Dublin, Ireland
“BUZZ: Newspaper Article” Feb- Mar 2012 (#12-L)
As St.Patrick’s Day (Ireland is 1 of 4 countries without snakes ie; the legend of St. Patty’s Day) is upon us I decided to cover the most successful Irish Rock Band of All time “U2” born out of a conservative country of 87% Catholics where up until 1979 the sale of contraceptive devices was illegal. 5 school boys met from an ad posted on the wall at Mount Temple Comprehensive School a new cutting edge project allowing Catholics & Protestants to intermix as well as Boys & Girls & no school uniforms. These 5 young men started out as “Feedback” in 1976.
The Players:
Larry; Lawrence Joseph Mullen Jr. (31oct1961 Dublin) started to include “Jr.” to his last name because his father “Sr” kept receiving outrageous bills that Larry “Jr” was failing to pay as he had not seen them, because they were delivered to the wrong address. Mullen hung an ad on the Mount Temple notice board looking for band members. Larry approached fellow student Adam Charles Clayton (13 March 1960 Oxfordshire, UK) because Larry thought Adam looked so cool he had to be in the band.
There were 3 other young men who answered the ad Richard “Dik” Evans & “The Edge” (rumor is nicknamed for the shape of his chin) David Howell Evans (8 Aug 1961 Essex, UK) & Paul David Hewson (10 May 1960 Dublin) “Bono” (rumor has it originally nicknamed ‘Monovox’ Latin for “One Voice”) Bono said in an interview “Irish nicknames are not given to be flattering, much like it’s the Irish way of thinking when you walk by a rich person’s house rather than thinking ‘Someday I’d like to be like that guy’, you tend to think ‘Someday I’ll get even with that bastard” In the fall of 1976 the band change their name to “The Hype” then Dik Evans leaves the band in Mar 1978 to pursue his academics. The band become “U2” in May 1978 the name was suggested by the singer of Irish punk band “The Radiators” Steve Averill.
Accomplishments:
The band scored 16 “Top 40” hits between 1987 & 2009, and 12 studio LPs from 1980- 2009. Back in the olden days bands used to release what was called a 45 Single with the “A-Side” designated as the hit and the “B-Side” as a cast off usually thought to be not good enough to include on the LP. U2 made the best of this situation for their fans by using the “Flip Side” as a way to put out more songs than the standard LP could hold. I have mentioned all the “Non-LP B-Sides” in the paragraphs below, as many of them are quite good.
“Boy” Oct 1980
A great first effort the stands for me are: “I Will Follow” “Out Of Control” & “The Electric Co” the 45 Singles contained the Non-LP B-Side “Things To Make And Do” “11 O’Clock (studio version) & “Touch”. U2 performed a concert at the now famous (First Ave.) “Uncle Sam’s” in Minneapolis on 9 April 1980 it’s been written that the band did an extensive soundcheck in the club working on new material. Years later on 1 May 2001 on the “Elevation Tour” Bono referenced this gig “With a guitar & 3 chords about 20 years later you get good enough to play across the street from where you first played this town” The following day 10 April my friend Dawn D. saw them in Ames, Iowa at The Fillmore (I think it became People’s Bar & Grill) Dawn was able to met the band after the show and got Bono, Edge & Adam to sign a poster for this event, Larry was very sick and waved to her through the bus window.
“October” Oct 1981
The follow up LP, the tunes I like best are: “Gloria” “I Threw A Brick” & “Stranger In A Strangeland”
with the Non-LP B-Sides “Out Of Control (Live ’81)” & “Boy- Girl (Live ’80)” “J. Swallo” and 3 live tracks from Boston, MASS. Mar 1981 “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” “The Ocean” & “Cry- Electric Co.”. It should be noted that Bono, Edge & Mullen had joined the “Shalom Fellowship” a Christian group that led them to question thee rock n roll lifestyle. Edge in particular seemed to have the most problem with choosing between his faith and rock n roll up until the fall of 1981. In 1982 there was a 45 Single released of “A Celebration” & “Trash, Trampoline & the Party Girl”
“War” Feb 1983
My favorite tracks on this one are “Seconds” “Surrender” & “Two Hearts Beat As One” including the Non-LP B- Side “Treasure; what ever happened to Pete the chop” which I do not believe has been released on anything else. While filming the video for “Sunday Bloody Sunday” the film crew used stunt doubles for the band for insurance purposes (rumor has it they used 4 Swedish women)
“Under A Blood Red Sky” Nov 1983
Their breakthrough “Live EP” recorded largely at “Red Rocks” in Morrison, Colorado there was a concert VHS (only) released of this LP containing 4 extra tracks “Surrender” “Seconds” “I Threw A Brick” & “Party Girl”
“Unforgettable Fire” Oct 1984
The stand out songs for me being “A Sort Of Home Coming” “Pride” “MLK” (covered by Joan Baez in 1988)
The 45 contained the Non-LP B-Side “Boomerang 11”. On 13 July 1985 U2 plays a 20 min set at “Live Aid” in London, UK at Wembley Stadium, consisting of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” & “Bad/ RollingStones: medley- Walk on the wildside” the band’s performance had run long and not only do they not get to perform “Pride” the power gets cut to the sound system effectively ending their set.
