50 Fun Facts About U2

At which Dublin school did the members of U2 meet in 1976?

The drummer posted a note on the school notice board looking for musicians, and the first practice was in his kitchen.

Which band member posted the notice board message that brought U2 together?

He later joked it was "the Larry Mullen Band for about ten minutes, then Bono walked in".

What was the first name the future U2 settled on, one of the few technical terms they knew?

They became the Hype in 1977 and U2 in March 1978.

Who suggested the list of six names from which the band picked U2 in 1978?

Averill, of the Radiators from Space, later designed many U2 sleeves including The Joshua Tree; they chose U2 as the name they disliked least.

Which older brother of the Edge left the band with a farewell concert in March 1978?

He went on to join the Virgin Prunes, who often opened for U2.

What did U2 win at the Pop Group '78 talent contest in Limerick?

The demo recorded at Keystone Studios that April was largely unsuccessful.

Which journalist introduced U2 to their long-time manager Paul McGuinness in 1978?

Hot Press was one of the band's earliest allies.

At which Dublin studio did U2 record their first demos in 1979 and their debut album in 1980?

It was the first of the band's many recordings there.

Who produced U2's debut album Boy after Martin Hannett was passed over?

Hannett had produced the band's first international single, "11 O'Clock Tick Tock", which failed to chart.

What did Bono lose backstage at a Portland nightclub in March 1981, complicating the writing of October?

The band had to write the second album with little time on tour.

Which U2 album was their first UK number one?

Its singles included "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day", the band's first hit outside Europe.

What did Bono famously wave during performances of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" on the 1983 War Tour?

He also climbed scaffolding and lighting rigs and jumped into audiences on that tour.

Which two producers first worked with U2 on The Unforgettable Fire in 1984?

Their influence produced a more abstract, ambient sound on the 1984 album.

Where was The Unforgettable Fire partly recorded?

The album marked a major change to a rich, orchestrated, atmospheric style.

Where did U2 play Live Aid on 13 July 1985?

Rolling Stone had called them the "Band of the '80s" that March.

Which Joshua Tree single, along with "With or Without You", is one of U2's only two US number ones?

The album has sold 25 million copies and was their first US number one album.

Which photographer shot The Joshua Tree's desert sleeve images with U2 in December 1986?

The bus trip around the Mojave started at Reno and took in the ghost town of Bodie.

What were the provisional titles of The Joshua Tree?

The sleeve concept was to show where the desert met civilisation.

Rattle and Hum included live recordings at which Memphis studio, birthplace of rockabilly?

The 1988 double album and film also featured collaborations with Bob Dylan and B.B. King.

In which Berlin studio did U2 begin recording Achtung Baby in October 1990?

The sessions were so fraught they nearly split the band, before a breakthrough with the song that became "One".

How did Bono describe Achtung Baby's break with the band's past?

The record drew on alternative rock, dance and industrial music.

Which East German cars were gutted and hung as lighting rigs on the Zoo TV Tour?

Six hung above the arena stage and a seventh doubled as a DJ booth and mirror ball.

Which devilish alter ego did Bono adopt for Zoo TV encores in 1993?

Mirror Ball Man had filled the encore role in 1992.

Which 1995 film soundtrack featured U2's "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"?

It reached number one in Australia and Ireland and number two in the UK.

In the video for Pop's lead single "Discothèque", U2 dressed as which group?

The song hit number one in the UK, Japan and Canada.

What fruit was represented by the 40-foot mirrorball on the PopMart stage?

The set also had a 100-foot golden arch mocking McDonald's and the world's largest LED screen.

In which city did U2 become the first major group to play after the Bosnian War, in September 1997?

Three days earlier a show in Reggio Emilia drew over 150,000 people, a reported record for a one-act paying audience.

What did Bono reveal inside his jacket at the end of U2's Super Bowl XXXVI halftime show?

The names of the September 11 victims were projected behind the band during the performance.

Which 2000 album did Rolling Stone call U2's "third masterpiece"?

It was seen as a back-to-basics return to conventional rock after the 1990s experiments.

How many first-week US copies did How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb sell in 2004, a band record?

It reached number one in 30 countries.

Under what kind of deal with Live Nation did U2 launch the 360° Tour in 2009?

The company took control of touring, merchandising and the official website.

What records did the U2 360° concerts of 2009-11 hold until 2019?

The in-the-round staging under the "claw" let audiences surround the band.

Which company delivered Songs of Innocence free to more than 500 million accounts in September 2014?

Tim Cook called it "the largest album release of all time"; many users objected to finding it in their libraries.

Which producer led the sessions for Songs of Innocence?

Paul Epworth, Ryan Tedder, Declan Gaffney and Flood added further production.

What was Songs of Surrender, released in March 2023?

It was conceived as a companion to Bono's memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.

U2's 40-date residency inaugurating Sphere in Las Vegas focused on which era of the band?

The residency grossed $244.5 million and was announced in a Super Bowl LVII advertisement.

Which drummer filled in at the Sphere residency while U2's regular drummer recovered from surgery?

It was the first time since 1978 that U2 had performed without Mullen.

What is Bono's real name?

He was born at Dublin's Rotunda Hospital on 10 May 1960.

Where was the Edge born, to Welsh parents from Llanelli?

His family moved to Ireland, where he formed the band with his schoolmates and his brother Dik.

Adam Clayton was born in which English county before his family moved to Malahide?

His father was an RAF pilot who later flew for Aer Lingus.

How many Grammy Awards have U2 won?

They also have eight Brits and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.

In what year were U2 inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

The UK Music Hall of Fame had inducted them the year before.

How many studio albums had U2 released by the end of 2025?

Songs of Experience (2017) was the 15th; they have sold an estimated 150-170 million records worldwide.

Which record label did U2 sign with in 1980 for their debut album?

CBS Ireland had released their earlier EP Three, which sold out its 1,000-copy pressing.

Whose face appears on the cover of U2's debut album Boy?

The adolescent close-up matched the album's themes of innocence and the passage into adulthood.

U2's 1997 show in which Italian city drew over 150,000 people, a reported record for a one-act paying audience?

It came three days before the band's historic post-war concert in Sarajevo on the PopMart Tour.

Who stood in for Adam Clayton when he missed a 1993 Sydney show after an alcohol blackout?

Tech Stuart Morgan's fill-in marked the first time a member of U2 had missed a concert since their earliest days; Clayton resolved to quit drinking afterwards.

In which Moroccan city did U2 record sessions for No Line on the Horizon with Eno and Lanois in 2007?

The band spent two weeks recording in a riad, aiming to write 'future hymns' that would be played forever.

To which country did U2 move their publishing business in 2006 after Ireland capped its artists' tax exemption?

The move was criticised in the Irish parliament; the band argued that about 95% of their business took place outside Ireland.

Which Indian musician joined U2 on the 2019 single 'Ahimsa' ahead of their first concert in India?

The Joshua Tree anniversary tour's 2019 leg was also U2's first time playing South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines.