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On This Day: Boy (U2)

They would go on to be one of the biggest bands of all time, but it was on this day 42 years ago that it all really started (but 5 months later, on 3 March 1981, in the US).

But it had actually begun in 1976, when the band formed at Mount Temple Comprehensive in Dublin. To get to the time of our story, four years of gigging and writing, saw Feedback become The Hype, become U2 - four Irish lads (well alright, two of them were actually born in England) with an already impressive collection of 40 tunes in their repertoire.


Signed to Island Records, they had recorded the single 11 O' Clock Tick Tock with Martin Hannett, who was already legendary for his work with Joy Division, and it was suggested that he produce the debut album. But the band weren't enjoying working with him, possibly in part because was beginning to struggle in the aftermath of Ian Curtis's suicide (Joy Division lead singer).


A tape was sent to Steve Lillywhite - the voice sounded good, but overall "it didn't sound very good." But after seeing them play live in Ireland, he was convinced to take on the job. The album was recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin and although it wasn't a particularly old building, it was agreed that it sounded quite dead, perhaps better for folk music. They ended up recording the drums in the stairwell by the stone clad reception area, every evening after the receptionist had gone home.

photo credit: Peter Noble - Redfern / Getty

The album

Bono described Lillywhite as "such a breath of fresh air." The album had themes on adolescence, innocence and the transition to adulthood. Most of the tracks were drawn from that existing large stock of tunes, but An Cat Dubh and The Ocean were written in the studio.


A Day Without Me: https://youtu.be/ErlYEw2Yx6I


Bono said, "What we were looking for in Boy was a sort of cinema sound, panavision - really textured and big, like a huge screen in a cinema." The songs covered adolescence (Twilight), youthful ambition (The Ocean), sexual awakening (An Cat Dubh), mortality (Out of Control) and the death of his mother (I Will Follow). Talking to Q magazine in 1998, The Edge went through the influences that came through - "Particularly on Boy, I can hear a bit of the Banshees and The Buzzcocks and some hint of The Skids, as well as - ha ha - some wildly original ideas of our own."



Reception

Boy was generally well received. Paul Morley in NME called it, "honest, direct and distinctive," while Betty Page in Sounds thought it had "an overall feeling of loving care and energy intertwined with simplistic and direct hooks and chords." Back home in Ireland's Hot Press, Declan Lynch was right behind them, "[it's] almost impossible to react negatively to."


They weren't much less enthusiastic over in the States. Although Robert Christgau wasn't overly keen in the Village Voice, Dave Marsh in Rolling Stone thought it "unpretentious and riveting," with Sean McAdam in the Boston Globe saying it was a "hypnotic album with nuance."


They would obviously go on to bigger things, with Boy making a modest start - reaching number 52 in the UK and 63 in the US.

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