Their first massive hit was “War” in March 1983. In April 1985 the “Rolling Stones” magazine dubbed U2 the band of the eighties so far. That summer U2 played in the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in London, where there performance over-ran to about 12 minutes! Bono actually considered leaving the band at that point, as he feared that his antics during that show (dancing with girls from the audience while leaving the band to play on regardless) had ruined the set for the rest of the but it was only when a friend told him that it was one of the high points of the day did he stay. The following year U2 played Self Aid, a benefit for Ireland's unemployed, and joined the Conspiracy of Hope tour for Amnesty International
In March 1987, U2 released their seventh single “The Joshua Tree”. This was their biggest selling single to date and it was the fastest selling single in the U.K, becoming number 1 in 22 countries. The resulting tour included 100 shows and led to Time magazine labelling U2 as “rocks hottest ticket”. During the tour their manager, Phil Joanou put together a film which showed the band on tour and “their perceptions of America. The film was called ‘Rattle and Hum' as was the LP which accompanied it, and they were released in October 1988. “Desire” was their first British number 1 hit, and this was on the LP “Rattle and Hum”. BB King (a blues legend) also played duets with U2 on the LP and he also toured with them in Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
In the late 1980’s the band played a series of 4 concerts which culminated on New Years Eve in which Bono stated that it was “time to go away and dream it all up again” this led to speculation that U2 were splitting up, but this proved to be false as they released “Achtung Baby” in November 1991. This was a much more technical and electronical record, which earmarked a new era in U2’s career. In the subsequent tour Bono tried to ring celebrities such as Bill Clinton, Pavarotti and Princess Diana after each show.
Their next single ‘Zoooropa’ was released in July 1993 and was less commercially successful and is often remembered as U2’s most experimental piece.
4 years later they released their next LP, although they continued working on various outside projects, such as the soundtrack for Batman Forever which yielded the single 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me. Larry and Adam worked on the 'Mission Impossible' soundtrack, while Bono and Edge worked on 'Goldeneye'. U2 also donated songs to good causes such as the AIDS fundraiser 'Red, Hot and Blue' and 'A Very Special Christmas'.
In March 1997 U2 released 'Pop' which Edge described as being "about as far away from U2 as it is possible to be". A massive world tour followed this and U2 utilised the world’s largest video screen, and computer animated sequences. They also used other props such as a giant rotating lemon and a huge olive on a 100ft cocktail stick. This was to be the biggest and last tour of such extravagant proportions that the band had ever currently undertaken.
Their next album was “all that you can’t leave behind” and was released on the 30th October 2000. In Britain the album had an extra track due to the “loyalty” of the fans and the fact that this is where U2 originated from. Perhaps their most famous song “beautiful day” was recorded on this album and when released as a single it went straight to number 1 in the charts, as did the album in the U.K
Their latest album “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” was released in 2004 and “Vertigo” a single released from the album, went straight to number 1 in the charts, as did the album for several weeks.
One of the songs in this album, “sometimes you can’t make it on your own”, was composed by Bono for his father. They never really got on with each other, but had a “grudging respect” for each other. When Bono’s dad died, Bono wrote this song and U2 exclusively performed this single for the first time ever at his funeral, in honour of his dad.
