Sampling (music)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Sample (music))
This article is about reusing existing sound recordings in creating new works. For other uses, see Sample (disambiguation).

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song. The wide spread use of sampling in popular music originated with the birth of hip hop music in New York in the 1970s. This is typically done with a sampler, which can be a piece of hardware or a computer program. Sampling is also possible with tape loops or with vinyl records on a phonograph.

Often "samples" consist of one part of a song, such as a break, used in another, for instance the use of the drum introduction from Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" in songs by the Beastie Boys, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mike Oldfield, Rob Dougan, Coldcut, Depeche Mode and Erasure, and the guitar riffs from Foreigner's "Hot Blooded" in Tone Lōc's "Funky Cold Medina". "Samples" in this sense occur often in industrial music, often using spoken words from movies and TV shows, as well as electronic music (which developed out of the musique concrète style, based almost entirely on samples and sample-like parts), hip hop, developed from DJs repeating the breaks from songs (Schloss 2004, p. 36), and contemporary R&B, but are becoming more common in other music as well.Contents [hide]
1 Types
1.1 Loops
1.2 Musical instruments
1.3 Resampled layers of sounds generated by a music workstation
1.4 Recordings and popular examples
2 Sampler
3 Producers on sampling
4 Legal issues
4.1 Early cases
4.2 1990s
4.3 2000s
4.4 Legal issues in practice
4.5 Spoken word
4.6 Unconventional sounds
5 See also
5.1 Sampling in other contexts
6 Footnotes
7 Sources
8 External links

[edit]
Types Loop- and sample-based music

Example of music based on looping and sampling.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.


Once recorded, samples can be edited, played back, or looped (i.e. played back continuously). Types of samples include:
[edit]
Loops
Main article: Music loop

The drums and percussion parts of many modern recordings are really a variety of short samples of beats strung together. Many libraries of such beats exist and are licensed so that the user incorporating the samples can distribute their recording without paying royalties. Such libraries can be loaded into samplers. Though percussion is a typical application of looping, many kinds of samples can be looped. A piece of music may have an ostinato which is created by sampling a phrase played on any kind of instrument. There is software which specializes in creating loops.
[edit]
Musical instruments

Whereas loops are usually a phrase played on a musical instrument, this type of sample is usually a single note. Music workstations and samplers use samples of musical instruments as the basis of their own sounds, and are capable of playing a sample back at any pitch. Many modern synthesizers and drum machines also use samples as the basis of their sounds. (See sample-based synthesis for more information.) Most such samples are created in professional recording studios using world-class instruments played by accomplished musicians. These are usually developed by the manufacturer of the instrument or by a subcontractor who specializes in creating such samples. There are businesses and individuals who create libraries of samples of musical instruments. Of course, a sampler allows anyone to create such samples.

Possibly the earliest equipment used to sample recorded instrument sounds are the Chamberlin, which was developed in the 1940s, and its better-known cousin, the Mellotron, marketed in England in the 1960s. Both are tape replay keyboards, in which each key pressed triggers a prerecorded tape loop of a single note.

Musicians can reproduce the same samples of break beats like the "Amen" break which was composed, produced and mastered by the Winston Brothers in 1960s. Producers in the early 1990s have used the whole 5.66 second sample; but music workstations like the Korg Electribe Series (EM-1, ES-1; EMX-1 and the ESX-1) have used the "Amen" kick, hi hat and snare in their sound wave libraries for free use. Sampler production companies have managed to use these samples for pitch, attack and decay and DSP effects to each drum sound. These features allow producers to manipulate samples to match other parts of the composition.[1]

Most sample sets consist of multiple samples at different pitches. These are combined into keymaps, that associate each sample with a particular pitch or pitch range. Often, these sample maps may have different layers as well, so that different velocities can trigger a different sample.

Samples used in musical instruments sometimes have a looped component. An instrument with indefinite sustain, such as a pipe organ, does not need to be represented by a very long sample because the sustained portion of the timbre is looped. The sampler (or other sample playback instrument) plays the attack and decay portion of the sample followed by the looped sustain portion for as long as the note is held, then plays the release portion of the sample. A common standard format for generating such sample sets is the SoundFont protocol.
[edit]
Resampled layers of sounds generated by a music workstation

To conserve polyphony, a workstation may allow the user to sample a layer of sounds (piano, strings, and voices, for example) so they can be played together as one sound instead of three. This leaves more of the instruments' resources available to generate additional sounds.
[edit]
Recordings and popular examples

There are several genres of music in which it is commonplace for an artist to sample a phrase of a well-known recording and use it as an element in a new composition. A well-known example includes the sample of Queen/David Bowie's "Under Pressure" in Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby".

On MC Hammer's album Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em, the successful single "U Can't Touch This" sampled Rick James' 1981 "Super Freak". "Have You Seen Her" was a cover of the Chi-Lites and "Pray" sampled Prince's "When Doves Cry" as well as Faith No More's "We Care a Lot").[2] "Dancin' Machine" sampled The Jackson 5, "Help the Children" interpolates Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)", and "She's Soft and Wet" also sampled Prince's "Soft and Wet".[3] Hammer's previous album and future albums would continue to sample music, although not as notable as this album did.

In many cases, artists even join the original artist or receive permission to sample songs such as Coolio did for "Gangsta's Paradise". It sampled the chorus and music of the song "Pastime Paradise" by Stevie Wonder (1976). Wonder performed the song with Coolio and L.V. at the 1995 Billboard Awards. Notably, much of Coolio's album excessively sampled other artists; including "Too Hot" (contains an interpolation of "Too Hot", originally performed by Kool & The Gang), Cruisin'" (contains an interpolation of "Cruisin'", originally performed by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles), "Sumpin' New" (which contains samples of both "Thighs High (Grip Your Hips More)" performed by Tom Browne and "Wikka Wrap" performed by The Evasions), "Smilin'" (contains an interpolation of "You Caught Me Smiling", originally performed by Sly & The Family Stone), "Kinda High, Kinda Drunk" (contains interpolations of "Saturday Night" and "The Boyz in Da Hood"), "For My Sistas" (contains an interpolation of "Make Me Say It Again Girl", originally performed by The Isley Brothers), "A Thing Goin' On" (contains an interpolation of "Me & Mrs. Jones"), "The Revolution" (contains an interpolation of "Magic Night"), "Get Up, Get Down" (contains an interpolation of "Chameleon)", originally performed by Herbie Hancock),[4] and the first line of "Gangster's Paradise" is taken from Psalm 23.[5]

Another example is in 1997, when Sean Combs collaborated with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin on the song "Come with Me" for the Godzilla film. The track sampled the Led Zeppelin song "Kashmir" (approved by Jimmy Page). "I'll Be Missing You" sampled the melody and some of the lyrics from The Police's "Every Breath You Take" from 1983. The single also borrows the melody from the well-known American spiritual "I'll Fly Away." Combs went on to perform it with Sting and Faith Evans on the MTV Video Music Awards. By the late 1990s, "Puffy" was receiving criticism for watering down and overly commercializing hip-hop and overusing guest appearances by other artists, samples and interpolations of past hits in his own hit songs.[6][7] The Onion parodied this phenomenon in a 1997 article called "New rap song samples "Billie Jean" in its entirety, adds nothing."[8]
[edit]
Sampler
Main article: Sampler (musical instrument)
[edit]
Producers on sampling
"[Samples have] a certain reality. It doesn't just take the sound, it takes the whole way it was recorded. The ambient sounds, the little bits of reverb left off crashes that happened a couple of bars ago. There's a lot of things in the sample, just like when you take a picture—it's got a lot more levels than say, the kick-drum or the drum machine, I think. [...] Looking at a sampler the way it was used first—to try and simulate real instruments—you didn't have to get a session guitarist and you could just be like, 'Hey, I can have an orchestra in my track, and I can have a guitar, and it sounds real!' And I think that's the wrong way to use sampling. The right way is to get the guitar, and go, 'Right, that's a guitar. Let's make it into something that a guitar could never possibly be.' You know, take it away from the source and try to make it something else. Might as well just get a bloody guitarist if you want a guitarist. There's plenty of them." —Amon Tobin dead link, view archive here
"Producers like Organized Noize mix samples and live instruments really well. Lots of times, I have trouble finding bass lines, because it's not very often on a record that there are good open bass lines. Sometimes I wish I could just have somebody come in and do what I want him to do on a bass line. It would be so easy. But what I do just keeps things much more challenging, I guess." —DJ Shadow [1]
"Cutting and pasting is the essence of what hip-hop culture is all about for me. It's about drawing from what's around you, and subverting it and de-contextualizing it." —DJ Shadow [2]
"When I sample something, it's because there's something ingenious about it. And if it isn't the group as a whole, it's that song. Or, even if it isn't the song as a whole, it's a genius moment, or an accident or something that makes it just utterly unique to the other trillions of hours of records that I've plowed through" —DJ Shadow, 33⅓ Volume 24: DJ Shadow's Endtroducing..., 2005
"A lot of people still don't recognize the sampler as a musical instrument. I can see why. A lot of rap hits over the years used the sampler more like a Xerox machine. If you take four whole bars that are identifiable, you're just biting that shit. But I've always been into using the sampler more like a painter's palette than a Xerox. Then again, I might use it as a Xerox if I find rare beats that nobody had in their crates yet. If I find a certain sample that's just incredible—like the one on 'Liquid Swords'—I have to zap that! That was from an old Willie Mitchell song that I was pretty sure most people didn't have. But on every album I try to make sure that I only have 20 to 25 percent [of that kind of] sampling. Everything else is going to be me putting together a synthesis of sounds. You listen to a song like "Knowledge God" by Raekwon: it took at least five to seven different records chopped up to make one two-bar phrase. That's how I usually work." —RZA, The Wu-Tang Manual, 2004
"For hip hop, the main thing is to have a good trained ear, to hear the most obscure loop or sound or rhythm inside of a song. If you can hear the obscureness of it, and capture that and loop it at the right tempo, you're going to have some nice music man, you're going to have a nice hip hop track." —RZA
"Modern recorded music has evolved from focusing principally on musicianship and performance into an auditory collage where no sound is off limits. Sampling is simply another color on our palettes. Whether we're sampling old records, using advanced multi-sampling, or recording sounds ourselves, the final artistic product is paramount and should not be compromised in the face of any corporate legalities." —Sono
"Let's say I find a loop or something that I want to use—you attach yourself to a particular aspect or emotion that you find in it—part of it is looking for like-minded sounds and part of it is just laying things out in a way that kind of helps accomplish what you want. It's what you can hear in a particular sound." —RJD2 [3]
"I look at all the different parts and see how I can organize them in a way. It's like mathematics. Very mathematic. It's like graphs! You're always searching for the combination that sounds best. It's kind you set back, and feel the thing. If you want something to come in, you have to search for it, listen to it." —Blockhead [4]
"My music is based in hip hop, but I pull everything from dancehall to country to rock together. I can take a Led Zeppelin drum loop, put a Lou Donaldson horn on it, add a Joni Mitchell guitar, then get a Crosby, Stills & Nash vocal riff." —Prince Be Softly of PM Dawn, Musician magazine, June 1993
"Sampling artistry is a very misunderstood form of music. A lot of people think sampling is thievery but it can take more time to find the right sample than to make up a riff." —Prince Be Softly of PM Dawn
"Sampling's {...} a lazy man's way. We learn a lot from sampling, it's like school for us. When we sample a portion of a song and repeat it over and over we can better understand the matrix of the song." —Daddy-O of Stetsasonic, cited in Black Noise by Tricia Rose, Wesleyan Press 1994, p. 79
"You got stuff darting in and out absolutely everywhere. It's like someone throwing rice at you. You have to grab every little piece and put it in the right place like a puzzle. Very complicated. All those little snippets and pieces that go in, along with the regular drums that you gotta drop out in order to make room for it." —Eric Sadler of Public Enemy's Bomb Squad, Black Noise by Tricia Rose, Wesleyan Press 1994, p. 80
"It's a context issue, because not every sample is a huge chunk of a song. We might take a tiny little insignificant sound from a record and then slow it way down and put it deep in the mix with, like, 30 other sounds on top of it. It's not even a recognizable sample at that point. Which is a lot different from taking a huge, obvious piece from some hit song that everyone knows and saying whatever you want to on top of that loop. An example that's often brought up in court when we get sued over sampling is a Biz Markie track where he more or less used a whole Gilbert O'Sullivan song. Because it was such an obvious sample, it's the example lawyers use when trying to prove that sampling is stealing. And that's really frustrating to us as artists who sample, because sampling can be a totally different thing than that." —Beastie Boys[5]
"It's pretty much impossible to clear samples now [in 2005]. We had to stay away from samples as much as possible. The ones that we did use were just absolutely integral to the feeling or rhythm of the song. But, back [on Odelay] it was basically me writing chord changes and melodies and stuff, and then endless records being scratched and little sounds coming off the turntable. Now it's prohibitively difficult and expensive to justify your one weird little horn blare that happens for half of a second one time in a song and makes you give away 70 percent of the song and $50,000. That's where sampling has gone, and that's why hip-hop sounds the way it does now." —Beck [6]
"I think it's wonderful, and it's a kind of poetic justice. When I was a teenager, I used to go down to Birdland and hear Miles Davis and Kenny Clarke. Later on, when I was at Juilliard, I heard John Coltrane. This had an enormous impression on me. In 1974, after a concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall, this guy with long hair and lipstick comes up to me and says, "Hi, I'm Brian Eno." Then in Berlin in 1976, after a performance of "Music for 18 Musicians," I met David Bowie. Now cut to the Orb and their generation. That's the way life ought to be. That's the way Bach and Bartok and Stravinsky worked, and it's how Kurt Weill worked. There should be a back-and-forth between what goes on in the street and the clubs and what goes on in the concert halls." —Steve Reich [7]
"Basically, you go to the root of memory, and it's all about interaction with found documents - look at how you acquire language. You mirror the environment around you. That's what sampling does - it's a process of recall that changes memory as you recall it. Think of James Joyce or William S. Burroughs as turntablists and you get the same result - the turntable is a permutation machine. Look at the root word of "phono-graph" and it's basically "writing with sound - phono (sound) - graph (writing), the rest is just pushing many elements together in unexpected ways. It's the basic vocabulary of the 20th and 21st centuries."—DJ Spooky
[edit]
Legal issues

Sampling has been an area of contention from a legal perspective. Early sampling artists simply used portions of other artists' recordings, without permission; once rap and other music incorporating samples began to make significant money, the original artists began to take legal action, claiming copyright infringement. Some sampling artists fought back, claiming their samples were fair use (a legal doctrine in the USA that is not universal). International sampling is governed by agreements such as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act.
[edit]
Early cases

Sampling existing (copyrighted) recordings using manipulation with tape recorders goes back at least as far as 1961, when James Tenney created Collage #1 ("Blue Suede") from samples of Elvis Presley's recording of the song "Blue Suede Shoes." At the time, many artists such as Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs were experimenting with the new technology that was tape-recording by manipulating existing works such as radio broadcasts. Brion Gysin's work tended to favor his permutation poems as the vehicle for cut-ups with spliced repetition of the same series of words rearranged in every conceivable pattern, frequently utilizing snippets of speeches or news broadcasts. Burroughs preferred a much more frantic and disorganized sound that would later spawn similar disjointed collage material from modern groups such as Negativland. Burroughs would record, for instance, a radio broadcast about military action, then dub parts of the broadcast likely at random often stuttering and distorting the original work far beyond comprehension.

However, before then, the 1956 novelty hit single "The Flying Saucer", by Buchanan and Goodman, used segments of the original recordings of 18 different chart hits from 1955–56, intertwined with spoken "news" commentary in the style of Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, to tell the story of a visit from a flying saucer. After the record was issued, an agreement was reached with music publishing houses for them to take a share of royalties from the records sold. Although his partnership with Buchanan soon ended, Dickie Goodman continued to make similar records through the 1960s and 1970s, one of his biggest hits being "Mr. Jaws" in 1975.[9][10]

Simon and Garfunkel sampled themselves in using a portion of their song "The Sounds of Silence" in "Save the life of my child" from their 1967 "Bookends" album. The Beatles also used the technique on a number of popular recordings in the mid to late '60s, including "Yellow Submarine", "Revolution 9" and "I Am the Walrus." John Kongos is credited in the Guinness World Records as the first person to sample a song with his single, "He's Gonna Step On You Again". Timothy Leary sampled the Beatles and the Rolling Stones among others on his album You Can Be Anyone This Time Around in 1970.

In the early '70s and early '80s, DJ Kool Herc often looped hard funk break beats at block parties in The Bronx. However, sampling did not truly take off in popular music until the early eighties when pioneering hip hop producers, such as Grandmaster Flash, started to produce Rap records using sampled breaks rather than live studio bands, which had until then been the norm.

Conventional wisdom would hold that the first popular rap single to feature sampling was "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang on their own independent Sugar Hill Label in 1979. However, instead of 'sampling' the existing record "Good Times" by Chic, Sugar Hill employed a house band, called "Positive Force" to record a copy of "Good Times" which was then rapped over. Doug Wimbish and other session musicians were called upon to play live music on many classic Sugar Hill records. Those sounds are not samples but live musicians.

Earliest examples of this practice include Grandmaster Flash's - "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (1981) (which was made by recording vinyl manipulation on a pair of turntables and used the "Apache" break by the Incredible Bongo Bong Band amongst other famous breaks) , Brother D and the Collective Effort's "How We Gonna Make The Black Nation Rise" (1984) (which sampled the beat and bass line from Cheryl Lynn's 1978 hit "Got to be Real") and UTFO's "Roxanne Roxanne" (1984). Bill Holt's Dreamies (1974) is often cited as one of the earliest examples of sampling in popular music. Later examples of sampling include Big Audio Dynamite and their 1985 album This Is Big Audio Dynamite and the single E=MC² which Mick Jones (formerly of The Clash) sampled snippets of audio from various films including works by Nicolas Roeg which make up the Roeg homage E=MC². The 1981 album by David Byrne and Brian Eno, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, used sampling extensively for the songs' vocals.

One of the first major legal cases regarding sampling was with UK dance act M|A|R|R|S "Pump Up the Volume". As the record reached the UK top ten, producers Stock Aitken Waterman obtained an injunction against the record due to the unauthorized use of a sample from their hit single "Roadblock". The dispute was settled out of court, with the injunction being lifted in return for an undertaking that overseas releases would not contain the "Roadblock" sample, and the disc went on to top the UK singles chart. The sample in question had been so distorted as to be virtually unrecognizable, and SAW didn't realize their record had been used until they heard co-producer Dave Dorrell mention it in a radio interview.

