guggi and Gavin Friday and nurtured by the likes of the late Bill Graham and Paul McGuinness, their impressive debut album, the unashamedly idealistic and autobiographical Boy was released through Island in 1980, when they were still teenagers. It peaked at No. 52 in the British charts. Despite its lack of commercial success, the Island deal held and the comparatively bleak and downbeat October followed, entering the hit parade at No. 11, and propelling them out on a long, gruelling and seemingly never-ending tour that hardened their sound, tightened their playing, broadened their minds and strengthened their resolve to succeed.

Their third album – the highly political, personal and polished War – went straight to the top of the charts in 1983, and firmly established Ireland’s very own Fab Four as serious international contenders (that year’s Rolling Stone writers’ poll voted them ‘Band Of The Year’). Anyone who’d missed them live had to settle for Under A Blood Red Sky – the best-selling mini-album recorded on June 5, 1983, at the Red Rocks amphitheatre. At the time, they claimed that there were over 50,000 fans there and nobody disputed it. Fifteen years later, Paul McGuinness laughingly admitted that there’d actually only been 9,000 in attendance. Perception is everything, something the band had obviously realised even then.

The following year, Brian Eno took over knob-twiddling duties from Steve Lillywhite – who’d produced the first three albums – and, with the aid of Daniel Lanois and Tony Visconti, expertly escorted U2’s sound to a different place entirely. Partly recorded in Slane castle, The Unforgettable Fire was a musical rebirth, the sound of a band maturing, exploring and experimenting (they even spent a day recording naked, just to see if it would make any difference). The album went straight in at No 1, and within 12 months sales had passed the million mark.

Their televised appearance at Live Aid in July, 1985, where they completely stole the show with a ten minute performance of ‘Bad’, both confirmed their status as one of the biggest bands in the world and afforded them a little time off the road and space to breathe. They used the break well, exploring new types of music (especially folk, roots and the blues) and trying to get their heads around America. The resulting album, 1987’s The Joshua Tree, described by Bono as, “Our most literate record yet,” was widely acknowledged as a musical masterpiece and became the fastest-selling album of all time.

Then came the tour, the tour-film and the extended sojourn in La-La Land. Although Phil Joanou’s ambitious Rattle & Hum – part documentary, part travelogue and part concert film – was widely panned by the critics, it still did respectably at the box office, while the soundtrack album sold over 14 million copies. The following year, the band embarked on the Lovetown Tour, which culminated in four sold-out night’s at Dublin’s Point Depot. The final night, on New Year’s Eve, 1989, was broadcast to upwards of 300 million people worldwide. At the end of the highly emotional gig, Bono announced the band’s intention to go away and “dream it all up again.”

He was as good as his word. They did. And what a dream it was! Recorded in Berlin and Dublin, 1991’s hilariously titled Achtung Baby was by far and away the most radical departure U2 had ever made – in every sense. By all accounts the most difficult album they’d ever cut, the music was harder and more industrial, the themes darker and far more sexually overt. The band’s image had been completely overhauled as well. Gone were the dusty cowboy boots, denims and bandanas, replaced by leathers, shades and lots of attitude. Suddenly they no longer seemed embarrassed by their status as reluctant rock gods, instead they were embracing it with a vengeance – especially Bono who now seemed to alternate his personalities between two rather dubious fellas named The Fly and McPhisto.

The mammoth ZOO TV tour, with its big screen TV’s, cheap Eastern European cars suspended from the ceilings and nightly phone calls to the White House, was like nothing anyone had ever seen or done before. The tour dragged on for almost two years and spawned an accidental album – 1993’s Zooropa (which featured a cameo by Johnny Cash). The album was edgy, distorted and numb, probably the least emotional record they’d ever made. Probably one of their best as well.

Then came the flirtations with dance culture, and the collaborations with DJ’s and producers like Howie B and Nelly Hooper. 1995’s experimentally ambient Passengers was a U2 record in everything but name, but the real deal came with the long-delayed Pop in 1997. Pop was the sound of U2 gatecrashing their way into the dance party, cutting loose and having fun (they recorded much of it in Miami). The Popmart Tour, which opened in Las Vegas, was a wild, wildly expensive affair – all giant lemons, mad costumes, expensive wind-ups and pyrotechnics. Critical opinions varied, but the band were certainly being talked about.

The new millennium saw U2 ditching all the extras, taking off the make-up and going right back to four-men-on-a-stage basics with All That You Can’t Leave Behind – an album that fully restored any credibility that had been lost during the lost years of mid-’90s overload and made them hip again. Released in 2000 and followed with the hugely successful Elevation Tour in 2001, both showcased a band at the very top of their game and the very height of their powers.

Now, with another greatest hits package out, the stunning new single ‘Electrical Storm’ drops a couple of hints at where they’ll be going next… but you never really know with this bunch. I asked The Edge recently about the band’s future direction and he would say no more than that they were all “really excited.” So should you be.

