This was another great leap forward, their American album, after the European-ness of Fire. What was this weird shit I was hearing? ‘With Or Without You’ seemed to go nowhere, and took its time getting there I turned the radio up to hear a barely-discernible ‘Exit’ and then had to jump at it when all hell broke loose. I was at work that night, in a petrol station, with my fingers poised over the record button.
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In a tradition that continues to this day, Dave Fanning gave it its first airing on his RTÉ radio show.
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The story of Bono writing ‘Out Of Control’ in his bedroom, amidst the wreckage left behind by his mother’s passing is irrefutable evidence of an artist emerging.īy the time we get to 1987, I, and everyone I knew, was excited about a new album. As a testament to adolescent confusion, it has few equals. In retrospect, you can see where they’re coming from. I know people who consider Boy to be far and away the best thing that U2 have ever done. It would have been easier, as Bono has said, for them to deliver another War and ascend, as the record company no doubt were lighting candles for, to the position of the big rock band, the new Who was how he put it, but they decided to detour across the fields, and got there anyway.Ī further note about “the early stuff” before we leave it all behind.
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It was Under A Blood Red Sky, and its complimentary live ‘VHS’, that convinced the boffin of beep and blip Brian Eno that there was more going on here than just another guitar band, ushering in U2 Mk II. There’s an irony here that was lost on us at the time. It wasn’t for everybody I can remember my mate Dixie giving out, my first encounter with someone throwing out that old “I prefer the early stuff” guff as he blasted his copy of Under A Blood Red Sky out of his primitive tape recorder. Where does this story come from? Bono, as far as I can tell. Miles Davis, apparently, called for this album, to listen to on his deathbed. No need to take my word for it, of course. It remains one of my favourite records, by anyone. There’s material buried away on that record, like ‘Promenade’, ‘Wire’, and ‘Elvis Presley And America’ that would take a while to work its way in. The parent album is a magical thing, although I’m not sure I felt that at the time. Despite, or perhaps because of, its subject matter, there is a joy to this song and record, and this is a word I will come back to again. I did buy the single ‘Pride (In The Name Of Love)’ when it came out in September 1984. Had I bought The Unforgettable Fire at that stage? I’m not sure. Spare a thought for his band mates on stage though, and his manager Paul McGuinness, who were convinced that their mad friend had blown one of the greatest opportunities in the history of show business. The enduring image of that day, aside from perhaps Freddie Mercury throwing shapes, is Bono’s embrace of a young woman from the crowd. It’s worth looking at again, as he jumps from the stage, down to the crowd, driven by the two forces that have guided his career: the need to connect and his own astounding self-belief. I missed Live Aid, thanks to a bus journey from Tullamore to the Scottish Highlands – a long journey, and an even longer story – so I didn’t see the moment that Bono transformed himself through an impossibly risky manoeuvre into one of the biggest stars in the world. U2 were already huge before I got wise to them. I come to praise Caesar, not to bury him. If you’ve opened this expecting some of the all too-prevalent Bono Bashing – not a euphemism, although let me assure you, I’m not above that – then you’ve come to the wrong place. I am indeed a life-long fan of Bono and U2, since I was about fourteen anyway. You’ve written about him before, you know.
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Your experience of the man.” “What experience of the man?” I asked. Niall and I thought that you could put something together for it.