Entertainment
Every U2 Studio Album Released in the 80s, Ranked
In the 80s, U2 went from a local post-punk band in Dublin, Ireland to a global sensation, becoming one of the biggest bands in the world. The quartet formed in 1976, comprised of Paul Hewson, aka Bono, on vocals, Dave Evans, aka The Edge, on guitar and keyboards, Adam Clayton on the bass and Larry Mullin Jr. The band slowly built a following over the years through the cycle of recording and touring. Along the way, they paved a righteous path to rock and roll stardom, culminating in an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.
U2 released six albums over the course of the decade, scoring a bevy of classic rock staples including “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “I Will Follow,” “Gloria,” “Pride (In The Name of Love),” “With or Without You,” “Desire” and many more. The Edge’s signature chiming guitar sounds and use of delay along with Bono’s socially conscious lyrics and vocals, combined with Adam Clayton’s driving bass and the urgent drumming of Larry Mullin Jr. , the quartet created a plethora of memorable and anthemic songs that will live on forever. Focusing on the 80s, here are U2’s studio albums ranked by overall sound, influence and musicianship.
6
‘October’ (1981)
U2’s second album October got off to an inauspicious start when Bono lost a briefcase that contained lyrics and musical ideas during a performance at a club in Portland, Oregon. The band was ill-prepared when they entered Windmill Lane Studios for the two-month recording session with producer Steve Lillywhite. The recording sessions were tense, with Bono feeling the weight as he scrambled to write lyrics for the new songs.
Steve Lillywhite explained, “October was the most difficult of the three records I did with them basically because of the well-chronicled story of Bono losing his lyrics during the American tour. The fact that the first album had a bit of success in America meant that the band toured over there for a long time to do the groundwork. When they came back and it was time to do the second album, nothing was ready!” While the sessions were tedious, the results were not bad. The album spawned the hit single “Gloria,” which garnered a lot of play on MTV, which was in its infancy. Other standout tracks include: “Fire,” “I Threw a Brick Through a Window,” “With a Shout (Jerusalem)” and the moody tracks “Scarlet” and “October,” which feature The Edge on piano.
5
‘Boy’ (1980)
U2’s debut album Boy was released in October 1980. It was the first of three consecutive albums produced by Steve Lillywhite. The effort captures the band’s youthful energy and post-punk attitude with classic songs like “I Will Follow,” Out of Control,” and “The Electric Co.” A dash of punk rock attitude mixed with raw and unpolished rock-and-roll, Boy has an urgency and an energy that resounds through the first few albums.
Bono stated that the album marks the end of their adolescence and has a “cinema sound, Panavision, really textured and big, like a huge screen in a cinema.” The Edge said the debut album still holds up, “Going back through the early stuff, nothing really horrified me. Particularly on ‘Boy’, I can hear a bit of the Banshees and The Buzzcocks and some hint of The Skids, as well as some wildly original ideas of our own.” Boy laid down the groundwork for a long and productive career that was full of promise.
4
‘Rattle and Hum’ (1988)
Rattle and Hum is the soundtrack for the 1988 Phil Joanou film documenting U2’s U.S. tour behind The Joshua Tree. The album is half live cuts from the tour and half studio tracks showcasing the band’s intense relationship with American music. U2 brings together elements of American roots music, blues, soul and gospel sounds into the fold, all while still maintaining their unique sound. The group collaborated with Bob Dylan on “Love Rescue Me,” and blues legend B.B. King on the hit “When Loves Comes to Town.” The American-centric themes of the album are apparent on “Angel of Harlem,” about jazz vocalist Billie Holiday, “Hawkmoon 269,” inspired by traveling through North Dakota and “Heartland,” a long-gestating song that dates back to The Unforgettable Fire sessions.
“Desire” was the hit single off Rattle and Hum. It won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1989. “God Part II” is inspired by John Lennon’s death and draws inspiration and some lyrics from Lennon’s 1970 song “God.” The effort also features the moving ballad “All I Want is You” that plays over the film’s end credits. The live tracks on the album capture U2’s energetic live show with covers of The Beatles‘ “Helter Skelter” and Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” as well as memorable versions of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” with the Harlem gospel group New Voices of Freedom, and a powerful rendition of “Bullet The Blue Sky.”
