U2 101

U2 The Joshua Tree

Treble 100: No. 61, U2 – The Joshua Tree

U2 looked to America, the inspiring and the infuriating, on their fifth album.

U2 Songs of Innocence

On Songs of Innocence and Experience, U2 left it open ended

A publicity stunt gone awry, and a band reclaiming their soul

U2 No Line on the Horizon

With No Line on the Horizon, U2 delivered an album of future hymns

Less a return to form than the realization of a new one for the group

how to dismantle an atomic bomb

U2’s How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb: A shrug that sold 9 million copies

U2’s 11th album is a fine enough set of songs, which for a band of their magnitude didn’t feel like enough.

U2 All That You Can't Leave Behind

U2 played it frustratingly safe on All That You Can’t Leave Behind

It was fated, I suppose. As much as a great deal of this series has…

U2 Pop

On Pop, U2 embraced the sounds and pulses of the club

An erroneously reviled album that found U2 showcasing their most experimental tendencies.

oliver sim hideous bastard review

U2’s Zooropa was a product of limitless imagination

The band’s strangest album was a neon utopia.

U2 Achtung Baby

How U2’s Achtung Baby began the group’s strangest era

The beginning of a weird new era and the result of a creative tug-of-war.

pela anytown graffiti review

U2 tapped into a well of light on The Unforgettable Fire

The band’s fourth album found them emerging from their post-punk background and entering a bigger, boundless world of art rock.

paramore this is why review

U2’s War provided a triumphant close to their post-punk trilogy

The band’s close of their early post-punk trilogy opened them up to the heroic possibilities their later ’80s output would fulfill.

U2 October

U2’s October: The band’s chaotic rough draft

After the group’s landmark debut, U2 drew inward for maybe the only time in their career.

U2 Boy Three origins

U2 101: How Boy and Three revealed an early and vivid portrait of the band

We’ve launched a new yearlong project on U2, starting with their post-punk origins.