U2 (band)

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U2
U2 (2018)
U2 (2018)
General information
Genre (s) Rock , alternative rock
founding 1976 as feedback
1978 as U2
Website U2.com
Current occupation
Paul David Hewson (Bono)
David Howell Evans (The Edge)
Larry Mullen Junior
Adam Clayton

U2 [ juː tuː ] is an Irish rock band . It was founded in Dublin in 1976 , got its current name in 1978 and has since consisted of lead singer Bono (Paul David Hewson), guitarist The Edge (David Howell Evans), bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen junior .

The band was founded in 1976 under the name Feedback . In 1978 the band, renamed U2 , won a talent show and received their first record deal with the win. The band grew in popularity throughout the 1980s and has since released numerous number one hits in various countries.

In addition, the band is committed to numerous social and political projects and some of them thematize in their songs.

history

Foundation of the band (1976 to 1979)

After the then 14-year-old drummer Larry Mullen junior left a note on the notice board of the Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin looking for musicians to start a band, the five-piece band Feedback was formed on September 25, 1976 . In addition to the current members of the band U2, Richard Evans, brother of guitarist The Edge, was originally a member; but he dropped out when he dropped out of college in 1978 and joined the Virgin Prunes . The now four-member group was renamed The Hype , and bassist Adam Clayton also acted as their band manager.

The band adopted the name U2 (after the Lockheed U-2 spy plane ) on the initiative of their friend Steve Averill. Steve, who later became singer of the Dublin punk band The Radiators from Space under the name Steve Rapid , is still responsible for the design of U2 with his company four5one, i.e. cover artwork for albums, singles, DVDs, concert posters, merchandising, etc.

On March 18, 1978, the band then appeared under the name U2 in the talent show Pop Group '78 in Limerick ( Ireland ). As the winner of the event, the band received a record deal from CBS Records in addition to the £ 500 prize money . In May 1978, Paul McGuinness was introduced to the band by journalist Bill Graham and shortly thereafter became the band's manager , which he remained until November 2013. U2 often referred to him as the "fifth band member", as he was also involved with 1/5 of the band's income. On the recommendation of McGuinness, Guy Oseary , Madonna's longtime manager, officially took over the day-to-day business, although he had been responsible for recording the band's 2014 album in the months before. The first demo was in April 1978 with Jackie Hayden at the Keystone Studios in Dublin. It included the titles Street Mission , Shadows and Tall Trees and The Fool . As early as December 1978, the band recorded a second demo with Barry Devlin in the Eamon Andrews Studios in Dublin; the titles were Lost on a distant planet , Twilight , Another Time, Another Place and Alone in the Light . Further demos were made in May 1979 at Eamon Andrews Studios in Dublin. It contained 11 o'Clock Tick Tock , Touch , Another Day , The dream is Over , Out of Control , Boy-Girl , Stories for Boys and A Day Without Me .

In September 1979, CBS Ireland released their first extended play entitled Three . It included the songs Out of Control , Stories for Boys and Boy-Girl and reached number 19 on the Irish Singles Chart .

Boy, October, War (1980 to 1983)

Singer Bono (1983)

In March 1980 the band signed a contract with Island Records . After their first major tour, their debut album Boy was released on October 20th .

As early as 1981 they brought out the follow-up October , with which they drew the attention of the public and critics. In Ireland the singles Fire and Gloria were able to place in the top 10. Bono, The Edge and Larry joined a Christian community called Shalom during this time , which almost led to the breakup of the band: the rules of that community did not allow membership in a rock 'n' roll band at the same time. In the end, the decision was made in favor of music, whose texts repeatedly contain religious motifs.

Her third album War was released in 1983 . The first single from this album, New Year's Day , which deals with the Polish Solidarność movement, was her first hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 . From War also the single Sunday, Bloody Sunday was decoupled, in which U2 dealt with the Northern Ireland conflict; The title alludes to the Easter Rising of 1916 as well as the Bloody Sundays of 1920 and 1972 . This song showed the political commitment of the band. On the following tour, U2 gave sold-out concerts for the first time. Recordings of this tour came out in 1983 under the name Under a Blood Red Sky as the band's first live album.

The first albums were produced by Steve Lillywhite , who later produced other albums with U2.

The Unforgettable Fire (1984 to 1986)

Her fourth studio album was released in 1984 under the name The Unforgettable Fire , named after a series of pictures about the atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki . They dedicated the first single from the album, Pride (In the Name of Love) , to Martin Luther King . The title track, released as the second single, became her first number one hit in her native Ireland. During the following tour, Rolling Stone described U2 as "The band of the 80s" and the only band that matters (" The only band that matters "). With this album the first major style change was made, which was strongly influenced by the two new producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois , who worked with U2 even more often.

The Live Aid Concert to Fight Famine in Ethiopia in July 1985 was seen by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. U2 wasn't supposed to be the main act at this concert, but wowed the audience with a sensational 13-minute version of Bad . In 1986 they increased their political and social engagement by taking part in the Conspiracy of Hope Tour for Amnesty International . U2 played a key role in the subsequent tripling of the membership of Amnesty International.

The Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum (1987 to 1990)

The 1987 album The Joshua Tree rose to number 1 on the charts in Great Britain, the USA and Germany. The released singles With or Without You and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For reached number 1 in the US singles charts. The Joshua Tree is considered by music critics to be the band's best album and a milestone in music history. In Germany it is among the top 50 best-selling albums of all time. After the Beatles and The Who , U2 was featured on the cover of Time Magazine as the third rock band . The Joshua Tree tour that followed the album was sold out worldwide.

On October 27, 1988, the documentary Rattle and Hum was released in the US and on November 17, 1988 in German cinemas. It accompanies the band members on the Joshua Tree tour and contains interviews with them and numerous live recordings that were made during the tour. The album Rattle and Hum with live material from the tour and new songs was released parallel to the movie. The album includes cover versions of the Beatles song Helter Skelter and Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower as well as the newly recorded song When Love Comes to Town with BB King . The lyrics of the new song Love Rescue Me were written together by U2 and Bob Dylan. This album was followed by the three-month Lovetown tour, which U2 played together with BB King. The first part of the tour consisted of concerts in Australia, Japan and New Zealand; the second section took the band to Europe.

Attention Baby, Zooropa, Pop (1991 to 1998)

After the Lovetown tour, U2 withdrew from the public to find a new concept for the band, which Bono announced at a New Year's Eve concert in Dublin that was broadcast across Europe on the radio. In the meantime, the group was about to break up, but then it was decided to start over, which was accompanied by a radical change in style: In November 1991 the musicians released the album Achtung Baby, which was influenced by industrial , alternative rock and electronic dance music . It was created in Berlin in the Meistersaal of the Hansa recording studios and represented a stylistic U-turn. Critics consider it an artistic highlight of U2. An acclaimed world tour followed. The album Zooropa followed in 1993 , which was largely created and recorded during the tour and for which U2 received a Grammy for best alternative music album . Rolling Stone magazine later referred to it in retrospect as "the last great work" of the band.

Stage of the ZooTV Tour with suspended Trabant cars in 1993

In contrast to the albums The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum , which were influenced by the American blues , the two albums Achtung Baby and Zooropa were influenced by European music and culture. There are numerous borrowings from European modernism such as Expressionism and especially Dadaism . a. in word creations like “Zooropa”, the game with text fragments torn from their actual context ( Numb , Zooropa ), or references to Berlin in the 20s. In 1992, U2 began their almost two-year zoo TV world tour . The main theme of the tour was the possibilities and dangers of the new media and the information overload . An important source of inspiration here was the role of the media in the Iraq war . During the concerts they experimented with completely new elements; so were z. For example, hundreds of screens, flying cars ( Trabbis ) and alter egos invented by singer Bono such as "The Mirrorballman", "Mr. MacPhisto ”(visually closely related to Gustaf Gründgens ' portrayal of Mephisto) and“ The Fly ”built into the shows. It became a ritual of every concert that Bono tried to call various prominent personalities from the stage, such as B. the former US President George Bush sr. or members of the British royal family. U2 also showed their strong political commitment again by setting up a live broadcast via satellite to the crisis area around Sarajevo during the Balkan conflict during some concerts in Europe and letting those affected report their fate.

After Achtung Baby , Zooropa and the extremely successful Zoo TV tour, music critics speculated that U2 would soon return to their traditional style. U2 surprised the public again in 1995, this time with a concept album entitled Original Soundtracks I , which appeared under the pseudonym Passengers and which was created in close cooperation with Brian Eno. Except for Miss Sarajevo , which was recorded with Luciano Pavarotti , the album does not contain any traditional pop songs, but rather soundtracks to fictional films.

Stage of the Popmart Tour in 1997

Her next album, Pop , was released in March 1997. With the help of DJ Howie B and Mark 'Spike' Stent, the album shows clear influences from European dance music at the time. Although the album was positively received by many critics due to U2's renewed willingness to experiment and is now often considered the band's last innovative work, many fans were disappointed. The CD entered the charts from 0 to 1 in 27 countries (including Germany and the UK), but only sold around five million copies in the first three months after its release (around eight million copies have been sold to date) . The band later stated that due to the early booking of the following Popmart tour , the album had to be released unfinished. Bono was also dissatisfied with his vocal performance. For the later compilation Best of 1990–2000 , some songs were actually re-recorded. In April 1997, U2 started the Popmart tour in Las Vegas. It was exclusively a stadium tour of gigantic proportions (the stage design included the world's largest LC screen to date and a five-meter lemon-shaped disco ball), which the band for the first time also in cities such as Leipzig , Sarajevo , Tel Aviv , Santiago de Chile or Cape Town . The tour ended on March 21, 1998 in Johannesburg , South Africa .

