The significant album Bono felt was “out of focus”
We might now associate the 1980s with a certain level of tackiness, from the bright colourways to the spandex and questionable hairstyles, but this was only one aspect of the era. Musically, there were many innovations across the board, from the abstract, minimalist stylings of post-punk to the heady proclivities of goth, but one thing that really took hold in both underground circles and the mainstream was the idea that music should sound enormous. From Mike Scott and The Waterboys to Van Halen, music went stratospheric during the decade, and one band that did it better than most was U2.
Yes, the Irish quartet have firmly positioned themselves among music’s most uncool figures, residing at a table next to Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, and, dare I type his name, Cliff Richard. Still, far before they took a sharp nosedive into the bottomless pit of musical lunacy, they were at the forefront of rock. Long before the days when Bono first looked at himself in the mirror wearing Police shades and thought, “Yeah“, and The Edge wore out his penchant for the delay effect, U2 instituted a very clever artistic masterstroke.
It might be impossible to forget the musical violations of Zooropa and Pop, but the route to getting lost in the psychological hinterland of their ostensible artistic grandeur started in the early 1980s. When they broke out, they put a muscular, anthemic spin on the post-punk genre, with Bono’s passionate delivery, The Edge’s spikey but glistening guitar lines and a rumbling rhythm section capturing listeners’ imaginations.
The group subtly evolved in time, and their sound would naturally grow more expansive thanks to their own sonic proclivities and keeping one eye on the mode of the day. This culminated in the resounding 1983 album War, brought to life by the producer du jour, Steve Lilywhite, who had a significant hand in the “big music” trend of the decade with his gated reverb drum sound, popularising it with the likes of XTC, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel and more.
U2’s greatest move was that after War, they decided to move in a new direction instead of treading old ground. While they sought to maintain their underlying big sound, they wanted to fuse it with minimalist abstraction; to do so, they hired ambient master Brian Eno and his friend Daniel Lanois. The two men would facilitate U2 experimenting with their sound and pushing it in a more hypnotic direction than fans could fathom, with the profoundly artful sound of the resulting record, 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire, the starkest shift of their career.
Although it received favourable reviews at home and produced their biggest hit at the time, ‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’, The Unforgettable Fire was ahead of its time. It was such a bold move that it saw the band attract a backlash in America, who wanted the big choruses only. Yet, unbeknownst to the haters, it would also set the scene for their best-selling masterpiece, 1987’s The Joshua Tree, which perfectly balanced an anthemic, enormous sound with cinematic, artistic flavour.
In 1987, when U2 were at the peak of their powers, Bono would praise the “out of focus”, impressionistic nature of The Unforgettable Fire, and thank Eno and Lanois for tapping into the heart of the band, and opening up the gates to true success.
“The Unforgettable Fire was a beautifully out-of-focus record, blurred like an impressionist painting, very unlike a billboard or an advertising slogan…” he said before noting that before the record arrived, many had seen them as the future of rock and could not understand what they were doing with “this doggone hippie Eno album”.
Bono added: “We owe Eno and Lanois so much for seeing through to the heart of U2.”
Next time you’re hating on U2, maybe take a moment to recognise that their story is not as one-dimensional as we like to think. The story of The Unforgettable Fire is exemplary for artists looking to evolve and continue to move forward. Also, what came after its successor should provide another key example or what not to do. It’s much harder to earn plaudits than it is to fall from grace.