2 Live Crew, a hip-hop group familiar with controversy, was often in the spotlight for their 'obscene' and sexually explicit lyrics. They sparked many debates about censorship in the music industry. However, it was their 1989 album As Clean as They Wanna Be (a re-tooling of As Nasty As They Wanna Be) that began the prolonged legal debate over sampling. The album contained a track entitled "Pretty Woman," based on the well-known Roy Orbison song Oh, Pretty Woman. 2 Live Crew's version sampled the guitar, bass, and drums from the original, without permission. While the opening lines are the same, the two songs split ways immediately following.[11]

For example:

Roy Orbison's version – "Pretty woman, walking down the street/ Pretty woman, the kind I'd like to meet."
2 Live Crew's version – "Big hairy woman, all that hair ain't legit,/ Cause you look like Cousin Itt."[12]

In addition to this, while the music is identifiable as the Orbison song, there were changes implemented by the group. The new version contained interposed scraper notes, overlays of solos in different keys, and an altered drum beat.[12]

The group was sued by the song's copyright owners Acuff-Rose. The company claimed that 2 Live Crew's unauthorized use of the samples devalued the original, and was thus a case of copyright infringement. The group claimed they were protected under the fair use doctrine. The case of Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music came to the Supreme Court in 1994.

In reviewing the case, the Supreme Court didn't consider previous ruling in which any commercial use (and economic gain) was considered copyright infringement. Instead they re-evaluated the original frame of copyright as set forth in the Constitution. The opinion that resulted from Emerson v. Davies played a major role in the decision.[11]

"[In] truth, in literature, in science and in art, there are, and can be, few, if any, things, which in an abstract sense, are strictly new and original throughout. Every book in literature, science and art, borrows, and must necessarily borrow, and use much which was well known and used before." Emerson v. Davies,8 F.Cas. 615, 619 (No. 4,436) (CCD Mass. 1845)[12]

Perhaps what played a larger role was the result from the Folsom v. Marsh case:

"look to the nature and objects of the selections made, the quantity and value of the materials used, and the degree in which the use may prejudice the sale, or diminish the profits, or supersede the objects, of the original work." Folsom v. Marsh, 9 F.Cas. 342, 348 (No. 4,901) (CCD Mass. 1841)[12]

The court ruled that any financial gain 2 Live Crew received from their version did not infringe upon Acuff-Rose because the two songs were targeted at very different audiences. 2 Live Crew's use of copyrighted material was protected under the fair use doctrine, as a parody, even though it was released commercially.[11] While the appellate court had determined that the mere nature of the parody made it inherently unfair, the Supreme Court's ruling reversed this decision, with Justice David Souter writing that the lower court was wrong in determining parody alone to be a sufficient criterion for copyright infringement.[13]
[edit]
1990s

Rick James sued MC Hammer for infringement of copyright on the track "U Can't Touch This" (which sampled his 1981 song "Super Freak"), but the suit was settled out of court when Hammer agreed to credit James as co-composer, effectively cutting James in on the millions of dollars the record was earning. Hammer was also sued by Felton Pilate (who had worked with the successful vocal group Con Funk Shun) and by several of his former backers, and faced charges that performance troupe members endured an abusive, militaristic atmosphere.[14]

In 1992, Hammer also admitted in depositions and court documents to getting the idea for the song "Here Comes The Hammer" from a Christian recording artist in Dallas, Texas named Kevin Christian. Christian had filed a 16 million dollar lawsuit against Hammer for copyright infringement for his song entitled "Oh-Oh, You Got The Shing". This fact compounded with witness testimony from both Hammer's and Christian's entourages and other evidence including photos brought about a settlement with Capitol Records in 1994. The terms of the settlement remain sealed. Hammer settled with Christian the following year.[15][16]

In the early 1990s, Vanilla Ice sampled the bassline of the 1981 song "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie for his 1990 single "Ice Ice Baby".[17] Freddie Mercury and David Bowie did not receive credit or royalties for the sample.[18] In a 1990 interview, Rob Van Winkle said the two melodies were slightly different because he had added an additional note. In later interviews, Van Winkle readily admitted he sampled the song and claimed his 1990 statement was a joke; others, however, suggested he had been serious.[19][20] Van Winkle later paid Mercury and Bowie, who have since been given songwriting credit for the sample.[19]

More dramatically, Biz Markie's album I Need a Haircut was withdrawn in 1992 following a US federal court ruling,[21] that his use of a sample from Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)" was willful infringement. This case had a powerful effect on the record industry, with record companies becoming very much concerned with the legalities of sampling, and demanding that artists make full declarations of all samples used in their work. On the other hand, the ruling also made it more attractive to artists and record labels to allow others to sample their work, knowing that they would be paid—often handsomely—for their contribution.

A notable case in the early 1990s involved the dispute between the group Negativland and Casey Kasem over the band's use of un-aired vocal snippets from Kasem's radio program American Top 40 on the Negativland single "U2".

Another notable case involved British dance music act Shut Up And Dance. Shut Up And Dance were a fairly successful Breakbeat Hardcore and rave scene outfit who like their contemporaries had liberally used samples in the creation of their music - without clearance from the individuals concerned. Although frowned upon the British music industry usually turned a blind eye to this mainly underground scene, however with rave at its commercial peak in the UK, Shut Up And Dance released the single "Raving I'm Raving" an upbeat breakbeat hardcore record which shot to #2 on the UK Singles Chart in May 1992. At the core of "Raving" were significant samples of Marc Cohn's hit single "Walking in Memphis" with some of the lyrical content changed and sung by Peter Bouncer. Shut Up And Dance hadn't sought clearance from Marc Cohn for the samples they used in "Raving" and Marc Cohn took legal action against Shut Up And Dance for breach of copyright. An out of court settlement was eventually reached between Shut Up And Dance and Cohn which saw "Raving" in its current form banned and the proceeds from the single given to charity. Ironically Shut Up and Dance were later commissioned to produce remixes for Cher's 1995 cover version of "Walking In Memphis" and were allowed by Cohn to use parts from the deleted "Raving I'm Raving" for this remix.

The Shut Up And Dance case had major ramifications on the use of samples in the UK and most artists and record labels now seek clearance for samples they use. However there are still cases which involve UK artists using uncleared samples. In October 1996 The Chemical Brothers released the single Setting Sun inspired by The Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows and featuring Oasis' Noel Gallagher on vocals - a long admirer of The Beatles' work. Setting Sun hit #1 on the UK Singles Chart on first week of release and the common consensus was The Chemical Brothers had sampled/looped significant parts of Tomorrow Never Knows in the creation of Setting Sun. The three remaining Beatles took legal action against The Chemical Brothers/Virgin Records for breach of copyright, however a musicologist proved The Chemical Brothers had independently created Setting Sun - albeit in a similar vein to Tomorrow Never Knows.

In 1997 The Verve was forced to pay 100% of their royalties from their hit "Bitter Sweet Symphony" for the use of a licensed sample from an orchestral cover version of The Rolling Stones' hit "The Last Time".[22] The Rolling Stones' catalogue is one of the most litigiously protected in the world of popular music—to some extent the case mirrored the legal difficulties encountered by Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine when they quoted from the song "Ruby Tuesday" in their song "After the Watershed" some years earlier. In both cases, the issue at stake was not the use of the recording, but the use of the song itself—the section from "The Last Time" used by the Verve was not even part of the original composition, but because it derived from a cover version of it, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were still entitled to royalties and credit on the derivative work. This illustrates an important legal point: even if a sample is used legally, it may open the artist up to other problems.
[edit]
2000s

In the summer of 2001, Mariah Carey released her first single from Glitter entitled "Loverboy" which featured a sample of "Firecracker" by Yellow Magic Orchestra. A month later, Jennifer Lopez released "I'm Real" with the same "Firecracker" sample. Carey quickly discarded it and replaced it with "Candy" by Cameo.

In 2001, Armen Boladian and his company Bridgeport Music Inc. filed over 500 copyright infringement suits against 800 artists using samples from George Clinton's catalogue.

Public Enemy recorded a track entitled "Psycho of Greed" (2002) for their album Revolverlution that contained a continuous looping sample from The Beatles' track "Tomorrow Never Knows". However, the clearance fee demanded by Capitol Records and the surviving Beatles was so high that the group decided to pull the track from the album.

Danger Mouse with the release of The Grey Album in 2004, which is a remix of The Beatles' self-titled album and rapper Jay-Z's The Black Album has been embroiled in a similar situation with the record label EMI issuing cease and desist orders over uncleared Beatles samples.

On March 19, 2006, a judge ordered that sales of The Notorious B.I.G.'s album Ready to Die be halted because the title track sampled a 1972 song by the Ohio Players, "Singing in the Morning", without permission.[23]

On November 20, 2008, electronic band Kraftwerk convinced the German Federal Supreme Court that even the smallest shreds of sounds ("Tonfetzen") are "copyrightable" (e.g. protected), and that sampling a few bars of a drum beat can be an infringement.[24]
[edit]
Legal issues in practice

The most recent significant copyright case involving sampling held that even sampling three notes could constitute copyright infringement. Bridgeport Music Inc. v. Dimension Films, 410 F.3d 792 (6th Cir. 2005). This case was roundly criticised by many in the music industry, including the RIAA.

There has been a second important US case on music sampling involving the Beastie Boys who sampled the sound recording of a flute track by James Newton in their song "Pass the Mic." The Beastie Boys properly obtained a license to use the sound recording but did not clear the use of the song (the composition on which the recording is based including any music and lyrics). In Newton v. Diamond and Others 349 F.3d 591 (9th Cir. 2003) the US Appeals Court held that the use of the looped sample of a flute did not constitute copyright infringement as the core of the song itself had not been used.

A June 2006 case involving Ludacris and Kanye West held that their use of the phrases "like that" and "straight like that" which had been used on an earlier hip-hop track by another artist was not infringing use.

