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The Story of U2 - Part 4

As 1984 arrived U2 were looking to go forward, rather than simply rework what they had done before. For their next album they wanted a new producer, and got together with Brian Eno, noted for his work with Roxy Music and Talking Heads, and Daniel Lanois, a Canadian sound engineer. They started working on the album at Slane Castle, about 30 miles north of Dublin.
While rehearsals for the album were getting under way, Paul McGuinness was successfully negotiating a more lucrative deal with Island Records. The new contract not only gave the band a better financial deal in terms of royalties and promotion costs, but it also gave them full creative control.

The title of the new album, The Unforgettable Fire, was inspired by an exhibition which commemorated the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first glimpse of the new material came when Pride was released as a single and rose to number 3 in the UK charts. This was U2's best single yet, both a massive rock anthem and a moving tribute to Martin Luther King. The album itself came out in October and duly topped the UK chart.

Until the autumn of 1984, I had regarded U2 as a consistently good post-punk band, who had put out a number of strong records, but who were not truly seminal in the same way as were Led Zeppelin and Joy Division. The Unforgettable Fire changed my mind; indeed one track from the album blew my mind completely! Bad is so staggeringly good that it takes a while to get your breath back sufficiently to appreciate the other tracks, for example A Sort Of Homecoming and the album's title track.
U2 embarked on a world tour which began in Australia and New Zealand. Unfortunately the new album didn't translate well into a live performance, so U2 returned to Dublin to sort out the problems. They got their act together in time for another major US tour in early 1985. Their live show was now an art form in its own right, capable of filling major stadiums all over the world. At around this time they released a four track mini-album, Wide Awake In America, containing a live version of Bad and songs left over from The Unforgettable Fire sessions.

After returning to Ireland from the US tour U2 played a major homecoming concert at Croke Park in Ireland in June in front of 55,000 people. But the major musical event of 1985 was the Live Aid concert in July. At Wembley U2 gave a magnificent performance to a world-wide audience. The set included an extended version of Bad while Bono danced with a girl plucked from the audience.

U2 Articles The History of U2 The History of U2 - Part 1 The History of U2 - Part 2 The History of U2 - Part 3 The History of U2 - Part 4 The History of U2 - Part 5 The History of U2 - Part 6 The History of U2 - Part 7 The History of U2 - Part 8 The History of U2 - Part 9 The Story of U2 The Story of U2 - Part 1 The Story of U2 - Part 2 The Story of U2 - Part 3 The Story of U2 - Part 4 The Story of U2 - Part 5 The Story of U2 - Part 6 The Story of U2 - Part 7 The Story of U2 - Part 8 U2 News & More U2 - January 1993 U2 - Worlds Most Popular Rock Act U2 Earnings - 2001 U2 In Africa U2 Performs for iPod Commercial U2 Gets Replacement Recording Studio U2 Article Index