In November 1998, U2 released their first greatest hits album, The Best of 1980-1990 .

All That You Can't Leave Behind (1999 to 2003)

U2 in concert during Elevation Tour in 2001

In 1999 the four musicians went back to the studio and produced the album All That You Can't Leave Behind . After the criticism of many fans of pop , the band had turned back to a more original style from the time of The Joshua Tree and ended the experimental phase that had characterized the 1990s. From now on, the focus should again be on the simple interaction of the four musicians and simple song structures. All That You Can't Leave Behind was released in October 2000 and has been described by critics as "a step neither forward nor backward" by the band; but commercially the album was a great success and came straight to number 1 in the charts in 22 countries. The album received four Grammys, the extracted title Beautiful Day received another three Grammys. The version of the CD sold in the UK contained an additional song, The Ground Beneath Her Feet , the text of which appears in the book of the same name by author Salman Rushdie .

In addition, some members of the band wrote the soundtrack for the March 2000 film The Million Dollar Hotel by Wim Wenders , which is based on a story by Bono.

In the spring of 2001, the band started the Elevation tour in Miami. The tour became the second most commercially successful in music history to date (after the Rolling Stones ' voodoo lounge tour , which grossed $ 320 million). After the 2001 tour ended, U2 appeared in February 2002 during the halftime break of Super Bowl XXXVI .

In 2002 the second part of her greatest hits, The Best of 1990-2000, was released .

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004 to 2006)

The band's next album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb , was released on November 22, 2004. The album won two Grammys as Album of the Year 2005 and Best Rock Album in 2005. The pieces Vertigo , Sometimes You Can not Make It On Your Own and City of Blinding Lights won a total of five more Grammys.

The first single Vertigo caused worldwide download records on the iTunes Store , as the song was only available online there at first. It was also the band's last hit single to date. In January 2005, U2 presented their video for All Because of You during the US College American Football Orange Bowl .

U2 concert (2005)

The band made 389 million US dollars on the Vertigo Tour following the album release ; it was the most commercially successful tour in music history to date. It was interrupted in March 2006 after a series of concerts in South America because of an illness in the family of a band member. The outstanding concerts in New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Hawaii were made up for from November to December 2006.

On July 2, 2005, U2 opened the Live 8 concert in London together with Paul McCartney with the Beatles song Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band . U2 then played three of their own songs, Beautiful Day / Blackbird , Vertigo and One / Unchained Melody .

In September 2006 songs were recorded for another best-of album by the band and for a new album with producer Rick Rubin . In November 2006, the album U218 Singles was released with 16 old single releases by the band and the two new tracks Window in the Skies and The Saints Are Coming , which were subsequently also released as singles. The Saints Are Coming is a cover of a song by The Skids and was recorded together with the American punk band Green Day .

In October 2006 it was announced that U2 is leaving the record label Island Records after 27 years of collaboration to follow Jason Iley to Mercury Records . He moved there on May 16, 2005 and was previously responsible for U2 at Island Records.

No Line on the Horizon (2007 to 2011)

Bono and Adam Clayton during an appearance in Toronto in 2009
Stage in Dublin during the 360 ° tour (2009)

At the beginning of June 2007 the band with producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno spent two weeks in Morocco to record new songs. In the course of these recordings, U2 worked together with various African musicians and experimented with new musical influences. However, no publication of the material is planned for the time being.

A 3D concert film, U2 3D , recorded during the Vertigo tour, was released on January 23, 2008. Since very few 3D cinemas still existed at that time, the film was released again on February 18, 2010 in German cinemas.

The album No Line on the Horizon was released in March 2009 (Germany: February 27th). The first single from the album Get on Your Boots was released on January 19, 2009; In Germany, the release date of the single was postponed to February 20th. The album met with little enthusiasm from critics and audiences; unlike the previous ones, it didn't produce a hit single either. In June 2009 the band's U2 360 ° tour began , which lasted until July 2011 and, unlike the last previous tours, took place exclusively open air in sports stadiums.

In late 2009, U2 was named one of eight artists of the decade by the music magazine Rolling Stone . U2 made the second largest turnover with their tours in this decade after the Rolling Stones . Between June 2009 and June 2010 the band made around $ 130 million in sales. From 2011 to 2019, U2's 360 ° tour was officially the most successful tour of all time, as it significantly exceeded the Rolling Stones' record (US $ 558 million) with ticket sales of US $ 736 million. In addition, U2 surpass the Rolling Stones in terms of audience numbers. At the end of the 360 ​​° tour, around 7.2 million viewers watched the concerts, while the Stones saw 6.4 million. In 2019 this record was also broken by Ed Sheeran and his Divide Tour .

Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience (2014 to date)

U2 2015

The album Songs of Innocence was released on September 9, 2014 as part of the Apple press conference for the market launch of the iPhone 6 . It was automatically made available to all iTunes account holders free of charge through October 13th. Only then was it published as a physical edition and on the remaining download portals. Apple CEO Tim Cook called it the "greatest album release of all time". Critics complained that the album appeared on iTunes in the list of purchased albums without the consent of the users and that it could only be deleted with great effort. Just like the previous work, the album met with little enthusiasm from critics and fans. However, this did not affect the demand for concert tickets.

i + e stage 2015

On May 14th, 2015 the "iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE - Tour" (short: "i + e-Tour") started in Vancouver, Canada. The technical centerpiece was formed by two stage elements, the rectangular i- stage , which included the stage stairway, and the round e-stage , which were connected by a walkway and a video wall. U2 did without a support act on this indoor tour. The highlight of the US tour was a series of 8 concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York. On September 4, 2015, the European part of the tour began in Turin, which also brought U2 to Berlin and Cologne.

On the official website of U2 in 2014, at the same time as the release of Songs of Innocence , another album was announced that would be called Songs of Experience . The two album titles are based on two connected volumes of poetry by the English poet William Blake . Contrary to what was initially announced, the release of the second album was delayed, the release of which was initially postponed in 2015 for an indefinite period of time. The Edge told Rolling Stone in January 2017 that about four-fifths of the album was finished in mid-2016, but then the band, shocked by the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump as US President, decided to do the Interrupt work first. At the beginning of 2017, the band announced instead that on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree's release, they would go on tour through Europe and the USA again, playing primarily the songs from this album. The tour was again very successful. In September 2017 You're the Best Thing About Me was released as the pre-release of the upcoming album Songs of Experience , which was released on December 1, 2017. The band gave no interviews in advance, and although several critics thought the album was better than its predecessor, it once again met with little enthusiasm and did not produce a hit single. For the release of the video for the single "Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way" in April 2018, the band left it to the director David Mushegain to give interviews.

The live performances of the musicians are still extremely successful, even without new hits: According to research by the New York Times in November 2018, in which the most successful international musicians were compared based on their average income per concert, U2 is in fourth place worldwide Average ticket price of around US $ 137.70, the band generates around US $ 5,009,545 per concert.

Trademark

U2, whose line-up has remained unchanged since it was founded, developed their own typical style of play at an early stage. Building on the rhythm section around drummer Larry Mullen junior and bassist Adam Clayton, guitarist The Edge was able to develop his own experimental guitar sound, while singer Bono appears as the charismatic front man of the band with an often hymn-like vocal performance. This type of presentation comes into its own especially with live performances (stadium rock). According to the band, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen junior form the backbone of the group, The Edge the head and Bono the heart.

Again and again, however, the group allowed different musical styles to flow into their music. Elements of punk, gospel music, country, blues, dance, industrial, ambient, trip-hop and other directions partly shaped entire albums. They are based on artists like Elvis Presley , the Beatles , Van Morrison , The Clash , Siouxsie and the Banshees , Joy Division , and many others, but received a constant unmistakability.

Bono in a conversation with
Horst Köhler , then IMF director , Prague (2000)

Social engagement and political lyrics

U2 is also known for its commitment to charitable causes. You, and the band's lead singer Bono, support organizations such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace and advocate debt relief and the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty in third world countries . Their political, social and religious beliefs are often topics in songs and at concerts. The lyrics of the songs, which are mostly written by Bono , the singer of the band, are often poetic and profound. In an interview Bono once said on this subject: “ Should I rather write songs about sex and drugs? No, I won't do that.

Examples of political issues taken up are the songs Pride , which is about the life of Martin Luther King , Walk On , which was written for the human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who was imprisoned in Burma , and Crumbs from Your Table, which is about fighting hunger in the third world. There are several references to Latin America on The Joshua Tree - Bullet the Blue Sky heavily criticized the US policy in El Salvador at the time and Mothers of the Disappeared recalls the tens of thousands of people secretly kidnapped and murdered by Latin American military dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s ( "The Disappeared", Spanish "Desaparecidos").

Many of U2's songs are also about the Christian faith of the band members. Bono repeatedly emphasizes his belief in interviews, which is also the drive for his extra-musical engagement. Songs like I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For , 40 , If God Will Send His Angels and especially Yahweh deal with the band's Christian faith.

An example of how politics were addressed in concerts was the New Year's Concert in Dublin on January 1, 1990, which U2 dedicated to the people in the GDR and Romania , in whose countries the regimes had collapsed a few weeks earlier. During the song Pride , Bono calls out the following sentence to the audience: “ For the people in Romania and East Germany - sing it. Pride, in the name of love.

other projects

Paul David Hewson "Bono" (2009)
David Howell Evans "The Edge" (2008)

In addition to working in their band, the members of U2 also work with other musicians:

For example, singer Bono appeared in 1985 as a guest singer for the Irish band Clannad on the track In A Lifetime ; later that year he participated with other musicians on the album Sun City — Artists Against Apartheid .

The Edge meanwhile produced the soundtrack for the film The Captive together with composer and arranger Michael Brook . The theme song was Heroine , which The Edge wrote together with the Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor , who also provided the vocals.

While recording The Joshua Tree , producer Daniel Lanois paired U2 with Robbie Robertson (formerly a member of The Band ). With him they wrote and recorded the two titles Testimony and Sweet Fire of Love . Bono and The Edge also wrote the song She's a Mystery to Me for Roy Orbison , which appeared on his album Mystery Girl .

On the album Duets by Frank Sinatra in 1993 he sang the song I've Got You Under My Skin together with Bono . The recording also appeared as the B-side of U2's single Stay (Faraway, So Close) .

In 1994, singer Bono worked with his long-time friend Gavin Friday and his partner Maurice Seezer on the soundtrack for the film In the Name of the Father , which illuminates the factual fate of several Irish people who wrongly spent years imprisonment for alleged involvement in one IRA bomb attack served.

A piece that was created during the recording sessions for Achtung Baby was completed with Christy Moore in 1995 and was released under the name North and South of the River as a tribute to U2's hometown Dublin.

Further work on various soundtracks followed. Bono and The Edge write the theme song Goldeneye for the James Bond flick of the same name . The title was sung by music legend Tina Turner . A piece called Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, which was created while recording for Zooropa , was completed as the theme song for the film Batman Forever . Then U2 was asked to contribute a theme song for the Mission: Impossible flick. Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. took on this task and remixed the theme song for the series of the same name.

The feature film Entropy with Stephen Dorff , Judith Godrèche and Kelly Macdonald from 1999 plays during U2's Popmart tour and contains, in addition to many concert excerpts, scenes with the band in supporting roles.

On the 2001 album Goddess in the Doorway , Bono sang the song Joy with Mick Jagger .

Bono appeared in 2002 at a concert recorded for VH1 with the Irish band The Corrs and interpreted the songs Summer Wine (originally by Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra ) and When the Stars Go Blue (originally by Ryan Adams ). This recording was later also released on the album VH-1 Presents the Corrs: Live in Dublin .

In the 2007 film Across the Universe , Bono played the supporting role of Dr. Roberts. For the soundtrack he covered the two Lennon compositions I Am the Walrus and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds .

U2 not only worked for and with other artists, it also released cover versions as B-sides of their own singles. Among other things, they recorded their own versions of titles such as Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers , Night and Day (on Red Hot + Blue ) and I've Got You Under My Skin by Cole Porter , Can't Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley, or Satellite of Love by Lou Reed . At their concerts they also repeatedly covered titles by other artists.

U2 also worked with other artists again and again - the US author William S. Burroughs , who had a guest appearance in the video Last Night on Earth shortly before his death and whose poem A Thanksgiving Prayer was used as video material for Zoo TV, is mentioned here - Tour was recorded, as well as the photographer Anton Corbijn , who u. a. shot a video version of the U2 hit One in Berlin .

In addition to numerous cover versions of U2 songs by bands like the Pet Shop Boys and Sepultura or musicians like George Michael or Johnny Cash , U2 also repeatedly covered songs by other bands. One of these projects was the cover version of the song The Saints Are Coming by The Skids from 1978 in 2006. Together with the band Green Day they sang it in New Orleans at the Louisiana Superdome .

However, the band's songs also left their mark on the work of artists from other genres. In 2003, the Irish painter, illustrator and poet Louis le Brocquy portrayed U2 frontman Bono in an oil painting, after he had already done a few watercolors of him. The painter Nadja Jerczynski feels influenced by the spiritual background of the music, the intensity and compositional density in connection with great emotionality and passion. The student of the painter Sean Scully has made numerous pictures to the music of U2 since 2006.

Bono was a founding member of the non-governmental organization DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) . The aim of the organization was to encourage governments to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa. In 2004 DATA founded the new, non-partisan campaign organization ONE together with ten other development organizations, and Bono became a board member of this organization. The work area and the objectives of ONE are similar to those of DATA, but more general and comprehensive. Since January 2008 DATA has merged with ONE.

A four-minute campaign film was created for the first World Multiple Sclerosis Day in May 2009, which shows people with the incurable chronic disease from different parts of the world in situations in their everyday life. The U2 song Beautiful Day was chosen for the background music . For 2010, the film and song were turned into short TV spots. It shows that multiple sclerosis can theoretically affect anyone of any age at any time and henceforth has a say in the lives of those affected.

