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. The band played a brief concert in Belfast in May of 1998, three days before the public voted in favour of the Northern Ireland Peace Accord. The shows were also intended to be shining a mirror back onto the world, taking all the subtle advertising and messages we are exposed to every day and blowing them up so they were visible to the world, best shown in the famous picture of Bono (dressed as The Fly) with the message "WATCH MORE TV" written next to it. The Popmart Tour and Zoo TV Tour was intended to send a sarcastic message to all those accusing U2 of commercialism. The Popmart Tour was the second-highest grossing tour of 1997 (behind the Rolling Stones' Bridges to Babylon Tour) with revenues of just under $80 million, but it cost more than $100 million to produce.

One of the stops was in Sarajevo, where they were the first major group to perform after the war there. It was to be U2's most colorful show to date. The show hit the road in April, 1997; the set included a 100-foot tall golden yellow arch, a large 150 foot long video screen, and a 35 foot tall mirrorball lemon. With the Popmart Tour, U2, once again continued the Zoo TV theme of decadence.

It is not surprising that the tracks from Pop picked for U2's second greatest hits album – "Gone", "Discothèque", and "Staring at the Sun" – were all remixed for inclusion on that album. The band has admitted they were hurried into completing the album and say that a number of tracks on the album were not finished as well they would have liked. One of the main problems the band had when the recording the album was the time constraint placed upon them by their impending tour. Rolling Stone even went so far as claiming U2 had "defied the odds and made some of the greatest music of their lives." However, audiences and fans felt that the music industry had exceeded the limits of tolerance in promoting Pop, and the album was seen as something of a disappointment by many.

The album debuted at #1 in 28 countries, and earned U2 mainly positive reviews. Pop was released in March of 1997. This gave the album a techno/disco feel. U2 were once again attempting to change their musical direction, this time the band were experimenting with heavy post production of their music, utilizing tape loops, programming and sampling.

The recording of this album was fraught with difficulty. In early 1996, U2 began work on their next record. The album, including a collaboration with Luciano Pavarotti, "Miss Sarajevo", was not largely noticed in the industry, and received little attention from the critics and public alike. 1.

After some time off - and a few side projects (the Batman Forever and Mission: Impossible soundtracks) - the band returned under the radar in 1995 with Brian Eno under the moniker "Passengers", and released an experimental album called Original Soundtracks No. In particular, the tracks Zooropa, Stay (Faraway, So Close!) and, maybe most of all, The Wanderer, a duet with Johnny Cash, proved influential in winning the admiration of new fans. The Zooropa album was, like Achtung Baby before it, popular among people who had never been fans of U2 before, further expanding the fanbase and hugely increasing the band's ability to remain popular into the 1990s and beyond. Zooropa was an even greater departure from the style of their earlier recordings, incorporating techno style and other electronic effects.

The album was intended as an additional EP to Achtung Baby, but soon Zooropa expanded into a full-fledged LP and was released in July of 1993. Following the same theme, U2 went back into the studio to record their next release during a break in the Zoo TV Tour. European leg link-ups to war-torn Sarajevo caused further controversy. Some missed the point of the tour and thought that U2 had "lost it," and that Bono had become an egomaniac.

The tour was, among other things, U2's attempt at mocking the excesses of rock and roll by appearing to embrace greed and decadence - at times, even away from the stage. The multimedia event known as the Zoo TV Tour masterfully confused audiences with hundreds of video screens, upside-down flying Trabant cars, mock transmission towers, satellite TV links, subliminal text messages, and over-the-top stage characters such as "The Fly", "Mirror-ball Man" and "Mister MacPhisto". In early 1992, U2 began its first American tour in more than four years. New fans were perhaps most drawn in by the song "Mysterious Ways".

The group's fanbase was therefore expanded significantly by this release. The album was enthusiastically received by fans and critics alike, with Rolling Stone magazine declaring that U2 had "proven that the same penchant for epic musical and verbal gestures that leads many artists to self-parody can, in more inspired hands, fuel the unforgettable fire that defines great rock & roll." What was often said at the time was that Achtung Baby introduced a legion of new U2 fans, people who had heard the group for many years but never really liked them or bought their records before. In November of 1991, U2 released the heavily experimental and distorted Achtung Baby. The original sessions did not go well, but following the inspirational completion of the hit song 'One,' the band eventually emerged from the studio with renewed energy and a new album under its belt.