Of course, there’s far more to the U2 story than there’s space for here. To drop just a few names, places and faces encountered along the way – Sarajevo, Greenpeace, The Simpsons, the supermodels, The Pope, Pavarotti, Burroughs, Ginsberg, The Million Dollar Hotel, The Clarence, The Kitchen, Bush, Clinton, Gibson, Rushdie, Drop The Debt… the list is endless and you could fill books with the stories (as, indeed, many have). All in all, though, I think it’s fair to say that they’ve earned the stamp.

Just don’t expect them to stop pushing the envelope…

POST SCRIPTS

MOST SIGNIFICANT MOMENT July 13, 1985. Jack Nicholson did the introduction from 6,000 miles away and U2 took to the stage at London’s Wembley Arena to play their mid-afternoon Live Aid set. Just three songs in and, much to the rest of the band’s annoyance, Bono seemingly abandoned the set-list and ventured down into the crowd. Edge, Larry and Adam had no choice but to keep playing ‘Bad’ for ten whole minutes as their black-clad singer pulled a girl from the crowd and started to dance with her. It mightn’t have looked so good from their vantage point, but the global television audience was mesmerised. They eventually forgave him when U2’s album and concert sales trebled over the next few months. Nobody knows what happened to the girl.

MOST MEMORABLE SAYING Probably Bono’s live disclaimer for ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’: “There’s been a lot of talk about this next song – maybe, maybe too much talk. This song is not a rebel song, this song is… ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’.”

VIEW FROM THE SIDELINES In February 1993, following almost a solid year of touring Zoo TV, U2 were taking a short break back home before fully embarking on the tour’s European leg. The recently divorced Edge found it easier to continue working than to hang around his suddenly empty house, and so began to demo new material in the studio. The original plan was simply to record an EP but the energy that had been generated on tour was phenomenal and, almost before the band knew what was happening themselves, they were suddenly recording a whole new album. Unfortunately, just as things really began to get going, they had to go out on the road again. Undeterred, they began jetting home to Dublin nightly in order to go back into the studio.
According to Principal Management’s Sheila Roche: “That period in early 1993 was just incredible. The band rarely made any of their own aftershow parties. They’d come offstage and head straight to the airport, fly home to Dublin and work in the studio until 5 or 6 in the morning. Then they’d fly back out to wherever they were playing the next night. I’m sure it was very strange for them too, but it was particularly weird for the crew. For maybe ten days or two weeks, it almost felt like we were all on tour without the band.”

WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
U2 are about to release their second ‘Best Of’ album, showcasing their 1990-2000 output. Oh, and they’re also about to appear on a stamp.

Five Key Tracks

‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ (1983)
The standout track from 1983’s War album, the anthemic and angry ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ was one of U2’s first overtly political songs. Its definitive performance – captured in the Rattle & Hum movie – came on November 8, 1987, when news of the Enniskillen bombing filtered through to an obviously shocked band onstage at Denver’s McNichols Arena.

‘Pride (In The Name Of Love) (1984)
The first single taken from 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire, ‘Pride’ – partly inspired by the activities of black civil rights leader Martin Luther King - was an instant chart hit and remains a live favourite. Not many people know this, but Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders sang the backing vocals at Dublin’s Windmill Lane (appearing in the sleeve credits as Mrs. Christine Kerr).

‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ (1987)
“I want to run/I want to hide/I want to tear down the walls/That hold me inside.” Although Bono has since rubbished the lyrics, the slow-burning opening track of the The Joshua Tree was the sound of the summer of ’87. In a rare error of judgement, producer Brian Eno actually wanted to erase it from the multi-track during the album’s recording because he felt the band were wasting too much time on it.

‘One’ (1991)
Apparently written in just 15 minutes, when the band were near the end of their tether during the early Achtung Baby recording sessions in Berlin, this bittersweet and highly sexual ballad of love, lust, betrayal and regret was the track that saved U2 and gave them a new lease of life in the early 90’s. Despite its title, there were no less than three videos made for this track.

‘New York’ (2000)
An at least semi-autobiographical song (like the lyrics say, Bono actually had just got a place in New York), this cool, pulsing track from 2000’s acclaimed All That You Can’t Leave Behind seems almost throwaway – a semi-humorous account of one man’s mid-life crisis in a city full of people too busy to notice. However, the song took on a whole new depth and poignancy after the tragic events of September 11th .

Two Key Albums

The Joshua Tree (1987)
U2’s fifth studio album was undoubtedly their ’80s meisterwork. Taking fresh inspiration from Deep South roots, folk, blues and literature, The Joshua Tree saw them moving away from the dark European atmospherics of The Unforgettable Fire and falling headlong into the arms of America. And America was obviously quite happy to catch them. Not only did the band make the cover of Time magazine, but the album became the fastest-selling of all time in the States. At last count, it had sold well over 13 million copies worldwide.

Achtung Baby (1991)
On stage in Dublin’s Point Depot on New Year’s Eve, 1989, a weary and teary Bono announced that the band were going away for a while to “dream it all up again.” Some took that as a hint that U2 were about to break up, but nearly two years later the dream manifested itself in the form of Achtung Baby – a deep, dark and industrial album that took both fans and critics by surprise.