3
‘War’ (1983)
War is the album that put U2 on the proverbial map. The album features the ubiquitous hit “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” which contrasted the events of the 1972 Easter Sunday shooting in Northern Ireland where 14 people were gunned down by British soldiers during a protest against internment without trial. The band tackled many social and political themes on the record, including nuclear proliferation on “Seconds,” and the Polish Solidarity movement on the album’s lead single, “New Year’s Day.” The album captures a raw rock-and-roll sound which went against the grain at the time, when artists were embracing the slick 80s production techniques and technology. Bono said:
“More than any other record, War is right for its time. It is a slap in the face against the snap, crackle and pop. Everyone else is getting more and more style-oriented, more and more slick. John Lennon was right about that kind of music; he called it ‘Wallpaper music’. Very pretty, very well-designed, music to eat your breakfast to… Music can be more. Its possibilities are great. Music has changed me. It has the ability to change a generation.”
The album also spawned the upbeat “Like a Song…” “Two Hearts Beat As One,” and “Surrender.” It was U2’s first truly complete album in its lyrical themes and musicality. The final track and fan favorite, “40,” was added to the album at the last minute with The Edge playing bass as Adam Clayton had already left for the day.
2
‘The Unforgettable Fire’ (1984)
The most underrated and overlooked of U2’s 80’s albums is The Unforgettable Fire. Lodged between War and The Joshua Tree, the album is more ambitious and atmospheric in sound than the previous three efforts. The Unforgettable Fire is the first U2 album not helmed by Steve Lillywhite. It was produced by Brain Eno and Daniel Lanois, who helped create an ambient soundscape, allowing the band’s heart to shine through. The effort begins with “A Sort of Homecoming” with its memorable opening line: “And you know it’s time to go / Through the sleet and driving snow / Across the fields of mourning to a light that’s in the distance.”
The Unforgettable Fire spawned the commercial hit “Pride (In the Name of Love),” one of two odes to the late Martin Luther King Jr., the other being the album’s closer “MLK.” “Bad” is another classic peeled from the album, which became a mainstay in the group’s live show. Guitarist The Edge began to dial in his signature guitar sound on the record, using echo to fill spaces in a unique way. The album is chock-full of great songs, including the frenetic “Wire,” and “Indian Summer Sky,” along with the atmospheric instrumental “4th of July,” The effort was as experimental as the group could be at the time, pushing their creative envelope and going through some growing pains that led them to the promised land of their next album The Joshua Tree. Bono’s take on the group’s fourth album:
“The Unforgettable Fire was a beautifully out-of-focus record, blurred like an impressionist painting, very unlike a billboard or an advertising slogan. In America there was such a backlash when we put out The Unforgettable Fire. People thought we were the future of rock-n-roll and they went, ‘What are you doing with the doggone hippie Eno album?”
1
‘The Joshua Tree’ (1987)
The Joshua Tree changed everything for U2 and made the Irish rockers a household name. The first two singles peeled off the album, “With or Without You,” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” both went to number one in the U.S., marking the group’s first two chart-topping singles. The Joshua Tree was deeply influenced by American rock and roll and folk music and is U2’s best-selling album with over 25 million copies sold around the world.
The sessions for the album were prolific. U2 had an abundance of material and had trouble choosing songs for the effort. Once they whittled it down, they were under such a time crunch imposed by Island Records, that the group reached out to Steve Lillywhite to mix half the record, while Daniel Lanois, Pat McCarthy and Dave Meegan mixed the rest. Lillywhite’s brilliant touch is heard on the classics “Where The Streets Have No Name,” “With or Without You,” “Bullet the Blue Sky,” and “Red Hill Mining Town.”
Bono’s lyrics on the album are deep and socially conscious, inspired by traveling the world and seeing famine in the African deserts, “Mothers of the Disappeared,” to drug addiction on “Running to Stand Still” to the dismal results of U.S. foreign policy in Central America, “Bullet the Blue Sky.” The Joshua Tree won Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 1988 Grammy Awards. Bono said the group wanted the album to be a “one-piece record, not a side-one, side-two thing.” The Joshua Tree is a masterpiece and deserves to be listened to in its entirety.
U2: Rattle and Hum
- Release Date
-
November 4, 1988
- Runtime
-
98 minutes
- Director
-
Phil Joanou
- Producers
-
Michael Hamlyn
Cast
-
-
The Edge
Self (uncredited)
-
-
You must be logged in to post a comment Login