Into The Heart of U2 Podcast

In this all new expanded Boy episode released in tandem with our new U2 Origin Story episode, we pick up the story after U2 pulls off the big rouse at their now legendary gig at the National Stadium in Dublin that gets them signed to Island Records. We go over why they turn from Joy Division producer Martin Hannett and pivot to Steve Lillywhite to produce Boy. We cover Lillywhite's crucial contributions to the Boy sessions and go through all the tracks. We cover the controversy over the album artwork and themes of the record and the seminal moments of the band's first world tour. From the outside, everything appears copacetic, but inside, pressure from the Shalom Group starts to splinter the Lypton Village and the three Christians of U2 try and reconcile rock and roll and their faith.

You thought you knew U2's origin story? Well, did you know no one actually responded to Larry Mullen's post about wanting to start a band on the Mt Temple bulletin board? Or, did you know that the band once had a flutist and two female backing vocalists onstage? Or that they scored their first TV appearance by fooling the RTE booker into thinking they wrote the Ramones' "Glad to See You Go"? Or that the trace elements of Zoo TV's embrace of Dada and surrealism actually dates back to when Bono and Gavin Friday studied mime in 1979 and that theatricality became a big part of U2's stage show at the time? Or, that after every record label in the UK gave U2 a hard pass on all 4 demos they'd done from 1978-1980, they pulled off one of the great cons ever which finally got them signed to Island Records? We've got the stories behind the stories in this deep dive into the U2 Origin Story.

In our final episode (at least until a new U2 record surfaces), we cover everything from the beginning of the lockdown to the present: Bono's voiceover in the Sing 2 movie; U2's underwhelming single "Your Song Saved My Life"; Bono & Edge’s surprise appearance in a Ukraine subway station turned bomb shelter; Bono's book and book tour. Songs of Surrender; the Disney+ documentary: A Sort of Homecoming with David Letterman; U2 changing managers. The Sphere residency, the latest on Larry's illness, all the U2 projects in the pipeline; all the up to the minute news about the new album and tour & the just released 20th Anniversary "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" Deluxe Edition including the Shadow Album "How to Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb."

In this special bonus episode, we take a very deep dive into every aspect of U2 at the Sphere. From the deal James Dolan and MSG made to get U2, the ticket kerfuffle, the technological advancements the Sphere allowed, the sparse stage design, the setlist, the visual message of the show, and what this all means for U2 and, for that matter, the future of concert tours going forward. We've seen every tour, why not tune in to see where we think U2 landed this time?

In our Part 2 on U2's 14th studio album, "Songs of Experience," we discuss the second half of the record which contains some of the band's finest and most unheralded songs of the latter part of their career; we go over the differences in the Innocence Tour and the Experience Tour; the band's resumption of the Joshua Tree Anniversary Tour which took them to the end of the decade; and speculate on what would have happened had Covid not hit.

After the backlash to the controversial release of Songs of Innocence and its bevy of producers, U2 refocuses for its 14th studio album, Songs of Experience, with a Fall 2016 release date. At least that was the plan. In our part 1, we dive into the making of the record, the delays caused by Bono's brush with mortality and the seismic shift in global politics which convinced U2 to change the lyrics to better reflect the nexus of the times. We also cover the band's decision to do the Joshua Tree Anniversary Tour further delaying the release the record.

In our Pt 2 on U2's 13th album, Songs of Innocence, we discuss the more compelling 2nd half of the record; Bono's bike accident; the lasting impact of “Apple-Gate” on U2’s legacy & the innovative Barricage, the centerpiece of the i + e tour.

U2's 13th studio album, "Songs of Innocence," is an album released a full 5 1/2 years after the commercial and critical disappointment of "No Line on the Horizon" with a list of producers as long as a Beyonce album. To that long gestation period Bono said, "Rumor has it we haven't made a U2 album in the last five years. We have. We've made several. We just didn't release them because we were waiting for something that would be as good as the best we've ever done." But, once the album was released, it wasn't the music that everyone was talking about, but rather how it was released. Which is a shame because, while it may not be the experimental classic of Achtung Baby, it is wildly underrated containing some of the most personal songs of U2's career. The question is, will its virtues ever overshadow the controversy known as Apple-Gate.

In our Part 2 on No Line on the Horizon, we pick things up with the three more pop oriented songs the band wrote after leaving Fez, Morocco. Did the band panic and go chasing a hit? If so, they chose a very unrepresentative first single in Get On Your Boots. Things get a lot more interesting on the final third of the record with some truly fresh material that probably should have been the centerpiece of the record. We also go through the marketing and promotion campaign that saw the band exerting its considerable muscle. Then we cover and uncover all the stories behind the 360 Tour.

After two consecutive conventional and commercially successful records in "All That You Can't Leave Behind" and "How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb," the time was right to explore something different and go someplace else to do it. So, U2 heads off to Fez, Morocco with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, not just as producers but as songwriting partners. The sessions in Fez result in the kind of experimental material they'd hoped for, but when the band returns home, distractions and second guessing start to alter the original vision for the record.