“Wide Awake In America” May 1985
This EP was released to pacify the fans until the next full LP could be released containing “Bad” “Sort of Homecoming” Live versions & “Three Sunrises” “Love Comes Tumbling” I personally feel “Three Sunrises” is one of the greatest songs U2 ever recorded as well as the Non-LP ‘B-Side’ “Sixty Seconds In Kingdom Come”
“The Joshua Tree” Mar 1987
My favorite’s being “In God’s Country” “Bullet The Blue Sky” & “Trip Through Your Wires”
Releasing 4 singles including the Non-LP B Sides “Luminous Times: hold on to love” “Walk To The Water” “Silver And Gold” “Sweetest Thing” “Spanish Eyes” & “Deep In The Heart” My friend Roscoe saw the band on 20 Oct 1987 in Iowa City, Iowa @ Carver Hawkeye Arena with the opening act “The Bodeans” Bono had his arm in a sling for several weeks before this night.
Roscoe was kind enough to give a tape of the show here’s the set list: “Where the streets have no name” “I will follow” “Trip through your wires” “Still haven’t found what I am looking for” “MLK” “Unforgettable fire” “Exit” “In God’s country” “Sunday bloody Sunday” “Help” “People get ready” “Bad” “October” “New year’s day” “Pride” “Star spangled banner- Bullet the blue sky” “Running to stand still” “With or without you” “40”
Later this year U2 also recorded 2 songs with Robbie Robertson (of “The Band”) on his 1st solo LP 1987 Geffen “Sweet Fire Of Love” & “Testimony”
“Rattle And Hum” Oct 1988
This unusual approach of combining a Live, Studio & Covers LP. Will include the Non-LP B-Sides “Halleluiah Here She Comes” “Dancing Barefoot” “Unchained Melody” & “A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel” and a companion Film with 10 extra songs.The color outdoor footage was filmed in Tempe, AZ. at “Sundevil Stadium” on 19, 20 Dec 1987, 2 of my sisters had tickets to one of these shows and missed out due too excessive tailgating in the parking lot outside (so I am told) ???
Also recorded from this time period was “Jesus Christ” “Christmas; baby please come home)” & “Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” and a song for Roy Orbison (1936- 1988) “She’s A Mystery To Me” released in 1989
“Achtung Baby” Nov 1991
The first all new music CD from the band in 4 years, my favorite tracks are 2, 4, & 8 HaHa That’s how it became for us with the CD replacing LPs so that translates to: “Even Better Than The Real Thing” “Until The End Of The World” “Mysterious Ways”
The Non- LP Tracks (as there is no flipside to a CD single): “Alex Descends Into Hell for a Bottle of Milk” “Lady With the Spinning Head (U.V.I.)” “Satellite of Love” “Salome” “Where Did it all Go Wrong?” “Paint it Black” “Fortunate Son” I personally feel “Lady” is one of the best songs from this period as well as “Salome” also recorded earlier in 1990 was Cole Porter’s “Night And Day” for a tribute CD.
“Zoo TV Tour”
I saw U2 on 11 Sep 1992 in Ames, Iowa @ Cyclone Stadium and I supplied a tape of the show to the authors of the book “U2 Live: A Concert Documentary” 1997 Ominbus Press (my entry can be found on page #155) the set list for that night was: “Zoo station” “The Fly” “Even better than the real thing” “Mysterious ways” “One” “Unchained melody” “Until the end of the world” “New year’s day’ “Wild Rover” “Trying to throw your arms” “Angel of Harlem” “When loves comes to town” “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” “Satellite of love” “All I want is you” “Sunday bloody Sunday” “Bullet the blue sky” “Running to stand still” “Where the streets have no name” “Pride” “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” “Desire” “With or without you” “Love is blindness” “Can’t help falling in love” man it was cold that night but we stood there the whole show, there was great stage design.
In conclusion I know I just cover the Irish band “Thin Lizzy” (new boxset due out this year) however I would like to point out I am Irish my Grandmother’s Name ‘Doughty’ and that so few bands come out of Ireland much less achieve international success. So for this St. Patrick’s Day let’s all make a toast to the 4 lads from Mount Temple….
Happy St. Patty’s Day MrZero aka: Rik Doughty
By: R.L.Schwinden
“Mr. Zero’s”
1744 Lexington Ave. N.
Roseville, Mn. 55113
www.mrzeros.com
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