The New Orleans–based company Cash Money Records and former rapper Juvenile were taken to court by local performer DJ Jubilee (signed to Take Fo' Record Label) for using chants from his song titled Back That Ass Up. Both artist had used the same chant in each song, but Juvenile won the case because of the title's name change to Back That Azz Up, which sold 2 million copies. Because of the name change, Jubilee lacked evidence that Juvenile had stolen from him, and Jubilee could not earn Juvenile's income from his song.[citation needed]

Today, most mainstream acts obtain prior authorization to use samples, a process known as "clearing" (gaining permission to use the sample and, usually, paying an up-front fee and/or a cut of the royalties to the original artist). Independent bands, lacking the funds and legal assistance to clear samples, are at a disadvantage - unless they seek the services of a professional sample replay company or producer.

Recently, a movement — started mainly by Lawrence Lessig — of free culture has prompted many audio works to be licensed under a Creative Commons license that allows for legal sampling of the work provided the resulting work(s) are licensed under the same terms.
[edit]
Spoken word

Usually taken from movies, television, or other non-musical media, often used to create atmosphere, to set a mood, or even comic effect. The American composer Steve Reich used samples from interviews with Holocaust survivors as a source for the melodies on the 1988 album Different Trains, performed by the Kronos Quartet.

Many genres utilize sampling of spoken word to induce a mood, and Goa trance often employs samples of people speaking about the use of psychoactives, spirituality, or science fiction themes. Industrial is known for samples from horror/sci-fi movies, news broadcasts, propaganda reels, and speeches by political figures. The band Ministry frequently samples George W. Bush. Paul Hardcastle used recordings of a news reporter, as well as a soldier and ambient noise of a protest, in his single "Nineteen," a song about Vietnam war veterans and Posttraumatic stress disorder. The band Negativland samples from practically every form of popular media, ranging from infomercials to children's records. In the song "Civil War", Guns N' Roses samples from the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, on the album Use Your Illusion II. Other bands that frequently used samples in their work are noise rockers Steel Pole Bath Tub and death metal band Skinless.
[edit]
Unconventional sounds

These are not musical in the conventional sense - that is, neither percussive nor melodic - but which are musically useful for their interesting timbres or emotional associations, in the spirit of musique concrète. Some common examples include sirens and klaxons, locomotive whistles, natural sounds such as whale song, and cooing babies. It is common in theatrical sound design to use this type of sampling to store sound effects that can then be triggered from a musical keyboard or other software. This is very useful for high precision or nonlinear requirements.
[edit]
See also
Amon Tobin - Brazilian electronic musician, known best for his use of sampling.
Amen Brother - one of the most sampled tracks of all time
Avalanches, The - Australian band known for its use of sampling.
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
Craig Jones - One of the first to use sampling in Nu metal
Compulsory Sampling License - would allow artists to freely sample without copyright owner's permission
Cover version
Creative Commons
DJ Shadow - best known for his album Endtroducing..... which is entirely made of samples
Exile (producer)
Fair use
Girl Talk
Illegal Art
Interpolation
mashup - extensive page illuminating current practices of extensive sampling and their precedents
Musical montage - is a technique where sound objects or compositions are created from collage.
Music loop
Musique concrète - early development of fundamental importance in using recorded sound
Plunderphonics - in which samples are the sole source of sound for new compositions
Prime Loops - UK based sample pack provider
Remix
Sampler (musical instrument) - hardware and software platforms
Sampling (signal processing) - Basic PCM theory
Segue
Some Assembly Required - A radio program dedicated to the art of Sound Collage.
Sound collage - production of new sound material using portions, or samples, of previously made recordings.
WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act
WhoSampled - site with comprehensive database of who that artist has sampled and how, and how that artist him/herself has been sampled.
Wax Tailor - Group who uses movie clip samples
[edit]
Sampling in other contexts
Appropriation (art) - (Visual arts) often refers to the use of borrowed elements in the creation of new work.
Collage - a work of visual arts made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole.
Cut-up technique - an aleatory literary technique or genre in which a writing is cut up at random and rearranged to create a new text.
Found footage - a method of compiling films partly or entirely of footage which has not been created by the filmmaker.
Papier collé - a painting technique and type of collage.
Assemblage (composition) - a method for creating texts by explicitly using existing texts.
Craig Jones - One of the first to use sampling in Nu metal
[edit]
Footnotes

om Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2009)
Biz Markie

Background information
Birth name Marcel Theo Hall
Also known as The Diabolical Biz Markie, The Clown Prince God of the Southwest Atlantic
Born April 8, 1964 (age 46)[1]
Origin Baltimore, Maryland,
United States
Genres Hip hop
Years active 1982–present
Labels Cold Chillin', Warner Brothers
Associated acts Juice Crew, Beastie Boys


Marcel Theo Hall (born April 8, 1964,[1] Savage, Maryland) better known by his stage name Biz Markie, is an American rapper, DJ, comedian, actor, reality television personality and commercial spokesperson, best known for the single "Just a Friend", an American Top 10 hit in 1989. In 2008, "Just a Friend" made #100 on Vh1's 100 Greatest hip hop songs of all time.

He is often known as the Clown Prince of Hip Hop.[2][3]Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Discography
2.1 Studio albums
2.2 Compilations
2.3 Singles
3 References
4 External links

[edit]
Biography

Biz Markie's career began in Long Island, New York in the early 1980s, where he established his reputation for beat-boxing and rapping. MC Shan and Roxanne Shante were part of Marley Marl's Cold Chillin' Records, and Biz beatboxed on Shante's underground hit "Def Fresh Crew" (1986). This lent credibility to his recording career and put Cold Chillin' on the map. In the same year, Biz Markie's debut single, "Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz", was released on Prism Records. He released his debut album, Goin' Off, which attracted a fair amount of attention, largely due to the lead single, "Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz". The album also featured the underground hit singles "Nobody Beats The Biz", "The Vapors" and "Pickin' Boogers".[4]

I Need a Haircut sales were already low when Markie was served a lawsuit by Gilbert O'Sullivan, who claimed that the album's Alone Again featured an unauthorized sample from his hit "Alone Again (Naturally)". O'Sullivan's claim was upheld in a landmark ruling, Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records, Inc.,[5] that altered the landscape of hip-hop, finding that all samples must be cleared with the original artist before being used. In accordance with the ruling, Warner Bros., the parent company of Cold Chillin', had to pull I Need a Haircut from circulation, and all companies had to clear samples with the samples' creators before releasing the records. This development reflected the increasing popularity of hip-hop and the financial stakes over which releases were set. Biz responded in 1993 with the mischievously titled All Samples Cleared!, but his career had been hurt by the publicity emanating from the lawsuit, and the record suffered accordingly. For the remainder of the decade, he occasionally made television appearances, including guest appearances on In Living Color (including as Damian "Foosball" Franklin in the recurring sketch "The Dirty Dozens" and as Marlon Cain in "Ed Bacon: Guidance Counselor") and in a 1996 freestyle rap commercial on MTV2. He also made numerous guest appearances with the Beastie Boys, "Check Your Head" (1992), "Ill Communication" (1994), "Hello Nasty" (1998), and their anthology The Sounds of Science (1999). He also rapped on the song "Schizo Jam", on Don Byron's 1998 release, "Nu Blaxploitation" (Blue Note/Capitol) and worked with Canibus on the first track on the Office Space soundtrack (1999). He also rapped on the track "So Fresh" alongside Slick Rick on Will Smith's 1999 album "Willenium"

In 1996, he appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD, America is Dying Slowly, alongside Wu-Tang Clan, Coolio, and Fat Joe, among others. The CD, meant to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic among African American men, was heralded as a masterpiece by The Source magazine.

In 1997 he appeared on the Rolling Stones' song Anybody Seen My Baby? on their album Bridges to Babylon. His part was shortened on some radio versions.

In 2002, he appeared as an alien in Men in Black II with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, essentially playing an alien parody of himself, whose native language sounded exactly like beatboxing. Between 2002 and 2003 he appeared in episode 5 of the TV series Fastlane playing himself as a nightclub DJ. In 2003 he appeared in the international television series titled Kung Faux performing a series of voice over characters featured in a variety of episodes. In 2004, his song The Vapors appeared on the soundtrack of Rockstar's popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which featured an old school hip hop radio station, Playback FM. In 2006, Biz detoured from his recording duties to appear on the first season of the television show Celebrity Fit Club which challenged celebrities to lose weight by a combination of diet and exercise. Biz Markie lost more weight than anybody else in the competition. That year, he was also in an episode of The Andy Milonakis Show.

Biz Markie was a cast member on Nick Cannon's Wild 'n Out, seasons 1 and 3. Biz also does the beatboxing segment, Biz's Beat of the Day on the Nick Jr. show Yo Gabba Gabba!.

Biz Markie began 2008 opening for Chris Rock's No Apologies" tour. Biz Markie's act includes spinning records ranging from old school hip hop to Lynyrd Skynyrd and then performing "Just a Friend".[6] Biz Markie's play list includes the following: "Children's Story" by Slick Rick, "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang, "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, "Holiday" by Madonna, "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" by Wham!, "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock, "The Breaks" by Kurtis Blow and "Robot Rock" by Daft Punk.

