The Roots of U2
Karen Schlosberg, Creem, August 1987
SHERMAN, INTO the Wayback Machine. The year: 1981. A young Irish quartet called U2 is promoting its debut album, Boy. Its lead singer is simply called Bono Vox. He is charming, chatty and approaches his insights through decreasing spirals of tangential thoughts, comments and points. Though bassist Adam Clayton is in the Island Records conference room for part of the interview, Bono doesn't leave even a crack in his conversation.
Total word count of piece: 2380
Best Databases: RBP is Runner-up in Best Niche category
Video: Johnny Marr talks about Rock's Backpages
RBP on Spotify: The genius of Judee Sill
RBP Album Club in Chicago, June 30th: Paul Yamada and Liam (Plush) Hayes celebrate a Curtis Mayfield classic
Essential Listening: Roy Trakin meets the Replacements in '87
Essential Reading: Andrew Smith's history of the first dotcom boom
RBP Album Club, July 11th: Nick Hornby and Nick Coleman celebrate Southside Johnny's debut
Join the Facebook group now