In December 2015, the Eagles of Death Metal performed as a special guest together with the band in the arena at a U2 concert in the AccorHotels Arena . The occasion was, among other things, the terrorist attacks on November 13th, 2015 in Paris, which also affected Eagles of Death Metal personally.

criticism

Critics accuse U2 of standing up for social justice on the one hand, but being a tax evader on the other. At the 2011 Glastonbury Festival , activist group Art Uncut urged U2 to pay their taxes in Ireland. In 2006, following a change in the law in Ireland, the band is said to have relocated their tax base to the Netherlands in order to pay less tax. This would mean that the Irish people would be losing millions of euros in urgently needed tax revenue. This issue was taken up by the ARD business magazine Plusminus in the broadcast of December 5, 2012, where it was shown that U2 actually reduced their tax burden by transferring all rights to their songs to a company they founded in the Netherlands, because there would be particularly low tax rates for profits from patents and licenses. With this, however, U2 should not be described as a “tax evader” but as a “tax optimizer”, since the procedure is legal.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placementsTemplate: chart table / maintenance / monthly data
(Year, title, rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US IE IETemplate: chart table / maintenance / charts non-existent
1980 boy DE89 (1 week)
DE
- - UK52
gold
gold

(32 weeks)UK
US63
platinum
platinum

(47 weeks)US
IE13 * (7 weeks)
IE
First published: October 20, 1980
Sales worldwide: 5,500,000
1981 October DE96 (1 week)
DE
- - UK11
platinum
platinum

(43 weeks)UK
US104
platinum
platinum

(38 weeks)US
IE17 * (5 weeks)
IE
First published: October 16, 1981
Sales worldwide: 2,250,000
1983 Was DE59
gold
gold

(6 weeks)DE
- CH-
gold
gold
CH
UK1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(148 weeks)UK
US12
Quadruple platinum
× 4
Quadruple platinum

(179 weeks)US
IE16 * (8 weeks)
IE
First published: February 17, 1983
Sales worldwide: 13,000,000
1984 The Unforgettable Fire DE14 (40 weeks)
DE
- CH24 (3 weeks)
CH
UK1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(132 weeks)UK
US12
Triple platinum
× 3
Triple platinum

(132 weeks)US
IE30 * (10 weeks)
IE
First published: October 1, 1984
Sales worldwide: 7,950,000
1987 The Joshua Tree DE1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(81 weeks)DE
AT1
Triple gold
× 3
Triple gold

(61 weeks)AT
CH1 (44 weeks)
CH
UK1
Nine-fold platinum
× 9
Nine-fold platinum

(201 weeks)UK
US1
diamond
diamond

(121 weeks)US
IE2 * (121 weeks)
IE
First published: March 9, 1987
Sales worldwide: 18,000,000
1988 Rattle and Hum DE1
platinum
platinum

(37 weeks)DE
AT1 (11½ months)
AT
CH1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(26 weeks)CH
UK1
Quadruple platinum
× 4
Quadruple platinum

(65 weeks)UK
US1
Quintuple platinum
× 5
Quintuple platinum

(38 weeks)US
IE17 * (16 weeks)
IE
First published: October 10, 1988
Sales worldwide: 8,500,000
1991 Watch out baby DE4th
platinum
platinum

(60 weeks)DE
AT2
platinum
platinum

(22 weeks)AT
CH3
gold
gold

(23 weeks)CH
UK2
Quadruple platinum
× 4
Quadruple platinum

(92 weeks)UK
US1
Eight times platinum
× 8
Eight times platinum

(97 weeks)US
IE9 * (38 weeks)
IE
First published: November 18, 1991
Sales worldwide: 15,250,000
1993 Zooropa DE1
gold
gold

(21 weeks)DE
AT1
gold
gold

(18 weeks)AT
CH1 (14 weeks)
CH
UK1
platinum
platinum

(34 weeks)UK
US1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(40 weeks)US
IE35 * (10 weeks)
IE
First published: July 6, 1993
Sales worldwide: 3,955,000
1997 pop DE1
gold
gold

(31 weeks)DE
AT1
platinum
platinum

(29 weeks)AT
CH1
platinum
platinum

(26 weeks)CH
UK1
platinum
platinum

(45 weeks)UK
US1
platinum
platinum

(28 weeks)US
IE37 * (10 weeks)
IE
First published: March 3, 1997
Sales worldwide: 6,500,000
2000 All That You Can't Leave Behind DE1
Triple gold
× 3
Triple gold

(41 weeks)DE
AT1
platinum
platinum

(52 weeks)AT
CH2
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(62 weeks)CH
UK1
Triple platinum
× 3
Triple platinum

(72 weeks)UK
US3
Quadruple platinum
× 4
Quadruple platinum

(94 weeks)US
IE1 (107 weeks)
IE
First published: October 30, 2000
Sales worldwide: 12,000,000
2004 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb DE1
Triple gold
× 3
Triple gold

(42 weeks)DE
AT1
platinum
platinum

(42 weeks)AT
CH1 (40 weeks)
CH
UK1
Quadruple platinum
× 4
Quadruple platinum

(39 weeks)UK
US1
Triple platinum
× 3
Triple platinum

(56 weeks)US
IE1
Tenfold platinum
× 10
Tenfold platinum

(55 weeks)IE
First published: November 22, 2004
Sales worldwide: 7,395,000
2009 No line on the horizon DE1
platinum
platinum