In December 2009, Biz Markie appeared in a RadioShack commercial, repeating the line: "Oh Snap! Guess what I saw!" from his song "Just A Friend".[7] That same year saw his debut with Andy Milonakis in television commercials for the commercial Internet service, Tune Up.[8]

In 2010, Biz Markie appeared on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, providing commentary throughout the series. Biz Markie himself was not included on the list. On November 9, 2010, Biz appeared on The Aquabats! new EP, Radio Down! in the title track. On November 11, 2010, Biz sat in with The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and performed "Just a Friend" with actor Jeff Goldblum.[9]

Biz Markie also appeared in the Adventure Time season two episode Slow Love,[10] which aired on November 15, 2010.
[edit]
Discography
[edit]
Studio albums
1988: Goin' Off
1989: The Biz Never Sleeps
1991: I Need a Haircut
1993: All Samples Cleared!
2003: Weekend Warrior
[edit]
Compilations
1994: Biz's Baddest Beats
1996: Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks
1998: On the Turntable
2000: On the Turntable 2
2002: Greatest Hits
2006: Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz
2009: Ultimate Diabolical[3]
2009: "Yo Gabba Gabba Music is Awesome!"
2010: The Aquabats Radio Down!
[edit]
SinglesYear Song Chart positions Album
U.S. Hot 100 U.S. R&B U.S. Rap
1987 "Make the Music with Your Mouth" — 84 — Goin' Off
1988 "Vapors" — 37 —
1989 "Just a Friend" 9 22 5 The Biz Never Sleeps
1991 "What Comes Around Goes Around" — 84 4 I Need a Haircut
1993 "Let Me Turn You On" — — 7 All Samples Cleared!
1993 "Young Girl Bluez" — — 4

[edit]
References

Dutch Top 40
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This chart is often confused with the Single Top 100. This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)


Hans Breukhoven and Lex Harding celebrating a printed edition of the Dutch Top 40 in 2005

The Dutch Top 40 (Dutch: Nederlandse Top 40) is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the pirate radio channel Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the pirate radio channel was forced to stop. Joost den Draaijer was the initiator of the top 40 in the Netherlands. The chart is similar to the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Compilation
2.1 Composition
2.2 Rules
3 Records in the Dutch Top 40
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit]
History

On January 2, 1965, the first Top 40 was compiled, with its first #1 hit "I Feel Fine" by The Beatles. In 1974, the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40 bought the Top 40 and named it De Nederlandse Top 40. It is one of the three official charts in the Netherlands, the other two being the Single Top 100 and the Mega Top 50. Contrary to the Single Top 100, the Top 40, like the Mega Top 50, includes airplay data.


Currently, Radio 538 is airing the Dutch Top 40 on radio. Jeroen Nieuwenhuize is presenting the program every Friday afternoon from 14.00 until 18.00. The Dutch Top 40 is the 'most-listened-to' program on Dutch radio during its timeslot.
[edit]
Compilation
[edit]
Composition

Like the Mega Top 50, the chart is a combination of single sales and airplay. The more often a song gets played on the radio, the higher its place in the Top 40. As of 2003, digital downloads are also counted.

For year end chart positions: #1 position gets 40 points, #2 position gets 39 points .... #40 position get one point. This way you just count up all numbers and sort them from most points till least points.
[edit]
Rules

There is a set of rules, of which some have existed since 1972, that are still maintained. Because of these rules the Top 40 has been criticised.
Singles must remain minimal two weeks in the chart. If a single officially no longer belongs in the top 40, these are placed on #40.
Example: Missy Elliott's "Lose Control": Remained two weeks on #40 in the chart, because it did not sell enough and also wasn't played enough on the radio.
Singles noted with the superstip, may not fall down in chart position the following week. If a single in fact was to drop, it remains on the position it ended, so the following week it drops hard in chart positions.
Recent example: Guus Meeuwis' "Ik Wil Dat Ons Land Juicht": The song entered the chart at #11 (superstip), rose up to #5 (superstip again) in its second week. The following week it was meant to drop in chart position, but remained on the #5 position. The following two weeks, it went from #5 to #39. Because of this rule, this single is the biggest fall down in the Dutch Top 40.
Re-entry only takes place when the single re-enters within the top 30, if differently, these re-entried singles are ignored.
Example: Racoon recently re-entered the Dutch Top 40 at #31 though with the song "Love You More".
Singles with double A-side are noted separately in the top 40; due the (possible) different number of airplay the two songs get.
Example: Robbie Williams' first single off his 2005 album Intensive Care was Tripping with the B-side being Make Me Pure. While "Tripping" topped the chart by peaking at #1, "Make Me Pure" peaked at #15 in the Top 40.
[edit]
Records in the Dutch Top 40Most successful single-artistsArtist weeks points
Madonna 470 12550
Rolling Stones 448 11649
The Beatles 312 9220
Golden Earring 365 9093
Michael Jackson 336 8563
BZN 373 8249
The Cats 335 8077
Bee Gees 326 7625
Queen 323 7577
U2 247 7349
Most hit singles in the Top 40Artist singles
Cliff Richard 62
BZN 54
Madonna 52
Rolling Stones 48
Golden Earring 47
Normaal 42
Bee Gees 41
Michael Jackson 38
Queen 38
U2 38

Update on July 10, 2010. Best selling artists
(combined Single top 40 and Album top 100)Artist weeks points
BZN 1106 60375
The Rolling Stones 1117 57200
Madonna 1107 53994
Golden Earring 1039 53833
Queen 1014 53647
André Hazes 972 49412
ABBA 761 46439
U2 906 45913
Michael Jackson 873 44240
Celine Dion 775 43119

Updated on January 1, 2004.

[edit]
See also
List of number-one hits (Netherlands)
MegaCharts
Mega Top 50
Mega Single Top 100
[edit]
References


[edit]
External links
(Dutch) Dutch Top 40 website (contains archive from 1965 onwards)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the band. For other uses, see U2 (disambiguation).
U2

U2 performing at Madison Square Garden in November 2005, from left to right: The Edge; Larry Mullen, Jr. (drumming), Bono, and Adam Clayton
Background information
Origin Dublin, Ireland
Genres Rock, alternative rock, post-punk
Years active 1976–present
Labels Mercury, Interscope, Island
Associated acts Passengers
Website u2.com
Members
Bono
The Edge
Adam Clayton
Larry Mullen, Jr.


U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono (vocals and guitar), The Edge (guitar, keyboards and vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar), and Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums and percussion). U2's early sound was indebted to post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music. Throughout the group's musical pursuits, they have maintained a recognisable sound built on melodic instrumentals, highlighted by The Edge's textural guitar playing and Bono's expressive vocals. Their lyrics, often embellished with spiritual imagery, focus on personal themes and sociopolitical concerns.

U2 formed at Mount Temple Comprehensive School when the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency. Within four years, they signed to Island Records and released their debut album Boy. By the mid-1980s, they became a top international act. They were more successful as live performers than they were at selling records, until their 1987 breakthrough album The Joshua Tree,[1] which, according to Rolling Stone, elevated the band's stature "from heroes to superstars".[2] Reacting to a sense of musical stagnation and a late-1980s critical backlash against their earnest image and musical direction, the group reinvented themselves with their 1991 hit album Achtung Baby and the accompanying Zoo TV Tour. U2 integrated dance, industrial, and alternative rock influences into their sound and performances, and embraced a more ironic and self-deprecating image. Similar experimentation continued for the remainder of the 1990s with reduced levels of success. U2 regained critical and commercial favour after their 2000 record All That You Can't Leave Behind. On it and the group's subsequent releases, they pursued a more conventional sound while maintaining influences from their earlier musical explorations.

U2 have released 12 studio albums and are among the best-selling groups in popular music, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide. They have won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other band. In 2005, U2 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone ranked U2 at number 22 in its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".[3] Throughout their career, as a band and as individuals, they have campaigned for human rights and philanthropic causes, including Amnesty International, the ONE/DATA campaigns, Product Red, and The Edge's Music Rising.


U2Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Formation and early years (1976–79)
1.2 Boy, October, and War (1980–83)
1.3 The Unforgettable Fire and Live Aid (1984–85)
1.4 The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum (1986–89)
1.5 Achtung Baby, Zoo TV, and Zooropa (1990–93)
1.6 Passengers, Pop, and PopMart (1994–99)
1.7 "Reapplying for the job of the best band in the world" (2000–06)
1.8 No Line on the Horizon and U2 360° Tour (2007–present)
2 Musical style
2.1 Instrumentation
2.2 Lyrics and themes
2.3 Influences
3 Campaigning and activism
4 Other projects
5 Legacy
6 Discography
7 References
8 External links

[edit]
History
See also: Timeline of U2
[edit]
Formation and early years (1976–79)

U2 in 1980. Shown from left to right: Clayton, Mullen, Bono, The Edge.

