User:MissBono/U2
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Attention
The great synthesis between songwriting and dance didn't happen. It was like mixing oil and water. The two approaches were actually pulling us in opposing directions. In some ways the earliest improvisations that we were doing with Howie were the best: fresh, different and very exciting. But when the songs started to emerge from the mist, we missed the personality of the band. The songs were resting on drum machined beats and sequenced bass and had a little bit of a sterile quality. What makes a great U2 record is the sense of four personalities working in accord, in a particular moment in time. So during the course of recording, we tried to change direction.
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 base line hook that carries the intimacies whispered on top of it, 'If Go Will Send His Angels' should be diamonds and pearls.
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 niether imitating or paying tribute. This time it's soul music, not music about soul.
—Caroline van oosten de Boer[3]
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. Sly Stone, T. Rex, Scott Walker, My Bloody Valentine, KMFDM, The Young Gods, Alan Vega, Al Green and Insekt were all in favour. 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...
Formation and breakthrough (1976–1979)
U2 formed in Dublin, Ireland on 25 September 1976. Larry Mullen, Jr., then fourteen, posted a notice on his secondary school notice board (Mount Temple Comprehensive School) seeking musicians for a new band. Seven boys responded; attending the initial practice in Mullen's kitchen. Known for about a day as "The Larry Mullen Band," the group featured Mullen on drums, Adam Clayton on bass guitar, Paul Hewson (Bono) on lead vocals, Dave Evans (The Edge) and his brother Dik Evans on guitar, and Mullen's friends Ivan McCormick and Peter Martin.[5] Soon after, the group settled on the name 'Feedback' because it was one of the few musical terms they knew. Martin only came to the first practice, and McCormick was out of the group within a few weeks. In March 1976 the band change its name to 'The Hype'. [6]
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.
Following tensions within the band over its line up, Dik Evans—who was older and at university—announced his departure in March 1978. The Hype, playing covers, performed a farewell show at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin on 16 March 1978 where Dik ceremoniously walked offstage halfway through the set, and the remaining four members finished their performance as 'U2', playing original material.
On Saint Patricks Day 1978, U2 won a talent show in Limerick, Ireland for which the prize money was £500 and a record deal to record a demo; an important milestone and affirmation for the fledgling band. [8] In May, Paul McGuinness, who had earlier been introduced to the band by Hot Press journalist Bill Graham, agreed to be U2's manager.
The origin of the name 'U2' is not clear. It is the name of a famous 1960s surveillance plane, the Lockheed U-2; however, the Dublin punk rock guru Steve Averill (better known as Steve Rapid of The Radiators From Space) claimed it was chosen by the band from a list of ten names created by him and Adam Clayton. In an interview with Larry King, Bono said "I don't actually like the name U2," and "I honestly never thought of it as 'you too'."[9]
Influenced by Television and Joy Division, U2's early sound had a sense of exhilaration that resulted from The Edge's "radiant chords" and Bono's "ardent vocals", according to one author.[10] U2's first release came in September 1979; an Ireland-only EP entitled Three. The first 1,000 12 inch copies were individually hand numbered, and the EP went on to top the Irish charts. In December 1979, U2 performed in London, their first shows outside Ireland, although they failed to get much attention from audiences or critics. In February 1980, their second single "Another Day" was released on the CBS label but again only for the Irish market
In 1984 a new record deal was negotiated with Island records.ROLLING_31 Returned U2’s copyright, a very unique state of affairs. Gave back the songs, extended the record deal, upped the royalty, and general improvement of terms.
Jimmy Iovine had offered to work for U2 for free on Under A Blood Red Sky December 1983