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The only band that matters: U2
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对U2的感觉就如同我们对罗大佑的感觉一样，是一种怀旧，也是一种喜爱。U2乐队的歌就像一阵干净、纯粹和清新的劲风，给我们带来了爽快，还有震撼。
70年代走红的U2沉寂多年后，近两年又再创佳绩。在2000年的格莱美奖评比中，他们凭一曲Beautiful Day而获得最佳单曲奖等多项重要大奖。近日他们的巡回演唱会又在喜爱他们的歌迷中掀起了一股又一股的热潮。
I want both for my band. I want heaven and hell. We've always been given this choice, to choose between the flesh and the spirit. I don't know anyone who isn't both.— Bono
IRISH rock band U2 kicked off a two-night stand(舞台演出) in Canada's French-speaking metropolis recently with lead singer Bono declaring, “This is the noisiest crowd of the whole tour.”
Some 20,000 fans packed Montreal's Molson Centre for U2's Elevation 2001 Tour, named after a track on the group's latest album, All That You Can't Leave Behind.
Bono, 41, enticingly(有吸引力地) danced and crawled on the heart-shaped stage, glad-handing crazed French-Canadian fans.
One of only a few bands to achieve consistent commercial and critical success across two full decades, U2 has charted success on its own terms on both the artistic and business sides of the music industry.
From the band's earliest days in Dublin, Ireland, to the present, U2 has broken free from the traditional limitations of what a rock band — and rock music — could and couldn't do. By combining an original sound with honest lyrics and a challenging social message, U2 has earned the respect of their peers and critics, and an almost fanatical following of fans around the world.
U2 formed in Dublin in the autumn of 1976 after 14-year-old Larry Mullen, Jr posted a note on the bulletin board at his high school seeking musicians for a new band.
From the group of hopefuls that showed up at Mullen's home that first day, a five-piece known originally as "Feedback" formed with Mullen (born October 31, 1961) on drums, Adam Clayton (b. March 13, 1960) on bass, Paul Hewson (later nicknamed Bono Vox and eventually just Bono, b. May 10, 1960) on vocals, and Dave Evans (later nicknamed The Edge (b. August 8, 1961) on guitar.
Feedback quickly changed their name to The Hype, and began rehearsing on weekends and after school as often as possible, forming genuine friendships in the process.
After nearly 18 months of rehearsing, the band's big break came at a talent show in Limerick, Ireland, in March, 1978. With CBS Records' Jackie Hayden judging, The Hype won the contest, impressing Hayden enough to be given studio time to record their first demo(录音).
Shortly after the talent show contest, The Hype changed its name to U2 and prodded(敦促) a Dublin businessman named Paul McGuinness to agree to manage them.
In September, 1979, U2 released their first single, an Irish-only release called U2:3 which topped the national charts. Their first album was Boy, released in October of that year. The album offered a fresh, new sound that earned rave reviews in both the Irish and UK press. Bono's lyrics tackled subjects like faith, spirituality, and death — subjects generally avoided by even the most seasoned rock acts.
But something went wrong among them. Of the four band members, only Adam Clayton wasn't a Christian. Bono, The Edge, and Larry joined a religious group in Dublin called Shalom, which led all three to question the relationship between the Christian faith and the rock and roll lifestyle.
Then they decided it was possible to reconcile the two and continue making music without shedding their personal beliefs. But the band's confusion led to an unfocused record: their secon album, October, sold relatively well on the growing strength of U2's name, but failed to yield the hit single many in the industry had expected.
That changed in 1983, with the release of War, U2's third album. An all-out attack against the keyboard- and drum machine-based songs that made up the song and album charts, War featured the band's most aggressive songwriting to date in both music and lyrics.
For the first time, Bono addressed the long-standing “troubles” in Northern Ireland with the song Sunday, Bloody Sunday.
The album's first single, New Year's Day, was U2's first hit single, reaching the top 10 spot on the UK charts and the US MTV put the song's video into heavy rotation, and helped introduce U2 to a new audience of fans.
The Unforgettable Fire produced in 1984 — named for a series of paintings drawn by survivors of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki — introduced the world to a new U2, a more experimental and unfocused U2.
Rolling Stone magazine named U2 their “Band of the 80s”, suggesting that “for a growing number of rock-and-roll fans, U2 has become the band that matters most, maybe even the only band that matters”.
Greatness arrived in 1987, with the release of U2's another album, The Joshua Tree. U2 had delivered a record that caught them at their musical and lyrical peak.
U2 took an extended break after this, working relatively quietly on projects for the "Batman Forever" and "Mission: Impossible" soundtracks.
In 1995, the band re-emerged with Brian Eno as a collective called "Passengers", and released an experimental album called Original Soundtracks 1. However, the album was largely ignored both critically and commercially.
On February 23, 2001, U2 won three Grammy awards, including the prestigious song and record of the year for Beautiful Day.
Twenty years on, it appears that U2 still has plenty of gas in its tank. The four original band members remain close friends and stellar musicians, and their collective ambition appears to be as strong as ever.
While most U2 fans don't expect the band to ever revisit the worldwide sales success of The Joshua Tree, the fact remains that U2 is one of only a few bands qualified to wear the label of World's Biggest Band. They continue to write music and explore new ideas on their own terms, and their future releases and tours will be no less anticipated than those of the past.(SD-Agencies)
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