U2 Amazing Band, Great Music, Very Inspiring

U2 is a rock band made up of 4 members; Adam Clayton who plays bass, Bono (Paul Hewson) who does the vocals, Larry Mullen Jr. who plays the drums and The Edge (Dave Evans) who plays guitar. The band U2 first formed in 1976 When 14 year old Larry Mullen Jr. posted a note on his high school notice board asking for new band members. The band made was called Feedback and went on to be called The Hype. They didn’t change their name to U2 until 1978, the band made its big break at a talent show in Limerick which they won and got to record their first demo. Bono, The Edge and Larry are all are all strong believers in Christian faith and at one stage were going to quit U2 because of relationship between Christian faith and rock and roll, but then decided that the band wouldn’t get in the way of their personal beliefs.

U2 are well known for having certain themes in their songs and throughout their albums. U2 first album Boy had a strong theme about youth and the Change from childhood to adulthood.U2s 3rd album War which was released in 1983 was a political protest song about The Troubles in Northern Ireland specifically about Bloody Sunday when 27 civil rights protesters were shot. It explains about the different aspects of war both physical and emotional and the horror behind it. The Joshua Tree was one of the biggest hits in the 1980’s and features the bands interest in the roots of  rock which is all the different types of rock music for example blues and country music. These different styles influenced the lyrics for the songs in this album. The Joshua Tree album also has themes of U2s interest in American faith, social injustices, government oppression, terrorism, and drug addiction, its freedom and what it stands for, but also how they weren’t happy with the United States foreign policies. In the 1990s U2 tried to change the style of their songs by experimenting using electronic dance beats, industrial guitars and altered vocals. First Achtung baby, zooropa, and lastly pop. Their next album All That You Can’t Leave Behind brought back the 80s style of music that U2 played.

There were lots of influences for U2 in their music but one of the main influences would be Christianity Which was because 3 out of the four members were all Christian(Bono, The Edge and Larry).The first two albums that U2 released Boy and October  both had strong Christian references in them. Because Bono was the song writer he often put Christian writing into his songs and this shows throughout U2s music. Another common influence in U2s songs and albums is political views. U2 sometimes put in political references into their songs when it was actually happening. For example the 1983 album war was influenced by the fighting happening in Northern Ireland and the song Sunday Bloody Sunday was then influenced when 27 protestors were shot by soldiers. From 1987 The Joshua Tree album, Bullet the Blue Sky ,this is a political song that is against US foreign policy for promoting fighting in Central America. Bono wanted to attract attention to the damage the US was doing in other countries.

What do U2 and Bono stand for? Bono has for a long, time supported a lot of different causes, he was first inspired by a group called live aid, He then went to a feeding camp in Ethiopia with world vision the first cause he supported. Bono then went to Central America in 1985 to see the damage in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Afterwards U2 toured as part of the Amnesty International benefit tour. He also campaigned with Greenpeace against nuclear power plants in England. In his role as spokesman for the Jubilee 2000 project he has gathered lots of actor’s artists and campaigners to the cause of ending third world debt AIDs and poverty. Bono also was one of the main organisers in the live 8 concerts around the world in 2005, this was planned to pressure world leaders in to increasing aid to poorer countries destroying third world debt and improving trade with the world’s poorer countries. Also in 2005 Bono and a fashion designer created the clothing line called EDUN. The range of clothes for men and woman were to promote fair trade and sustainable growth by having the factories in poor communities This then encourages families to work in there and use their skills in a environment friendly way to create clothes that are then sold at fair prices.

For all this work Bono has done with the help and support of the other members of U2, Bono has earned many honours and awards: A Free your mind award for his work on behalf of Jubilee 2000 project, he received a knighthood in Britain, the Legion d’honneur in France and also at least two nominations for the Nobel Peace prize.