(28 weeks)DE
AT1 (28 weeks)
AT
CH1
platinum
platinum

(32 weeks)CH
UK1
platinum
platinum

(25 weeks)UK
US1
platinum
platinum

(25 weeks)US
IE1
Quadruple platinum
× 4
Quadruple platinum

(34 weeks)IE
First published: February 27, 2009
Sales worldwide: 3,400,000
2014 Songs of Innocence DE2 (11 weeks)
DE
AT2
platinum
platinum

(8 weeks)AT
CH3 (11 weeks)
CH
UK6th
silver
silver

(10 weeks)UK
US9 (8 weeks)
US
IE2 (53 weeks)
IE
First published: September 9, 2014 (via iTunes )
Sales worldwide: 650,000
2017 Songs of Experience DE2
gold
gold

(17 weeks)DE
AT2
gold
gold

(16 weeks)AT
CH2 (17 weeks)
CH
UK5
gold
gold

(10 weeks)UK
US1 (9 weeks)
US
IE1 (27 weeks)
IE
First published: December 1, 2017
Sales worldwide: 1,300,000

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Awards

The most significant awards in U2's career include:

  • 22 Grammys
    • 1987 - Best Rock Group Performance and Album Of The Year (The Joshua Tree)
    • 1988 - Best Rock Group Performance (Desire) , Best Performance Music Video (Where The Streets Have No Name)
    • 1992 - Best Rock Group Performance (Attention Baby)
    • 1993 - Best Alternative Music Album (Zooropa)
    • 1994 - Best Music Video Long Form (Zoo TV - Live From Sydney)
    • 2000 - Record Of The Year , Song Of The Year and Best Rock Group Performance (Beautiful Day)
    • 2001 - Record Of the Year (Walk On) , Best Pop Group Performance (Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of) , Best Rock Group Performance (Elevation) , Best Rock Album (All That You Can't Leave Behind)
    • 2004 - Best Rock Group Performance , Best Rock Song and Best Short Form Music Video (Vertigo)
    • 2005 - Best Rock Group Performance and Song Of The Year (Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own) , Best Rock Song (City Of Blinding Lights) , Best Rock Album and Album Of The Year (How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb)
  • 7 BRIT Awards
    • 1988, 1989 and 1990 - International Group
    • 1993 - Most Successful Live Act
    • 1998 - International Group
    • 2001 - International Group, Outstanding Contribution
  • Golden Globe Award
    • 2003 - Best Original Song (The Hands That Built America)
    • 2014 - Best Original Song ( Ordinary Love )
  • 5 MTV Video Music Awards
    • 1987  - Viewer's Choice  - "With Or Without You"
    • 1989  - Best Video From a Film  - "When Love Comes to Town"
    • 1992  - Best Group Video  - "Even Better Than the Real Thing"
    • 1995  - Viewer's Choice Europe  - "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"
    • 2001  - Video Vanguard Award
  • 3 MTV Europe Music Awards
    • 1995  - Best Group
    • 1997  - Best Live Act
    • 2009  - Best Live Act
  • 14 Meteor Ireland Music Awards (in 2001 (3), 2002 (7), 2003 (1), 2006 (3))
  • Amadeus Austrian Music Award 2001 + three nominations (2004, 2005, 2006)

Record sales

In Germany, the band has sold more than 5.3 million albums and video albums to date, making them one of the performers with the best-selling sound carriers in Germany . In the US, U2 has sold over 51.5 million albums, placing it 21st on the bestseller list. Around 170 million albums have been sold worldwide to date.

U2 holds the record for most number one hits on the Irish singles chart. The band recorded a total of 20 number one hits. She had her first number one hit in 1985 with The Unforgettable Fire . Her last number one hit in Ireland so far was Get On Your Boots in 2009.

literature

  • Dylan Jones: Around the World in 760 Days (U2 - The 360 ​​° Tour) The official photo book . Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2012, ISBN 978-3-85445-395-6 (Original edition: U2 360 °: The Official Story Of The Greatest Spectacle In Stadium Rock History )
  • U2 by U2. Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr. With Neil McCormick, from the English by Charlotte Lyne, Scherz, Frankfurt / Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-502-15046-6 .