After taking some time off, the band met in East Berlin in autumn of 1990 to begin work on their next studio album, again with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois producing. Perhaps feeling that U2 was somewhat stagnating, Bono announced during a December 30, 1989 concert in Dublin that it was time "to go away and dream it all up again.". King), which visited Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, but avoided the US and most of Europe. U2 went on the Lovetown Tour (with special guest B.B.

Despite a positive reception from fans, Rattle and Hum received mixed-to-negative reviews from both film and music critics. Amongst the songs performed live that made it to the album were Helter Skelter (see above), a cover version of Bob Dylan's famous song All Along The Watchtower. King, and sang about blues great Billie Holiday. That album became a tribute to American music, which the band recorded part of at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis (along with The Point Depot, Dublin, Ireland), performed with Bob Dylan and B.B.

The band began to film and record various shows from the tour for the documentary and double album Rattle and Hum in 1988 and released on video in 1989. The band also covered The Beatles' "Helter Skelter", declaring "This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles; we're stealin' it back.". At Wembley Stadium in London, in 1987, U2 sang a haunting version of The Beatles' "Help!" - dedicating it to those in the audience who were dreading another five years of the recently re-elected Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Bono and U2 were still able to seize the moment.

The Joshua Tree Tour sold out stadiums around the world, the first time the band had consistently played venues of that size . U2 was the fourth rock band to be featured on the cover of Time magazine (following The Beatles, The Band, and The Who), who declared that U2 was "Rock's Hottest Ticket". The singles "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" also quickly went to #1 in the U.S., with "Where the Streets Have No Name" being another heavily played track. The album debuted at #1 in the U.K., quickly reached #1 in the U.S., and would go on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

In 1987, U2 released The Joshua Tree. performed to sold-out arenas and stadiums, and helped Amnesty International triple its membership in the process. This 6-show tour across the U.S. U2 went on to a headlining spot on 1986's A Conspiracy of Hope Tour for Amnesty International.

In 1985 Rolling Stone magazine called U2 the "Band of the 80s", saying that "for a growing number of rock-and-roll fans, U2 has become the band that matters most, maybe even the only band that matters.". Somewhat ironically, the Live Aid version of "Bad" has become something of a legend in rock circles, and was an indication of the personal connection that Bono could make with audiences. After the concert, the other band members demanded he leave U2, Bono instead took a few weeks off to think about his role in the band, and was welcomed back with open arms. admitted that the rest of the band had considered leaving the stage as he was performing.

Larry Mullen Jr. The other band members were upset with Bono for spending the time they had planned for playing "Pride (In the Name of Love)", and Bono was convinced he had squandered a chance for promoting the band to a greater audience. U2 were not expected to be one of the main draws for the event, but the band provided the show with one of its most memorable moments, a relentless 13-minute version of "Bad" in which Bono leapt off the stage to dance with a fan. The Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium for Ethiopian famine relief in July 1985 was seen by more than a billion people worldwide.

Miles Davis is reputed to have asked the album to be played while on his deathbed. The tour itself became the first time U2 extensively played in indoor arenas. During the Unforgettable Fire Tour to support the new album, Bono took to wrapping his microphone cable around his arm in imitation of a junkie looking for a vein. The centrepiece of the album is "Bad", a long, experimental song which, while never released as a single, provided the album's defining moment: a cathartic exploration on the theme of heroin dependency - a problem particularly prevalent in the Dublin of the mid-1980s.

The album's release coincided with a photo exhibit at the Chicago Peace Museum featuring images of the aftermath of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings; Bono would later contribute a poem entitled "Dreams in Box" to the museum's archives. Songs include "Indian Summer Sky", a social commentary on the prison-like atmosphere of city living in a world of natural forces, and "MLK", a second song honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. However, the material, although less overtly so, remained political. The album represented a turning point in the band's career, as Bono's lyrics became more complex, subtle and experimental, the Edge's guitar explored new sonic landscapes, and the rhythm section got looser and funkier.

Top 5 and the US Top 50. "Pride" became the first single from the album, cracking the U.K. The album featured the tribute to civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., "Pride (In the Name of Love)". The experimental The Unforgettable Fire (named after a series of paintings made by survivors of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki) followed in 1984.

The band began their fourth studio album with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois producing. The band recorded the Under a Blood Red Sky EP on this tour and a live video was also released, both of which received radio and MTV play and helped expand the band's audience. on their subsequent War Tour. For the first time, the band began performing to sold-out concerts in mainland Europe and the U.S.

