U2
A note on a Dublin school noticeboard started everything. In 1976, fourteen-year-old drummer Larry Mullen Jr. went looking for bandmates; it was his group 'for about ten minutes, then Bono walked in and blew any chance I had of being in charge.' Punk convinced the teenagers that technical skill wasn't essential.
Their signature emerged early: the Edge bought a Memory Man delay unit while recording debut Boy (1980), and its chiming echoes became the backbone of anthems laced with spiritual, political lyrics. Producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois later added abstract, ambient shades, and The Joshua Tree (1987) made them international stars.
Facing stagnation, they reinvented themselves with Achtung Baby (1991), borrowing from industrial and electronic dance music and adopting an ironic, flippant image, before returning to a more conventional sound in 2000. In 2023, a residency built around that album inaugurated Las Vegas's Sphere.
If you like U2 you should check out: Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division, The Chameleons, The Sound, Television, The Clash, Brian Eno, R.E.M., Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan
