“It would be hard to find four nicer people,” says Niall Stokes, editor of Irish popular magazine Hot Press.
"They are smart guys with a strong curiosity and a thirst to make a positive impact on the world."
In 1977, drummer Larry Mullen posted an ad at Mount Temple Comprehensive School looking for musicians.
Soon, the elusive Bono (Paul David Hewson born May 10, 1960) began singing The Beach Boys Good Vibrations hits with Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton and The Edge (aka David Evans) in front of drunk university students.
Initially they got together under the name Feedback, later they changed their name to Hype, and then in 1978 to the already well-known name U2. After winning a talent competition, the guys signed with CBS Records Ireland, and a year later they released their debut single Three.
Although the second hit was already "on its way", they were far from being millionaires. Manager Paul McGuinness took charge of the boys and took on debt supporting the rock band before they signed to Island Records in 1980.
While their UK debut LP 11 O'Clock Tick Tock fell on deaf ears, the Boy album released later that year catapulted the band to the international stage.
STAR HOUR U2
After recording their critically acclaimed first album Boy, the rock band released October a year later, a much softer and more relaxed album reflecting the Christian beliefs of Bono, The Edge and Larry and building on the success of Boy.
Adam has since said that it was a very stressful time for him, as he and Paul weren't happy with this new spiritual direction that the rest of the group followed.
Bono, The Edge and Larry were members of the Shalom Christian community at the time and were concerned that continuing to be in the rock band U2 would compromise their faith. Fortunately, they saw the point in it and everything was fine.
After the moderate success of the first two albums, U2 achieved great success with War, which was released in March 1983. Due to the success of the New Year's Day single, the record entered the UK charts at number 1.
The next record, The Unforgettable Fire, was more complex in style than the bold anthems of the War album. Prior to its release in October 1984, the rock band U2 entered into a new contract that gave them full control of the rights to their songs, which was unheard of in the music business at the time. Yes, this is still rarely done.
An EP, Wide Awake in America, was released in May 1985, consisting of 2 new studio tracks (The Three Sunrises and Love Comes Tumbling) and 2 live recordings from Unforgettour's European tour (A Home of Homecoming and Bad). It was originally only released in the US and Japan, but was so popular as an import that it even charted in the UK.
That summer (July 13), rock band U2 played a Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in London, where their performance was one of the highlights of the day. Only the Queen set had the same effect. U2 was especially memorable as the song Bad played for about 12 minutes.
During the song, Bono spotted a girl in the front row of the crowd, who was apparently having trouble breathing due to the jolts, and signaled to security to get her out. As they tried to free her, Bono jumped off the stage to help and ended up dancing slowly with her in the area between the stage and the crowd.
The audience liked it, and the next day, photos of Bono hugging the girl appeared in all the newspapers. However, the rest of the band were not so happy, as they later said they had no idea where Bono had gone, nor did they know if he would return, but the concert was on! They played independently and were very happy when the singer eventually returned to the stage.
It was a failure for a rock band. After the concert, he was in seclusion for several weeks, sincerely feeling that he had set himself and 2 billion people up, ruining the reputation of U2. It wasn't until a close friend told him that it was one of the highlights of the day that he came to his senses.
THEY ARE ABLE TO LEAVE A PLEASANT AFTERTAste
The rock band became famous for their inspiring live performances and became a real sensation long before they had a big impact on the pop charts. With the multi-million dollar success of The Joshua Tree (1987) and the No. 1 hits With or Without You and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2 became pop stars.
On Rattle and Hum (1988) (double album and documentary), the rock band explored American musical roots (blues, country, gospel and folk) with typical earnestness, but were criticized for their bombast.
U2 reinvented itself for a new decade with a resurgence in 1991 with Achtung Baby. Then they had stage images that sounded irony and self-deprecating humor. An unusual 1992 zoo tour was one of the biggest rock shows ever staged. Despite their flamboyant appearance, the band's lyrics remained obsessed with matters of the soul.
In 1997, the rock band hastily released the album Pop to fulfill stadium tour obligations and was met with the worst reviews since Rattle and Hum.
Another new invention was on the way, but this time, instead of boldly forging ahead, the band sought to appease fans by creating music based on its 1980s roots.
The aptly titled All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000) and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004) focused on riffs and songs rather than atmosphere and mystery, and managed to rebuild the quartet as a commercial force, but at what cost? It took the rock band five years to release their 12th studio album, No Line on the Horizon (2009).
The band supported the album with a world tour that continued for the next two years. However, it was cut short in May 2010 when Bono underwent emergency surgery for a back injury. He received it during the rehearsals of a concert in Germany, he recovered only the following year.
U2 contributed the song Ordinary Love to the film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013). In 2014, Songs of Innocence (mostly produced by Danger Mouse) was released for free to all customers of Apple's iTunes Store a few weeks before its release.
The move was controversial but attracted attention, although reviews of the actual music were mixed. Many critics have complained that the rock band's sound remains static. Songs of Experience (2017) also received similar criticism, but despite this, the group continued to garner a high level of sales.
Rock band U2 has won over 20 Grammy awards during their career, including albums of the year such as The Joshua Tree and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.