MTV put the "New Year's Day" video into heavy rotation, which helped introduce U2 to the American audience. charts. charts and nearly cracking the Top 50 on the U.S. The album's first single, "New Year's Day", was U2's first international hit single, reaching the #10 position on the U.K.

His anger and passion were palpable as he shouted: "Fuck the 'revolution'!". This song is Sunday Bloody Sunday." Furthermore, as captured in the concert film U2: Rattle and Hum, during the performance of the song on November 9, 1987, the day after the IRA bombing in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, in which 11 people were killed during a Remembrance Day service, Bono bluntly denounced the violence in Ireland and the Irish expatriates who supported it. When some Irish-Americans tried to misrepresent the song as a rallying call for the Provisional IRA Bono responded with what became one of his most recognizable phrases in concerts, notably the performance on the live EP Under a Blood Red Sky - "this song is not a rebel song. The ability to use such a range of images, taking a song initially about sectarian anger, and turn it into a call for Christians to unite and claim the victory over death and evil that Christ achieved in the resurrection, showed the depth of the band's songwriting ability.

The song starts off by expressing the anger felt in Ireland over Bloody Sunday incident of 1972, but in successive stanzas moves through different imagery that disown that anger and place the song in a religious context, using imagery from Matthew 10:35 ("mother's children; brothers, sisters torn apart"), and a twist on 1 Corinthians 15:32 ("we eat and drink while tomorrow they die") before finishing off with a call for Christians to stop fighting each other and "claim the victory Jesus won, on a Sunday bloody Sunday". The album included the song "Sunday Bloody Sunday" , which dealt with the troubles in Northern Ireland. In 1983, U2 returned with apparently a newfound sense of direction and the release of their third album, War. Whiteley & Maynard, ISBN 1561012238).

(In recent years a book of sermons based on U2 songs has been published: "Get Up Off Your Knees" ed. While the Bible has remained a major source of inspiration for Bono’s lyric writing, October is U2’s only overt Christian rock album… and is generally held to be among their least successful work. After nearly throwing in the towel on U2, they decided it was possible to reconcile the two by continuing to make music without compromising their personal beliefs. The three band members joined a religious group in Dublin called "Shalom", which led all three to question the relationship between the Christian faith and the rock and roll lifestyle.

Bono, the Edge and Larry were committed Christians and made little effort to hide that fact. Fans and music critics quickly made note of the band's spiritual lyrics. The band's second album, October, was released in 1981. These live shows helped establish U2 as one of the most exciting live bands in the UK, as critics noted that Bono was a very "charismatic" and "passionate" showman.

Boy's release was followed by U2's first tour beyond Ireland and the United Kingdom. He can also be seen as a would-be band member in the Alan Parker feature "The Committments"). (The same boy, three years older, would be employed for artwork on U2's War album. Lord of the Flies also inspired the famous album art which featured photographs of a disheveled boy, naked from the waist up, sometimes wearing war paint or an army helmet.

One song, “Shadows and Tall Trees,” gives a nod to William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, which was an inspiration for the album. Despite Bono’s unfocused, improvised lyrics, Boy has a definite theme – a vulnerable, painfully honest examination of adolescence touching on fear over sex, identity confusion, death and uncontrollable mood swings. It was met with critical praise and is considered one of the better debuts in rock history. U2 released Boy the following October.

Island Records signed the band in March of 1980. They performed "I Will Follow" and "Twilight" and engaged in an interview. It aired on June 4, 1981. U2 made their first appearance on US television on The Tomorrow Show hosted by Tom Snyder.

In December of that year, U2 travelled to London for its first shows outside of Ireland, but failed to get much attention from foreign audiences and critics. It topped the Irish charts. Now a four-piece with a local fan base in place, U2 released their first single in September of 1979, U2-3. In May, Paul McGuinness became U2's manager.

Dik walked offstage halfway through the set and later joined the Virgin Prunes, a fellow Dublin band. The Hype performed a farewell show for Dik at the Community Centre in Howth. Dik Evans announced his departure in March 1978. However, in an interview with Larry King, Bono is quoted as saying "I don't actually like the name U2," and "I honestly never thought of it as 'you too'." Others feel that U2 derived its name from the Irish Unemployment form.

They believe that the audience is part of their music and the concert and that "you too" (U2) are participating in the music. Some suggest the meaning of the name "U2" is based on their philosophy. The Dublin punk rock guru Steve Averill (better known as Steve Rapid of the The Radiators From Space) suggested that "The Hype stinks, at least as a name." Someone offered "What about U2? It's the name of a spyplane and a submarine, and it's got an endearing inclusivity about it." [1]. Hayden was impressed enough with the band that he gave them studio time to record their first demo.

One of the judges for the show happened to be CBS Records' Jackie Hayden; they won the contest, earning a £500 prize. The band performed with their new name at a talent show in Limerick, Ireland on 17 March 1978. After 18 months of rehearsals, Feedback changed their name to The Hype. There are also other theories on the origins of The Edge's nickname:.

Bono also thought that it was an accurate description of his head, as it had a straight edge. The sign has since been changed to read "Bonavox." The Edge got his name from Bono, who thought he was always on the edge of things, assessing what was going on. Hewson was nicknamed Bono Vox (allegedly meaning 'good voice' in Latin, though a more accurate translation would in fact be vox bona), after a hearing aid company's advertising sign on the corner of Dame Street and South Great Georges Street in Dublin's city centre (a different theory says he was nicknamed after a hearing aid shop by his friend Gavin Friday because he sang so loudly he seemed to be singing for the deaf). Both Martin and McCormick were out of the core group within a few weeks, with McCormick dismissed by Adam Clayton with the excuse that he was too young to play at the bars in which U2 would be booked.

Although known as an Irish band, two members —The Edge and Adam Clayton— are actually British by birth. Soon after, the group settled on the name Feedback. Known for about a day as "The Larry Mullen Band," Larry's group featured Mullen on drums, Adam Clayton on bass guitar, Paul Hewson (Bono) on vocals, Dave Evans (The Edge) on guitar, his brother Dik Evans on guitar, and Mullen's friends Ivan McCormick and Peter Martin on guitar. The response that followed that note resulted in seven boys attending the initial practice in Larry's kitchen.

posted a notice on his secondary school bulletin board (Mount Temple Comprehensive School) seeking musicians for a new band. Fourteen-year-old Larry Mullen, Jr. The band was formed in Dublin on Saturday, September 25, 1976. .

The band is also very politically active in human rights causes, such as the Make Poverty History campaign as well as the campaign spearheaded by Bono, DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa). and are widely considered as one of the most successful groups of all time. According to the RIAA, they have sold approximately 50.5 million albums in the U.S., had six #1 albums in the U.S. U2 have been one of the most popular rock/vocal bands in the world since the 1980s.

on drums and vocals. U2 is an Irish rock band featuring Bono (Paul David Hewson) on vocals, guitar and harmonica, The Edge (David Howell Evans) on guitar, keyboards and vocals, Adam Clayton on bass, and Larry Mullen, Jr. Download sample of "Pride (In the Name of Love)" from the album, The Unforgettable Fire.. Download sample of a live performance of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song".

Make Poverty History. Live 8. The ONE Campaign. Jubilee Debt Campaign.

Chernobyl Children's Project. DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa). Support for Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi. African Well Fund.

Greenpeace. Amnesty International. 2004 - The Complete U2 (available for download from the iTunes Music Store) which includes all studio albums, singles and officially released live tracks, as well as some previously unreleased content. 2000 - Million Dollar Hotel Soundtrack.

1 (with Brian Eno, band went under the name The Passengers). 1995 - Original Soundtracks No. 1985 - Wide Awake in America (EP). 1979 - U2-Three (EP).

This album was only available to U2.com subscribers). 2005 - U2.Communication (Live album of 8 songs from the current Vertigo Tour, 5 of which are from the 'Live in Chicago' DVD, the other 3 recorded in Milan/July 2005. Available only to members of Propaganda Fan Club). 2000 - Hasta La Vista Baby! (Recorded live during the Popmart Tour at Foro Sol Autodromo, Mexico City, December 3rd 1997.

1988 - Rattle and Hum (half-live/half-studio album) (13M). 1983 - Under a Blood Red Sky(8M). 2004 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (12M). 2000 - All That You Can't Leave Behind (13M).

1997 - Pop (8M). 1993 - Zooropa (8M). 1991 - Achtung Baby (14M). 1987 - The Joshua Tree (18M).

1984 - The Unforgettable Fire (10M). 1983 - War (10M). 1981 - October (5M). 1980 - Boy (total sales 5M).

He lived on the 'edge' of their imaginary world called 'Lypton Village'. Bono once claimed on Irish radio that the name was derived from the shape Edge made when playing guitar. The name is due to the crispness of his playing, the "edges" it has. He is named after a hardware shop in Fairview, Dublin, outside of which he used to catch the bus home.