The band formed in Dublin on 25 September 1976.[4] Larry Mullen, Jr., then a 14-year-old student at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, posted a note on the school's notice board in search of musicians for a new band—six people responded. Setting up in his kitchen, Mullen was on drums, with Paul Hewson (Bono) on lead vocals; David Evans (The Edge) and his older brother Dik Evans on guitar; Adam Clayton, a friend of the Evans brothers on bass guitar; and initially Ivan McCormick and Peter Martin, two other friends of Mullen.[5] Mullen later described it as "'The Larry Mullen Band' for about ten minutes, then Bono walked in and blew any chance I had of being in charge." Soon after, the group settled on the name "Feedback" because it was one of the few technical terms they knew.[6] Martin did not return after the first practice, and McCormick left the group within a few weeks. Most of the group's initial material consisted of cover songs, which the band admitted was not their forté.[7] Some of the earliest influences on the band were emerging punk rock acts, such as The Jam, The Clash, The Buzzcocks, and The Sex Pistols. The popularity of punk rock convinced the group that musical proficiency was not a prerequisite to being successful.[8]

"We couldn't believe it. I was completely shocked. We weren't of an age to go out partying as such but I don't think anyone slept that night.... Really, it was just a great affirmation to win that competition, even though I've no idea how good we were or what the competition was really like. But to win at that point was incredibly important for morale and everyone's belief in the whole project."
—The Edge, on winning the CBS competition[9]

In March 1977, the band changed their name to "The Hype".[10] Dik Evans, who was older and by this time at college, was becoming the odd man out. The rest of the band was leaning towards the idea of a four-piece ensemble and he was "phased out" in March 1978. During a farewell concert in the Presbyterian Church Hall in Howth, which featured The Hype playing covers, Dik ceremoniously walked offstage. The remaining four band members completed the concert playing original material as "U2".[11] Steve Averill, a punk rock musician and family friend of Clayton's, had suggested six potential names from which the band chose "U2" for its ambiguity and open-ended interpretations, and because it was the name that they disliked the least.[12]

On Saint Patrick's Day in 1978, U2 won a talent show in Limerick, Ireland. The prize consisted of £500 and studio time to record a demo which would be heard by CBS Ireland. This win was an important milestone and affirmation for the fledgling band.[11] U2 recorded their first demo tape at Keystone Studios in Dublin in May 1978.[13] Hot Press magazine was influential in shaping the band's future; in May, Paul McGuinness, who had earlier been introduced to the band by the publication's journalist Bill Graham, agreed to be U2's manager.[14] The group's first release, an Ireland-only EP entitled Three, was released in September 1979 and was their first Irish chart success.[15] In December 1979, U2 performed in London for their first shows outside Ireland, although they failed to get much attention from audiences or critics.[16] In February 1980, their second single "Another Day" was released on the CBS label, but again only for the Irish market.[17]
[edit]
Boy, October, and War (1980–83)

Island Records signed U2 in March 1980, and in May, the band released "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" as their first international single.[18] The band's debut album, Boy, followed in October. Produced by Steve Lillywhite, it received generally positive reviews.[19] Although Bono's unfocused lyrics seemed improvised, they expressed a common theme: the dreams and frustrations of adolescence.[20] The album included the band's first United States hit single, "I Will Follow". Boy's release was followed by the Boy Tour, U2's first tour of continental Europe and the United States.[21] Despite being unpolished, these early live performances demonstrated U2's potential, as critics noted that Bono was a "charismatic" and "passionate" showman.[22]

The band's second album, October, was released in 1981 and contained overtly spiritual themes. During the album's sillyface recording sessions, Bono and The Edge considered quitting the band due to perceived spiritual conflicts.[23] Bono, The Edge, and Mullen had joined a Christian group in Dublin called the "Shalom Fellowship", which led them to question the relationship between the Christian faith and the rock and roll lifestyle.[24] Bono and Edge took time off between tours and decided to leave Shalom in favour of continuing with the band. Recording was further complicated when a briefcase containing lyrics for several working songs was stolen from backstage during the band's performance at a nightclub in Portland, Oregon.[25] The album received mixed reviews and limited radio play. Low sales outside the UK put pressure on their contract with Island and focused the band on improvement.[26] "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (1983)

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" features a martial drumbeat, raw guitar, and lyrically, a bleak emotionally charged response to violence.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.


Resolving their doubts of the October period, U2 released War in 1983.[27] A record where the band "turned pacifism itself into a crusade",[28] War's sincerity and "rugged" guitar was intentionally at odds with the "cooler" synthpop of the time.[29] The album included the politically charged "Sunday Bloody Sunday", where Bono had lyrically tried to contrast the events of Bloody Sunday with Easter Sunday.[30] Rolling Stone magazine wrote that the song showed the band was capable of deep and meaningful songwriting. War was U2's first album to feature the photography of Anton Corbijn, who remains U2's principal photographer and has had a major influence on their vision and public image.[31] U2's first commercial success, War debuted at number one in the UK, and its first single, "New Year's Day", was the band's first hit outside Ireland or the UK.[32]

Bono performs in Norway during the War Tour in 1983.

On the subsequent War Tour, the band performed sold-out concerts in mainland Europe and the US. The sight of Bono waving a white flag during performances of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" became the tour's iconic image.[33] U2 recorded the Under a Blood Red Sky live album on this tour, as well as the Live at Red Rocks concert film, both of which received extensive play on the radio and MTV, expanding the band's audience and showcasing their prowess as a live act.[34] Their record deal with Island Records was coming to an end, and in 1984 the band signed a more lucrative extension. They negotiated the return of their copyrights (so that they owned the rights to their own songs), an increase in their royalty rate, and a general improvement in terms, at the expense of a larger initial payment.[35]
[edit]
The Unforgettable Fire and Live Aid (1984–85)

"We knew the world was ready to receive the heirs to The Who. All we had to do was to keep doing what we were doing and we would become the biggest band since Led Zeppelin, without a doubt. But something just didn't feel right. We felt we had more dimension than just the next big anything, we had something unique to offer."
—Bono, on The Unforgettable Fire's new direction.[36]

The Unforgettable Fire was released in 1984. Ambient and abstract, it was at the time the band's most marked change in direction.[37] The band feared that following the overt rock of the War album and tour, they were in danger of becoming another "shrill", "sloganeering arena-rock band".[38] Thus, experimentation was sought,[39] as Adam Clayton recalls, "We were looking for something that was a bit more serious, more arty."[36] The Edge admired the ambient and "weird works" of Brian Eno, who, along with his engineer Daniel Lanois, eventually agreed to produce the record.[40]

The Unforgettable Fire has a rich and orchestrated sound. Under Lanois' direction, Mullen's drumming became looser, funkier, and more subtle and Clayton's bass became more subliminal; the rhythm section no longer intruded, but flowed in support of the songs.[41] Complementing the sonic atmospherics, the album's lyrics are open to many interpretations, providing what the band called a "very visual feel".[37] Due to a tight recording schedule, however, Bono felt songs like "Bad" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)" were incomplete "sketches".[42] "Pride (In the Name of Love)", about Martin Luther King, Jr., was the album's first single and became the band's biggest hit to that point, including being their first to enter the US top 40.[43] "The Unforgettable Fire" (1984)

"The Unforgettable Fire" has a rich, symphonic sound built from ambient instrumentation, a driving rhythm, and a lyrical "sketch".[44]


Much of The Unforgettable Fire Tour moved into indoor arenas as U2 began to win their long battle to build their audience.[45] The complex textures of the new studio-recorded tracks, such as "The Unforgettable Fire" and "Bad", were problematic to translate to live performances.[37] One solution was programmed sequencers, which the band had previously been reluctant to use, but are now used in the majority of the band's performances.[37] Songs on the album had been criticised as being "unfinished", "fuzzy", and "unfocused", but were better received by critics when played on stage.[46]

U2 participated in the Live Aid concert for Ethiopian famine relief at Wembley Stadium in July 1985.[47] U2's performance in front of 82,000 fans was a pivotal point in the band's career.[48] During a 14-minute performance of the song "Bad", Bono leapt down off the stage to embrace and dance with a fan, showing a television audience of millions the personal connection that Bono could make with audiences.[49] In 1985, Rolling Stone magazine called U2 the "Band of the '80s", saying that "for a growing number of rock-and-roll fans, U2 have become the band that matters most, maybe even the only band that matters".[35]
[edit]
The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum (1986–89)

"The wild beauty, cultural richness, spiritual vacancy and ferocious violence of America are explored to compelling effect in virtually every aspect of The Joshua Tree—in the title and the cover art, the blues and country borrowings evident in the music ... Indeed, Bono says that 'dismantling the mythology of America' is an important part of The Joshua Tree's artistic objective."
—Anthony DeCurtis[50]

Realising that "U2 had no tradition" and that their knowledge of music from before their childhood was limited, the group delved into American and Irish roots music.[51] Friendships with Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Keith Richards motivated the band to explore blues, folk, and gospel music and focused Bono on his skills as a songwriter and lyricist.[52] For their fifth album, The Joshua Tree,[53] the band wanted to build on The Unforgettable Fire's textures, but instead of out-of-focus experimentation, they sought a harder-hitting sound that used the limitation of strict song structures.[54] U2 interrupted their 1986 album sessions to serve as a headline act on Amnesty International's A Conspiracy of Hope tour. Rather than being a distraction, the tour added extra intensity and power to their new material.[55] In 1986, Bono travelled to San Salvador and Nicaragua and saw first-hand the distress of peasants bullied in internal conflicts that were subject to American political intervention. The experience became a central influence on the new music.[56]

The tree pictured on The Joshua Tree album sleeve. Adam Clayton said, "The desert was immensely inspirational to us as a mental image for this record".[57]

The Joshua Tree was released in March 1987. The album juxtaposes antipathy towards America against the group's deep fascination with the country, its open spaces, freedom, and its ideals.[58] The band wanted music with a sense of location and a "cinematic" quality, and the record's music and lyrics draw on imagery created by American writers whose works the band had been reading.[59] The Joshua Tree became the fastest-selling album in British chart history, and was number one for nine weeks in the United States.[60] The first two singles, "With or Without You"[38] and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", quickly became the group's first number-one hits in the US. They became the fourth rock band to be featured on the cover of Time magazine,[61] which declared U2 "Rock's Hottest Ticket".[62] The album won U2 their first two Grammy Awards,[63] and it brought the band a new level of success. Many publications, including Rolling Stone, have cited it as one of rock's greatest.[64] The Joshua Tree Tour was the first tour on which the band played shows in stadiums, alongside smaller arena shows.[65]

