U2: from Boy to Boy Falls from the Sky (a Sound Opinions career retrospective)
By By Sound Opinions1
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U2: from Boy to Boy Falls from the Sky (a Sound Opinions career retrospective)
By By Sound Opinions
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U2 recently debuted a song from the forthcoming Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark musical. Reeve Carney, the actor playing Peter Parker, performed “Boy Falls from the Sky” on Good Morning America. And the Irish rockers played their own version in concert this week. Sound Opinions’ Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot couldn’t help wonder how a bunch of Dublin art-punks became stadium giants and now Broadway darlings.Jim and Greg discuss U2’s unique place in music history. With 12 albums, 22 Grammys and over 150 million records sold, very few rock bands from the “˜70s and “˜80s are at their level. And they are still selling out stadiums around the world. But they didn’t begin on such a large scale.
Jim and Greg trace U2’s journey to this blockbuster point and discuss the band’s different artistic phases and career highs and lows. They agree that Achtung Baby is U2’s masterpiece, and can’t stomach some of the righteousness and bombast of records like The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree. But each has a unique favorite. Jim chooses to highlight “An Cat Dubh” from the 1980 album Boy, and Greg plays “Your Blue Room” from the 1995 Brian Eno-produced album Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1.
Listen here:
[audio:/sites/default/files/archives/music/2010/10/Sound-Ops-U2.mp3|titles=Sound Ops U2]
Songs played include:
U2, “Boy Falls From The Sky” Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark original score, unreleased, 2010
U2, “Out of Control,” U2 Three, CBS, 1979
U2, “I Will Follow,” Boy, Island, 1980
Public Image Ltd, “No Birds,” Metal Box, EMI/Virgin, 1979
U2, “An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart,” Boy, Island, 1980
U2, “New Year’s Day”, War, Island, 1983
U2, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” War, Island, 1983
U2, “Pride (In the Name of Love),” The Unforgettable Fire, Island, 1984
U2, “Elvis Presley in America,” The Unforgettable Fire, Island, 1984
U2, “Where the Streets Have No Name,” The Joshua Tree, Island, 1987
U2, “Helter Skelter (live)” Rattle and Hum, Island, 1988
U2, “Zoo Station,” Achtung Baby, Island, 1991
U2, “Discotheque,” Pop, Island, 1997
U2, “If You Wear that Velvet Dress,” Pop, Island, 1997
U2, “Your Blue Room,” Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1, Island, 1995
U2, “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” Achtung Baby, Island, 1991