“Covers are hard,” quipped the Edge in a prolonged Sizzling Press profile detailing the three years between Songs of Innocence and Songs of Expertise. U2’s thirteenth and fourteenth information featured their most autobiographical work up to now, with some songs drawing on childhood reminiscences and others studying as letters to family members – and as such, the band wished to pair these albums with covers that might visually characterize their themes extra intimately than simply one other photograph of themselves. In order that they introduced their households into the image, fairly actually: That’s drummer Larry Mullen Jr. along with his son on the entrance of Songs of Innocence, whereas Songs of Expertise’s art work options the Edge’s daughter and U2 frontman Bono’s son. “Thematically, it’s both extremely personal […] and also very universal,” the guitarist mentioned.
Private, and common. All through their 4 a long time (and counting) as a band, U2 have explored the house between these two phrases, capturing the breadth of the human situation inside their music – politics and faith, love and conflict, and sure, innocence and expertise. That’s troublesome sufficient to do in a four-minute track, even with a voice as expressive as Bono’s. It is likely to be more durable nonetheless to convey these lofty ideas with an album cowl, however fortunately, the Irish quartet has wonderful style in collaborators, typically teaming with artwork director Steve Averill and photographer Anton Corbijn to assist in giving every of their information a definite visible aptitude.
Listed here are the tales behind among the iconic U2 album covers.
Take heed to the thirtieth anniversary version of Achtung Child.
U2 – Boy
(1980, design by Steve Averill; cowl artwork {photograph} by Hugo McGuiness)
Up till 2014’s Songs of Innocence, Peter Rowen was the one individual to seem on the duvet of a U2 album that wasn’t a member of the band. Not that he was a stranger, his older brother Guggi (actual title Derek Rowen) had been pals with Bono since childhood. (Guggi sang in a band named the Virgin Prunes, whose lineup additionally included the Edge’s brother Dik Evans.) However what do you make of Rowen’s expression on the duvet of Boy? Is he misplaced in a daydream? Or is it simply the clean, bored look of a six-year-old who was requested to pose for a photograph? This ambiguity makes Boy one among U2’s extra compelling album covers.
In North America and different worldwide markets, Boy was issued with a distinct cowl. Island Information was involved that the unique picture could possibly be misinterpreted and tasked in-house designer Bruno Tilley and photographer Sandy Porter with creating a brand new one. Working with restricted funds, Porter used some press launch images of the band as the premise for his design, distorting them with a photocopier and a few artful pre-computer modifying tips.
U2 – October
(1981, design by Steve Averill; cowl artwork {photograph} by Ian Finlay)
Like Boy earlier than it, October was recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin’s Grand Canal Dock space, and the image on its sleeve was taken a number of blocks away from the studio. Despite the fact that it’s one of many few U2 album covers to characteristic {a photograph} in full colour, there’s one thing somber about it, whether or not it communicates the difficulties the band had in making the file or simply the chilliness of its title. Practically all of U2’s subsequent albums have had no less than some elements recorded in Windmill Lane, and 19 years after October, the band took some promotional images for All That You Can’t Depart Behind on the Grand Canal Dock’s waterfront.
Take heed to October right here.
U2 – Struggle
(1983, design by Steve Averill; cowl artwork {photograph} by Ian Finlay)
“By calling the album War we’re giving people a slap in the face,” Bono advised NME simply days earlier than their third file hit cabinets, and its art work was as bracing as its title. That’s Peter Rowen once more on the duvet, however the harmless gaze we noticed on Boy now seems to be extra just like the thousand-yard stare of somebody haunted by violence. Which is smart: Struggle’s first three songs alone handle the Troubles in Northern Eire, nuclear proliferation, and the Polish Solidarity motion. It’s a heavy album, particularly coming after the adolescent angst and non secular overtones of its predecessors, and seeing Rowen on its cowl hammers residence its themes in a method that a picture of, say, a bunch of troopers or a fleet of bombers won’t. Struggle is as a lot an album concerning the causes of battle as it’s the emotional devastation left in its wake.
Struggle can be U2’s first file to characteristic images from Anton Corbijn, who has contributed art work to almost all of their albums since. Although Corbijn didn’t shoot its cowl, Struggle’s interior sleeve features a image that he took of the band whereas they had been filming the “New Year’s Day” music video in Sälen, Sweden.
Take heed to Struggle right here.
U2 – The Unforgettable Fireplace
(1984, design by Steve Averill; cowl artwork {photograph} by Anton Corbijn)
U2’s first collaboration with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois was a radical sonic departure from their first three information. Atmospheric and impressionistic, The Unforgettable Fireplace sounds prefer it was recorded in a fortress, and that’s as a result of about half of it truly was, in Slane Fortress. (The fortress’s proprietor, Lord Henry Conyngham, is affectionately known as the “rock and roll aristocrat” for his willingness to host live shows on its grounds). Solely that’s not Slane Fortress on the duvet – it’s the ruined Moydrum Fortress, which was destroyed by hearth in 1921, although this isn’t what The Unforgettable Fireplace’s title refers to. U2 borrowed the title from a Japanese artwork exhibit of illustrations created by survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Take heed to The Unforgettable Fireplace right here.
U2 – The Joshua Tree
(1987, design by Steve Averill; cowl artwork {photograph} by Anton Corbijn)
The Joshua Tree displays U2’s fascination with America on a number of ranges – culturally, politically, ideologically, even geographically. Mountains, fields, and rivers are recurring components in Bono’s lyrics, however probably the most outstanding is the desert, talked about in “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “In God’s Country” and “Trip Through Your Wires.” Appropriately, The Joshua Tree’s packaging (and the sleeves for its singles) contains photos Corbijn took of U2 on one other street journey by the Mojave Desert.
The well-known cowl {photograph} was taken at Zabriskie Level, however a number of different photos characteristic the band alongside a solitary Joshua tree, which they got here throughout close to Darwin, an unincorporated group exterior of Demise Valley. (The tree fell in 2000, however should you go to the place it as soon as stood, you’ll discover a plaque that reads: “Have you found what you were looking for?”) Actually, the album was initially going to be named The Two Americas till Bono realized the origin of the plant’s title – allegedly given by Mormon settlers, who thought its branches resembled the prophet Joshua’s arms stretched in prayer.
Take heed to The Joshua Tree right here.
U2 – Rattle and Hum
(1988, design by Norm Ung, Tracy Weston and Riea Pendleton-Owens; cowl artwork {photograph} by Anton Corbijn)
Rattle and Hum shares its title with a live performance movie that was shot throughout U2’s Joshua Tree Tour, which could have led followers to suppose it was a dwell album. The duvet picture of the Edge beneath a highlight, as if on stage, actually provides that impression. However Rattle and Hum solely has a couple of dwell cuts, they usually’re scattered among the many new, studio-recorded tracks. The distinctive sequencing makes it really feel such as you’re toggling forwards and backwards between a documentary and its personal making-of characteristic. This meta high quality additionally extends to the art work: Rattle and Hum isn’t truly a dwell album, and that {photograph} of the Edge isn’t truly a nonetheless from the movie. (That’s Bono within the background adjusting the highlight.) The album cowl isn’t a uncommon cash shot – a once-in-a-lifetime second captured on digicam – however a cautious staging of 1.
Take heed to Rattle and Hum right here.
U2 – Achtung Child
(1991, design by Steve Averill and Shaughn McGrath; cowl artwork pictures by Anton Corbijn)
Every part about Achtung Child, from its musical course to its promotion, was an try and problem what listeners thought they knew about U2. The band knew they didn’t need one other severe, monochromatic cowl like those that their earlier information had – and this was the very purpose why they initially rejected the images Corbijn had taken of them throughout their early recording periods in Berlin. A photoshoot on the Carnival of Santa Cruz in Tenerife a couple of months later yielded extra passable (and extra colourful) outcomes. Relatively than select a single picture for the duvet, U2, Averill, and Corbijn made a mosaic out of 16 of their favorites, together with a painted shot of the group in a automobile, a cow, and – on the again of the sleeve – bassist Adam Clayton within the nude. The Joshua Tree could have probably the most iconic art work of U2 album covers, however Achtung Child is unquestionably probably the most enjoyable to have a look at.
Take heed to Achtung Child right here.
U2 – Zooropa
(1993, design by Steve Averill and Shaughn McGrath; illustrated by Brian Williams)
One of many main themes of U2’s Zoo TV Tour behind Achtung Child was media oversaturation, and this carried over to Zooropa’s art work. The graffiti head within the heart (which resembles an astronaut, a child, or maybe each) additionally appeared in Achtung Child’s liner notes. Much like its predecessor, a montage of pictures makes up the background of Zooropa’s cowl, however they’re distorted and hidden behind the textual content. The images are of European dictators, and the textual content is definitely composed of titles of songs that had been recorded for the album. The 12 stars, in fact, resemble the flag of the European Union. While you take all of it in directly, it seems to be just like the form of factor you see while you shut your eyes after looking at a display screen for too lengthy – like one thing indicative of sensory overload, which is all too acceptable given the album’s themes.
Take heed to Zooropa right here.
U2 – Pop
(1997, design by Steve Averill and Shaughn McGrath; cowl artwork pictures by Anton Corbijn)
The Edge as soon as described U2’s output within the 90s as having “taken the deconstruction of the rock ‘n’ roll band format to its absolute nth degree,” and you could possibly say one thing related of Pop’s art work. True to the album’s title, the duvet seems to be like one thing Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein would have made, composed of coloured, high-contrast headshots of the band members. (That’s Clayton in blue, Bono in orange, the Edge in purple, and Mullen in inexperienced.) However you wouldn’t name it a bunch photograph in the identical method that the covers of October and The Joshua Tree had been group images. Just like the portraits of John, Paul, George, and Ringo contained in the Beatles’ White Album, you get the impression that you just’re 4 people as a substitute of 1 musical entity.
There’s a humorous (albeit fully coincidental) Easter egg hidden on Pop’s cowl. The album has a observe named “The Playboy Mansion,” and should you take a more in-depth have a look at Mullen’s proper eye, you’ll see it seems to be an terrible lot like Playboy’s rabbit mascot. Averill wasn’t even conscious of the resemblance till he obtained a letter from Playboy, asking why he used their emblem.
U2 – All That You Can’t Depart Behind
(2000, design by Steve Averill and Shaughn McGrath; cowl artwork pictures by Anton Corbijn)
Whereas Anton Corbijn didn’t direct the music video for “Beautiful Day,” All That You Can’t Depart Behind’s lead single, he was with U2 on the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris whereas it was being filmed. He was snapping photos of the band in between shoots, and one among them was in the end used for the album’s cowl. It’s a return to the intense and monochromatic art work of their 80s output, however there’s a considerate message hidden within the signal on the left aspect of the picture. See the way it reads “J33-3”? Bono requested for that to be edited into the design, in reference to Jeremiah 33:3, one among his favourite verses from the Bible (“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know”).
Take heed to All That You Can’t Depart Behind right here.
U2 – The best way to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
(2004, design by Steve Averill and Shaughn McGrath; cowl artwork pictures by Anton Corbijn)
The follow-up to All That You Can’t Depart Behind had an excellent longer title – “it’ll never fit on a T-shirt,” Mullen joked – however The best way to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb could have probably the most easy cowl in U2’s discography. The sleeve is embellished with a number of purple stripes and targets, which feels acceptable for an album with “atomic bomb” in its title. As soon as once more, Corbijn snapped the photograph of the band on the entrance, although it’s unclear precisely when or the place he took it.
Take heed to The best way to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb right here.
U2 – No Line on the Horizon
(2009, design by Shaughn McGrath; cowl artwork {photograph} by Hiroshi Sugimoto)
No Line on the Horizon is U2’s solely album that doesn’t characteristic authentic art work. It is a image of Lake Constance – named “Boden Sea,” after the lake’s native German title – taken by Japanese photographer and architect Hiroshi Sugimoto for his Seascapes collection. Bono was a fan of the gathering, which impressed No Line on the Horizon’s title and the lyrics to its title observe. Sugimoto agreed to let U2 use “Boden Sea” on the album’s cowl freed from cost, his solely situation being that no textual content or graphics be positioned on high of it. (In return, U2 gave Sugimoto permission to make use of the track “No Line on the Horizon” in any of his future tasks.)
Take heed to No Line on the Horizon right here.
U2 – Songs of Innocence
(2014, design by Steve Averill and Shaughn McGrath; cowl {photograph} by Glen Luchford)
In a couple of methods, Songs of Innocence feels thematically linked to Boy, U2’s first album. Most of Boy’s songs checked out childhood and the way innocence was misplaced on the way in which to maturity, and Songs of Innocence goes a step additional by exploring, as Bono put it, “how holding on to your own innocence is harder than holding on to someone else’s.” That’s depicted fairly actually by the album’s cowl, {a photograph} of Mullen holding his son Elvis, nearly as if he’s shielding him from one thing. Appropriately, Mullen’s tattoo relies on a Pawnee Nation image that represents the safety of innocence.
Take heed to Songs of Innocence right here.
U2 – Songs of Expertise
(2017, design by Shaughn McGrath; cowl artwork {photograph} by Anton Corbijn)
Songs of Expertise additionally bears a household photograph of kinds on its cowl, that includes Bono’s son Eli and the Edge’s daughter Sian holding fingers. Nevertheless, Songs of Expertise’s art work is extra severe in tone than that of Songs of Innocence. Sian is carrying a army helmet, which might be seen as an emblem of defending innocence, nevertheless it can also characterize how we lose innocence as we accumulate time and trauma. The image additionally evokes the Troubles, the decades-long interval of nationalism and violence that plagued Eire throughout U2’s youth, which the band has alluded to in a number of songs (“Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “Peace on Earth,” “Raised by Wolves”).
Take heed to Songs of Expertise right here.
Construct your file assortment with vinyl from U2.