The documentary Rattle and Hum featured footage recorded from The Joshua Tree Tour, and the accompanying double album of the same name included nine studio tracks and six live U2 performances. Released in October 1988, the album and film were intended as a tribute to American music,[66] and included recordings at Sun Studios in Memphis and performances with Bob Dylan and B. B. King. Rattle and Hum performed modestly at the box office and received mixed reviews from both film and music critics;[67] one Rolling Stone editor spoke of the album's "excitement", another described it as "bombastic and misguided".[68] The film's director, Phil Joanou, described it as "an overly pretentious look at U2".[69] Most of the album's new material was played on 1989's Lovetown Tour, which visited Australia, Japan and Europe, because the band wanted to avoid the American backlash. In addition, they had grown dissatisfied with their live performances; Mullen recalled that "We were the biggest, but we weren't the best".[70] With a sense of musical stagnation, Bono said to fans on one of the last dates of the tour that it was "the end of something for U2" and that they had to "go away and [...] just dream it all up again".[71]
[edit]
Achtung Baby, Zoo TV, and Zooropa (1990–93)

"Buzzwords on this record were trashy, throwaway, dark, sexy, and industrial (all good) and earnest, polite, sweet, righteous, rockist and linear (all bad). It was good if a song took you on a journey or made you think your hifi was broken, bad if it reminded you of recording studios or U2..."
—Brian Eno, on the recording of Achtung Baby[72]

Stung by the criticism of Rattle and Hum, the band made a calculated change in musical and thematic direction for their seventh studio album, Achtung Baby; the shift was one of their most dramatic since The Unforgettable Fire.[73] Seeking inspiration on the eve of German reunification, they began work on the album in East Berlin in October 1990 with producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno.[74]

The sessions were fraught with conflict, as the band argued over their musical direction and the quality of their material. While Clayton and Mullen preferred a sound similar to U2's previous work, Bono and The Edge were inspired by industrial music and European electronic dance music and advocated a change. After weeks of tension and slow progress, the group made a breakthrough with the improvised writing of the song "One".[75] They returned to Dublin in 1991, where morale improved and the majority of the album was completed. "The Fly" (1991)

"The Fly" features hip-hop beats, distorted vocals, and a hard industrial edge that differed from U2's typical sound.[76]


In November 1991, U2 released Achtung Baby. Sonically, it incorporated alternative rock, dance, and industrial music influences of the time, and the band referred to the album's musical departure as "four men chopping down the Joshua Tree".[77] Thematically, it was a more introspective and personal record; it was darker, yet at times more flippant than the band's previous work. Commercially and critically, it has been one of the band's most successful albums. It produced the hit singles "The Fly", "Mysterious Ways", and "One", and it was a crucial part of the band's early 1990s reinvention.[78] Like The Joshua Tree, many publications have cited the record as one of rock's greatest.[64]

The Zoo TV Tour was a multimedia-intensive event, featuring a stage that used dozens of video screens.

Like Achtung Baby, the 1992–1993 Zoo TV Tour was an unequivocal break with the band's past. In contrast to the austere stage setups of previous U2 tours, Zoo TV was an elaborate multimedia event. It satirised the pervasive nature of television and its blurring of news, entertainment, and home shopping by attempting to instill "sensory overload" in its audience.[77][79][80] The stage featured large video screens that showed visual effects, random video clips from pop culture, and flashing text phrases.[81] Whereas U2 were known for their earnest performances in the 1980s, the group's Zoo TV performances were intentionally ironic and self-deprecating;[77] on stage, Bono performed as several over-the-top characters, including "The Fly",[82] "Mirror Ball Man", and "MacPhisto".[83] Prank phone calls were made to President Bush, the United Nations, and others. Live satellite uplinks to war-torn Sarajevo caused controversy.[84]

Quickly recorded during a break in the Zoo TV tour in mid-1993, the Zooropa album continued many of the themes from Achtung Baby and the Zoo TV Tour. Initially intended as an EP, the band expanded Zooropa into a full-length LP album. It was an even greater departure from the style of their earlier recordings, incorporating further dance influences and other electronic effects.[85] Johnny Cash sang the lead vocals on "The Wanderer". Most of the songs were played at least once during the 1993 leg of the tour, which visited Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan; half the album's tracks became fixtures in the setlist.[86]
[edit]
Passengers, Pop, and PopMart (1994–99)

In 1995, U2 released an experimental album called Original Soundtracks 1. Brian Eno, producer of three previous U2 albums, contributed as a full partner, including writing and performing. For this reason and due to the record's highly experimental nature, the band chose to release it under the moniker "Passengers" to distinguish it from U2's conventional albums. Mullen said of the album, "There's a thin line between interesting music and self-indulgence. We crossed it on the Passengers record."[87] It was commercially unnoticed by U2 standards and it received generally poor reviews. However, the single "Miss Sarajevo" featuring Luciano Pavarotti, which Bono cites as one of his favourite U2 songs,[88] was successful.

"It's not enough to write a great lyric; it's not enough to have a good idea or a great hook, lots of things have to come together and then you have to have the ability to discipline and screen. We should give this album to a re-mixer, go back to what was originally intended..."
—Bono, on Pop[89]

On 1997's Pop, U2 continued experimenting; tape loops, programming, rhythm sequencing, and sampling provided much of the album with heavy, funky dance rhythms.[90] Released in March, the album debuted at number one in 35 countries and drew mainly positive reviews.[91] Rolling Stone, for example, stated that U2 had "defied the odds and made some of the greatest music of their lives".[92] Others felt that the album was a major disappointment and sales were poor compared to previous U2 releases.[93] The band was hurried into completing the album in time for the impending pre-booked tour, and Bono admitted that the album "didn't communicate the way it was intended to".[94]

The PopMart Tour stage featured a golden arch, mirrorball lemon, and, at the time, the largest LED screen in the world.

The subsequent tour, PopMart, commenced in April 1997. Like Zoo TV, it poked fun at pop culture and was intended to send a sarcastic message to those accusing U2 of commercialism. The stage included a 100-foot (30 m) tall golden yellow arch (reminiscent of the McDonald's logo), a 150-foot (46 m) long video screen, and a 40-foot (12 m) tall mirrorball lemon. U2's "big shtick" failed, however, to satisfy many who were seemingly confused by the band's new kitsch image and elaborate sets.[95] The postponement of Pop's release date in order to complete the album meant rehearsal time for the tour was severely reduced, and performances in early shows suffered.[96] A highlight of the tour was a concert in Sarajevo where U2 were the first major group to perform there following the Bosnian War.[97] Mullen described the concert as "an experience I will never forget for the rest of my life, and if I had to spend 20 years in the band just to play that show, and have done that, I think it would have been worthwhile."[98] One month following the conclusion of the PopMart Tour, U2 appeared on the 200th episode of The Simpsons, "Trash of the Titans", in which Homer Simpson disrupted the band on stage during a PopMart concert.[99]
[edit]
"Reapplying for the job of the best band in the world" (2000–06)

U2 perform at Super Bowl XXXVI Halftime Show, 3 February 2002.

Following the comparatively poor reception of Pop, U2 declared they were "reapplying for the job ... [of] the best band in the world",[100] and they have since pursued a more conventional rock sound mixed with the influences of their 1990s musical explorations.[101] All That You Can't Leave Behind was released in October 2000 and was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. For many of those not won over by the band's 1990s music, it was considered a return to grace;[102] Rolling Stone called it U2's "third masterpiece" alongside The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.[103] The album debuted at number one in 22 countries[104] and its worldwide hit single, "Beautiful Day" earned three Grammy Awards. The album's other three singles also won Grammy Awards.

For the Elevation Tour, U2 performed in a scaled-down setting, returning to arenas after nearly a decade of stadium productions. A heart-shaped stage and ramp permitted greater proximity to the audience. Following the September 11 attacks, the new album gained added resonance,[64][105] and in October, U2 performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Bono and The Edge later said these New York City shows were among their most memorable and emotional performances.[106] In early 2002, U2 performed during halftime of Super Bowl XXXVI,[107] which SI.com ranked as the best halftime show in Super Bowl history.[108] "Vertigo" (2004)

"Vertigo", with its aggressive riff, became a hit worldwide and was used in a cross-promotion with Apple.


The band's next studio album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, was released in November 2004. The band were looking for a harder-hitting rock sound than All That You Can't Leave Behind. Thematically, Bono stated that "A lot of the songs are paeans to naiveté, a rejection of knowingness."[109] The first single, "Vertigo", was featured on an internationally aired television commercial for the Apple iPod, and a U2 iPod and an iTunes U2 box set were released as part of a promotion with Apple. The album debuted at number one in the US, where the first week's sales doubled that of All That You Can't Leave Behind and set a record for the band.[97] Claiming it as a contender as one of U2's three best albums, Bono said, "There are no weak songs. But as an album, the whole isn't greater than the sum of its parts, and it fucking annoys me."[109] The Vertigo Tour featured a setlist that varied more across dates than any U2 tour since the Lovetown Tour, and it included songs not played since the early 1980s. Like the Elevation Tour, the Vertigo Tour was a commercial success.[110] The album and its singles won Grammy Awards in all eight categories in which U2 were nominated. In 2005, Bruce Springsteen inducted U2 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[111] A 3-D concert film, U2 3D, filmed at nine concerts during the Latin American and Australian legs of the Vertigo Tour was released on 23 January 2008.

In August 2006, the band incorporated its publishing business in The Netherlands following the capping of Irish artists' tax exemption at €250,000.[112] The Edge stated that businesses often seek to minimise their tax burdens.[113] The move was criticised in the Irish parliament.[113][114] The band said the criticism was unfair, stating that approximately 95% of their business took place outside of Ireland, that they were taxed globally because of this, and that they were all "personal investors and employers in the country".[115] In March 2008, U2 signed a 12-year deal with Live Nation worth an estimated $100 million (£50 million),[116][not in citation given] which includes Live Nation controlling the band's merchandise, sponsoring, and their official website.
[edit]
No Line on the Horizon and U2 360° Tour (2007–present)

The stage structure from the U2 360° Tour allows for a 360-degree seating configuration.

