U2 began the '80s as a virtually unknown "alternative" group and ended the century as one of the most widely followed rock bands in the world. The Irish rockers were influenced initially by punk's raw energy, but U2 immediately distinguished themselves from their postpunk peers with a huge, soaring sound - centered on Dave "the Edge" Evans' reverb-laden guitar playing and Paul "Bono" Hewson's sensuous vocals - and songs that tackled social and spiritual matters with an open, tender urgency. U2 shunned the sort of ironic expression and electronic gimmickry that were considered hip in the '80s - until the '90s, that is, when the band began drawing on such elements to reinvigorate and broaden its sound. By 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind, U2 had revived its straight-ahead approach. U2 has maintained not only its massive popularity but also its status as one of the most adventurous and groundbreaking acts in pop music.

The band members began rehearsing together while students at Dublin's Mount Temple High School (the city's only nondenominational school). None was technically proficient at the beginning, but their lack of expertise mothered invention. The Edge's distinctive chordal style, for instance, stemmed largely from the guitarist's inability to play complicated leads, while bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. provided a rhythm section that was mostly pummeling ardor. The novice musicians quickly developed a following in Ireland and found a manager, Paul McGuinness, who remains with them to this day. They recorded independently before signing to Island Records in 1980.

U2's 1980 debut album, Boy, was produced by Steve Lillywhite. On it, the group earnestly explored adolescent hopes and terrors, rejecting hard rock's earthy egotism and punk's nihilism. Bono, U2's lyricist, was (and still is) a practicing Christian, as were the Edge and Mullen, and on a second LP called October (a 1981 Lillywhite production), the singer incorporated imagery evoking their faith. Boy and October generated the respective singles "I Will Follow" and "Gloria," which got some airplay in the U.S. An American club tour generated further interest, thanks to U2's incendiary live performances.

War cemented U2's reputation as a politically conscious band; among its themes were "the troubles" in Northern Ireland, addressed on the single "Sunday Bloody Sunday." Another single, "New Year's Day," went to #11 in England and #53 in the U.S., while War topped the British chart and hit #12 stateside. The group commemorated its 1983 tour with the live EP Under a Blood Red Sky, recorded at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado.

U2's next studio album, 1984's The Unforgettable Fire, was the first of several fruitful collaborations with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. The album generated the group's first American Top 40 single, an ode to American Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., called "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (#33, 1984). The album hit #12 here, and the Irishmen supported it by headlining arenas around the world. In 1985 U2 was proclaimed "band of the '80s" by ROLLING STONE and made a historic appearance at Live Aid. The following year, the group joined Sting, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, and others for the Conspiracy of Hope Tour benefiting Amnesty International.

U2 entered the pop stratosphere with 1987's The Joshua Tree, a critical and commercial smash that topped the albums chart that year and spawned the #1 hits "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," as well as "Where the Streets Have No Name" (#13, 1987). The LP, which was produced by Eno and Lanois, won the group two Grammys, for Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance. In 1988 U2 wrapped up a triumphant worldwide tour by releasing Rattle and Hum, a double album that combined live tracks with new material, and featured guest appearances by Bob Dylan and B.B. King. Rattle and Hum seemed bombastic to some critics; an accompanying film documentary also garnered mixed reviews. The LP nonetheless shot to #1, and produced a #3 single, "Desire" (1988). The band's next LP, 1991's Achtung Baby, reached #1 and drew rave reviews. The LP marked a stylistic departure, featuring more metallic textures, funkier beats, and intimate, world-weary love songs. Hit singles included "Mysterious Ways" (#9, 1992), "One" (#10, 1992), "Even Better Than the Real Thing" (#32, 1992), and "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" (#35, 1992). Another track, "Until the End of the World," was featured in Wim Wenders' 1991 film of the same name. Lanois, who produced Baby with support from Eno and Lillywhite, won a Grammy for his work.

In 1992 the band embarked on its Zoo TV Tour, a flashy, multimedia extravaganza that juxtaposed the rugged simplicity of its previous shows. Bono adopted a series of wry guises - the leather-and-shades-sporting Fly, the demonic MacPhisto - that he'd use for encores and, in the Fly's case, press appearances. In 1993, as the tour wound down, the band reentered the studio and made Zooropa, a quirky, techno-drunk affair coproduced by Eno, the Edge, and engineer Flood. The album reached #1 but yielded only the minor hit "Stay (Faraway, So Close)" (#61, 1993), which was also on the soundtrack to Wenders' 1993 movie Faraway, So Close. Johnny Cash sang lead on the track "The Wanderer." In 1993 the band renewed its contract with Island for an estimated $170 million. U2's contribution to 1995's Batman Forever soundtrack, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me," was a Top 20 hit. Also in 1995 the group collaborated with Eno as Passengers on a largely instrumental album called Original Soundtracks I; the only track to get attention was "Miss Sarajevo," on which Bono shared vocals with opera singer Luciano Pavarotti. Proceeds from the single's sales went toward war relief in Bosnia. The same year Bono and the Edge cowrote with Irish folk singer Christy Moore a song about the peace process in Ireland, "North and South of the River."

In 1996 Clayton and Mullen recorded a rock version of the "Theme From Mission: Impossible" for the film starring Tom Cruise. It went to #7 on the pop chart. The following year saw the release of the electronica-heavy Pop; the album debuted at #1 in 27 countries, including the U.S., and garnered hit singles in "Discothèque" (#10, 1997) and "Staring at the Sun" (#26). U2 embarked on its next stage extravaganza, the PopMart Tour, from 1997 to 1998. With a supermarket theme that played upon the concept of commercialism, the tour was even more grandiose than the Zoo TV Tour had been, with immense props that included a giant olive with a 100-foot-long toothpick, a 35-foot-high lemon, and a 100-foot-tall golden arch. At the tour's conclusion, U2 released a greatest-hits compilation with a remixed version of "Sweetest Thing," previously the B side of "Where the Streets Have No Name." This time the song was released as a single (#63, 1998).

Bono returned to political activism in 1999, with much of his focus on fighting world poverty. He met with President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as well as the Pope, as a representative of Jubilee 2000, a nonprofit group devoted to convincing nations to forgive third-world debt in the new millennium. He also cowrote a song, "New Day," with Wyclef Jean of the Fugees [see entry]; the single's proceeds benefited relief efforts in Kosovo and the Wyclef Jean Foundation. The pair performed the song at the United Nations, as well as at NetAid, a concert held simultaneously in London, Geneva, and New Jersey's Giants Stadium, while being simulcast live on the Internet, to benefit several causes, among them third-world debt relief and global poverty. In early 2000, the Wim Wenders movie The Million Dollar Hotel, based on a story co-conceived by Bono, was shown at the Berlin Film Festival and released in many countries. Bono coproduced the film, made a cameo appearance in it, and U2 recorded two new songs for the soundtrack, one of which, "The Ground Beneath Her Feet," was written around lyrics by controversial author Salman Rushdie. In addition, Bono recorded tracks with Lanois and Eno as the Million Dollar Hotel Band. U2 released an album of new material, All That You Can't Leave Behind (#3), in late 2000, featuring the single "Beautiful Day" (#40, 2000). Both album and single won Grammys in 2001.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)