U2
This is the web site of the band_: http://www.u2.com/index/home
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group
consists of Bono (vocals and guitar), The Edge(guitar, keyboards, and
vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar), and Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums and percussion). U2's early
sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate
influences from many genres of popular
music. Throughout the group's musical pursuits, they have maintained a sound
built on melodic instrumentals. Their lyrics, often embellished with spiritual
imagery, focus on personal themes and sociopolitical concerns.
The
band formed at Mount Temple
Comprehensive School in 1976 when
the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency. Within four years,
they signed with Island Records and released their debut album Boy. By the mid-1980s, U2 had
become a top international act. They were more successful as a touring act than
they were at selling records until their 1987 album The Joshua Tree which,
according to Rolling Stone,
elevated the band's stature "from heroes to superstars". Reacting to musical stagnation and
criticism of their earnest image and musical direction in the late-1980s, U2
reinvented themselves with their 1991 album, Achtung
Baby, and the accompanying Zoo
TV Tour; they integrated dance, industrial, and alternative rock influences into their sound, and
embraced a more ironic and self-deprecating image. They embraced similar
experimentation for the remainder of the 1990s with varying levels of success.
U2 regained critical and commercial favour in the 2000s with the records All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)
and How to Dismantle an Atomic
Bomb (2004), which
established a more conventional, mainstream sound for the group. Their U2 360° Tour from 2009–2011 was the
highest-attended and highest-grossing
concert tour in history.
U2
have released 13 studio albums and are one of the world's best-selling music artists of all
time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide. They have won
22 Grammy Awards, more than any
other band; and, in 2005, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone ranked U2 at number 22 in its list of
the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and labelled them the
"Biggest Band in the World". Throughout
their career, as a band and as individuals, they have campaigned for human
rights and philanthropic causes, including Amnesty International, the ONE/DATA campaigns, Product Red, and The Edge's Music Rising.