U2

U2 are a rock band formed in Dublin, Ireland. The band consists of Bono (vocals and rhythm guitar). The Edge (guitar, keyboards, and vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar), and Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums and percussion).

The band formed at secondary school in 1976 when the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency. Within four years, they signed to Island Records and released their debut album. By the mid-1980s, they had become a top international act. They were more successful as a live 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". Their 1991 album Achtung Baby and the accompanying Zoo TV Tour were a musical and thematic reinvention for the band. Reacting to their own sense of musical stagnation and a late-1980's critical backlash, U2 incorporated dance music and alternative rock into their sound and performances, replacing their earnest image with a more ironic tone. Since 2000, U2 have pursued a more conventional sound, while maintaining influences from their 1990's musical explorations.

U2 Musical style have developed and maintained a distinctly recognisable sound, with emphasis on melodic instrumentals and expressive, larger-than-life vocals. This approach is rooted partly in the early influence of record producer Steve Lillywhite at a time when the band was not known for musical proficiency. The Edge has consistently used a rhythmic echo and a signature delay to craft his guitar work, coupled with an Irish-influenced drone played against his syncopated melodies that ultimately yields a well-defined ambient, chiming sound. Bono has nurtured his falsetto operatic voice[124] and has exhibited a notable lyrical bent towards social, political, and personal subject matter while maintaining a grandiose scale in his songwriting. In addition, The Edge has described U2 as a fundamentally live band.

Despite these broad consistencies, U2 have introduced new elements into their musical repertoire with each new album. U2's early sound was influenced by bands such as Television and Joy Division, and has been described as containing a "sense of exhilaration" that resulted from The Edge's "radiant chords" and Bono's "ardent vocals". U2's sound began with post-punk roots and minimalistic and uncomplicated instrumentals heard on Boy and October, but evolved through War to include aspects of rock anthem, funk, and dance rhythms to become more versatile and aggressive. The two albums were labelled "muscular and assertive" by Rolling Stone, influenced in large part by Lillywhite's producing.

The Irish rockers made more money in 2005 than any other musicians on the planet. Their album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. and U.K. charts last year and earned five Grammys, including one for Album of the Year. But U2's prominent position on the Celebrity 100 list is owed largely to the media exposure of front man Bono, who has become an influential activist on behalf of AIDS awareness and debt relief in Africa. He has enjoyed audiences with such world leaders as George W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and the late Pope John Paul II, as well as a slew of other global leaders, and has pressed them to increase aid to Africa. Last year Bono, who is rarely photographed without his trademark sunglasses, was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.


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