Web links

Commons : U2  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Interview with Bono in March 2003: " Yes, it's the plane ... "
  2. a b eclipsed . No. 209 , April 2019, p. 16 .
  3. Eamon Dunphy: Unforgettable Fire; The Story of U2 . Penguin, 1987, ISBN 0-670-82104-7 , pp. 141-147
  4. Live Nation Nears a Deal for Managers of Music Acts , The New York Times, November 12, 2013, accessed September 20, 2014
  5. U2's manager Paul McGuinness 'set to step down after 34 years' , BBC News, November 13, 2013, accessed September 20, 2014
  6. Inside Guy Oseary and Paul McGuinness' $ 30M Live Nation Deal: New Roles, More Leverage and Music From U2 , billboard.biz, November 13, 2013, accessed September 20, 2014
  7. See U2 by U2, pp. 56, 70 & 76. According to The Edge, the songs that were included on the first demo were produced by Barry Devlin. The track lists given in the text are from the bootleg Another time, another place (the early demos 1978/79) .
  8. a b c d Archive of the Irish Singles Charts
  9. ^ IMDb : Release dates for U2: Rattle and Hum
  10. ^ Neil McCormick: U2 by U2 , p. 213
  11. u2tour.de U2tour.de. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  12. Fantasia Film: U2 3D ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fantasiafilm.de
  13. U2 Live on Tour. U2 360 ° Tour (2009–2011). Dietmar Reicht, accessed on November 1, 2010 .
  14. ^ The Voices: Artists of the Decade . In: rollingstone.com .
  15. ^ Top Touring Artists of the Decade . In: billboard.com .
  16. U2 cash the most . ( Memento of the original from August 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: news.de , July 18, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.news.de
  17. a b Most successful tour: Ed Sheeran breaks record with tour income. haz.de from August 4, 2019, accessed on August 4, 2019
  18. u2tour.de U2tour.de. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  19. ↑ Stadium rock: U2 wrest the tour world record from Rolling Stones. In: Spiegel Online . April 11, 2011, accessed May 1, 2016 .
  20. Minutes of the Apple event: The watch will be in stores in 2015, the phone in a few days . Spiegel Online , accessed September 9, 2014.
  21. New U2 album for free on iTunes . heise.de, September 9, 2014, accessed on September 12, 2014.
  22. iOS users complain about the U2 compulsory gift - and can't get rid of it . heise.de, September 11, 2014, accessed on September 12, 2014.
  23. iTunes users oppose free U2 album . focus.de, September 11, 2014, accessed on September 12, 2014.
  24. u2.com: u2.com , May 25, 2015; Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  25. u2.com: Remember Us? , September 9, 2014, accessed September 12, 2014.
  26. The Edge breaks down U2's upcoming 'Joshua Tree' tour . RollingStone.com, January 9, 2017, accessed January 10, 2017.
  27. Anniversary tour for The Joshua Tree announced . Spiegel Online , January 9, 2017, accessed January 10, 2017.
  28. U2 Video is fully committed to LGBT. Retrieved April 30, 2018 .
  29. This puts the band ahead of Helene Fischer (8th place), Billy Joel (7th place), Drake (6th place), Céline Dion (5th place), Justin Timberlake (10th place), Britney Spears (16th place) and Shakira ( 17th place). More commercially successful than U2 are Jay-Z and Beyoncé (3rd place), Ed Sheeran (2nd place) and Taylor Swift (1st place), where a ticket costs an average of 102 euros. Source: https://www.promiflash.de/news/2018/11/06/ticket-ranking-helene-fischer-schlaegt-justin-britney-und-co.html - accessed on November 12, 2018
  30. https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/11/01/business/ap-us-top-20-concert-tours.html - original source, accessed on November 12, 2018
  31. ^ McCormick (2006), p. 56, 58, 96
  32. NewOrderStory [DVD]. Warner Bros., 2005.
  33. Radio recording of the then radio station SDR 3, which broadcast the concert live.
  34. anne-madden.com
  35. http://www.jerczynski.com/
  36. laut.de : After the terrorist attack: Paris celebrates U2 and Eagles Of Death Metal
  37. ^ Protest against rock band U2 in Glastonbury , DiePresse Online (June 25, 2011)
  38. U2 accused of tax evaders at concert , DieZeit Online (from June 25, 2011)
  39. Corporate profits bypassed the tax authorities ( memento of December 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), Plusminus broadcast of December 5, 2012
  40. Chart sources: IE IE2 (Singles) DE AT CH UK US
  41. a b c d e f g h i j Worldwide album sales On statisticbrain.com, October 7, 2015, English. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  42. ^ Nico Lang: How U2 became the most hated band in America. In: Salon. September 19, 2014, accessed April 25, 2017 .
  43. IFPI Global Music Report 2018. (PDF 14.3MB) Retrieved on May 16, 2018 (Spanish).
  44. Jump upDublin's lame - Bono on the pasture . Spiegel Online , March 20, 2000
  45. 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Rolling Stone , December 2, 2010, accessed August 8, 2017 .
  46. RIAA Top Selling Artists: http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=top-selling-artists
  47. livenation.co.uk ( Memento of the original from October 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Live nation. Retrieved July 22, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.livenation.co.uk
  48. u2tour.de U2tour.de. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  49. irishcharts.ie, Facts & Figures - Artists with most No.1s ( Memento of the original from June 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , last updated in 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.irishcharts.ie
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on September 25, 2005 .