U2's twelfth album, No Line on the Horizon, was released in February 2009. Intended as a more experimental work than their previous two albums, it was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, who share songwriting credits with the band.[117] The band had worked on new songs with producer Rick Rubin in 2006, but the material was shelved. In June 2007 the band began writing and recording with Eno and Lanois.[118] Recording continued through 2008 in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and in Fez, Morocco, where the band explored North African music. The album was completed in December 2008 and received generally positive reviews, including their first five-star Rolling Stone review. Critics, however, noted it was not as experimental as expected. The album debuted at number one in over 30 countries,[119] but the album's sales have been comparatively low by U2 standards and it did not contain a hit single.[120]

The group commenced the U2 360° Tour in 2009. The shows feature the largest concert stage structure ever and a 360-degree staging/audience configuration that allows fans to surround the stage from all sides.[121] The tour visited European and North American stadiums in 2009, with additional shows in Europe in 2010. The band finished off 2010 with shows in Australia and New Zealand and kicked off 2011 with shows in South Africa; additional shows are planned for South America and North America later in the year.[122] U2's scheduled headline appearance at the Glastonbury Festival 2010 was cancelled and the 2010 North American leg of the tour postponed following a serious injury to Bono's back.[123][124]

In 2009, Rolling Stone named U2 one of eight "Artists of the Decade".[125] The group's tours ranked them second in total concert grosses for the decade after The Rolling Stones, although U2 had a significantly higher attendance figure than the Stones. They were the only band in the top 25 touring acts of the 2000s to sell out every show they played.[126]
[edit]
Musical style
[edit]
Instrumentation

U2 performing at the Cowboys Stadium, Arlington in the United States in 2009. The Edge has described the band as a fundamentally live band.

Since their inception, U2 have developed and maintained a distinctly recognisable sound, with emphasis on melodic instrumentals and expressive, larger-than-life vocals.[127] This approach is rooted partly in the early influence of record producer Steve Lillywhite at a time when the band was not known for musical proficiency.[128] The Edge has consistently used a rhythmic echo and a signature delay[129] to craft his guitar work, coupled with an Irish-influenced drone played against his syncopated melodies[130] that ultimately yields a well-defined ambient, chiming sound. Bono has nurtured his falsetto operatic voice[131] and has exhibited a notable lyrical bent towards social, political, and personal subject matter while maintaining a grandiose scale in his songwriting. In addition, The Edge has described U2 as a fundamentally live band.[130]

Despite these broad consistencies, U2 have introduced brand new elements into their musical repertoire with each new album. U2's early sound was influenced by bands such as Television and Joy Division, and has been described as containing a "sense of exhilaration" that resulted from The Edge's "radiant chords" and Bono's "ardent vocals".[132] U2's sound began with post-punk roots and minimalistic and uncomplicated instrumentals heard on Boy and October, but evolved through War to include aspects of rock anthem, funk, and dance rhythms to become more versatile and aggressive.[133] Boy and War were labelled "muscular and assertive" by Rolling Stone,[38] influenced in large part by Lillywhite's producing. The Unforgettable Fire, which began with The Edge playing more keyboards than guitars, as well as follow-up The Joshua Tree, had Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois at the production helm. With their influence, both albums achieved a "diverse texture".[38] The songs from The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum placed more emphasis on Lanois-inspired rhythm as they mixed distinct and varied styles of gospel and blues music, which stemmed from the band's burgeoning fascination with America's culture, people and places. In the 1990s, U2 reinvented themselves as they began using synthesisers, distortion, and electronic beats derived from alternative rock, industrial music, dance, and hip-hop on Achtung Baby,[134] Zooropa, and Pop.[135] The 2000s had U2 returning to a stripped-down sound, with a more traditional rhythm and less obvious use of synthesisers and effects.[citation needed]
[edit]
Lyrics and themes

Social and political commentary, often embellished with Christian and spiritual imagery,[136] are a major aspect of U2's lyrical content. Songs such as "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Silver and Gold", and "Mothers of the Disappeared" were motivated by current events of the time. The former was written about the troubles in Northern Ireland,[137] while the latter concerns the struggle of COMADRES—the Mothers of the Disappeared—a group of women whose children were killed or "disappeared" by the government during the Salvadoran Civil War.[138]

Bono's personal conflicts and turmoil inspired family colour songs like "Mofo", "Tomorrow" and "Kite". An emotional yearning or pleading frequently appears as a lyrical theme,[127] in tracks such as "Yahweh",[139] "Peace on Earth", and "Please". Much of U2's songwriting and music is also motivated by contemplations of loss and anguish, coupled with hopefulness and resiliency, themes that are central to The Joshua Tree.[38] Some of these lyrical ideas have been amplified by Bono and the band's personal experiences during their youth in Ireland, as well as Bono's campaigning and activism later in his life. U2 have used tours such as Zoo TV and PopMart to caricature social trends, such as media overload and consumerism, respectively.[135]

While the band and its fans often affirm the political nature of their music, U2's lyrics and music have been criticised as apolitical because of their vagueness and "fuzzy imagery", and a lack of any specific references to actual people or characters.[140]
[edit]
Influences

The band cites The Who,[141] The Clash,[142] Ramones,[143] The Beatles,[144] Joy Division,[145] Siouxsie and the Banshees,[146] Elvis Presley,[147] and Patti Smith[148] as influences. Van Morrison has been cited by Bono as an influence[149] and his influence on U2 is pointed out by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[150] Other musicians and bands such as Radiohead,[151] Snow Patrol,[152] The Fray,[153] OneRepublic,[154] Coldplay,[155] This Allure,[156] The Academy Is...,[157] The Killers, Your Vegas,[158] and Angels & Airwaves[159] have in turn been influenced by the work of U2. U2 have also worked and/or had influential relationships with artists including Johnny Cash, Green Day, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, B.B. King, Lou Reed, Luciano Pavarotti,[160] Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Wim Wenders, R.E.M., Salman Rushdie, and Anton Corbijn.
[edit]
Campaigning and activism

Bono with then-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil.

Since the early 1980s, the members of U2—as a band and individually—have collaborated with other musicians, artists, celebrities, and politicians to address issues concerning poverty, disease, and social injustice.

In 1984, Bono and Adam Clayton participated in Band Aid to raise money for Ethiopian famine relief. This initiative produced the hit charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which would be the first among several collaborations between U2 and Bob Geldof. In July 1985, U2 played Live Aid, a follow-up to Band Aid's efforts. Bono and his wife Ali, invited by World Vision, later visited Ethiopia where they witnessed the famine first hand. Bono would later say this laid the groundwork for his Africa campaigning and some of his songwriting.[161]

In 1986, U2 participated in the A Conspiracy of Hope tour in support of Amnesty International and in Self Aid for unemployment in Ireland. The same year, Bono and Ali Hewson also visited Nicaragua and El Salvador at the invitation of the Sanctuary movement, and saw the effects of the El Salvador Civil War. These 1986 events greatly influenced The Joshua Tree album, which was being recorded at the time.[citation needed]

In 1992, the band participated in the "Stop Sellafield" concert with Greenpeace during their Zoo TV tour.[162] Events in Sarajevo during the Bosnian war inspired the song "Miss Sarajevo", which premiered at a September 1995 Pavarotti and Friends show, and which Bono and the Edge performed at War Child.[163] A promise made in 1993 was kept when the band played in Sarajevo as part of 1997's PopMart Tour.[164] In 1998, they performed in Belfast days prior to the vote on the Good Friday Agreement, bringing Northern Irish political leaders David Trimble and John Hume on stage to promote the agreement.[165] Later that year, all proceeds from the release of the "Sweetest Thing" single went towards supporting the Chernobyl Children's Project.

In 2001, the band dedicated "Walk On" to Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.[166] In late 2003, Bono and the Edge participated in the South Africa HIV/AIDS awareness 46664 series of concerts hosted by Nelson Mandela.[citation needed] The band played 2005's Live 8 concert in London. The band and manager Paul McGuinness were awarded Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Award for their work in promoting human rights.[167]

Since 2000, Bono's campaigning has included Jubilee 2000 with Bob Geldof, Muhammad Ali, and others to promote the cancellation of third world debt during the Great Jubilee. In January 2002, Bono co-founded the multinational NGO, DATA, with the aim of improving the social, political, and financial state of Africa. He continued his campaigns for debt and HIV/AIDS relief into June 2002 by making high-profile visits to Africa.[168]

Product Red, a 2006 for-profit brand seeking to raise money for the Global Fund, was founded, in part, by Bono. The ONE Campaign, originally the US counterpart of Make Poverty History, was shaped by his efforts and vision.

In late 2005, following Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, The Edge helped introduce Music Rising, an initiative to raise funds for musicians who lost their instruments in the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.[169] In 2006, U2 collaborated with punk rock band Green Day to record a remake of the song "The Saints Are Coming" by The Skids to benefit Music Rising.[170]

U2 and Bono's social activism have not been without its critics, however. Several authors and activists who publish in politically left journals such as CounterPunch have decried Bono's support of political figures such as Paul Wolfowitz,[171] as well as his "essential paternalism".[172] Other news sources have more generally questioned the efficacy of Bono's campaign to relieve debt and provide assistance to Africa.[173] Tax and development campaigners have also criticised the band's move from Ireland to the Netherlands to reduce its tax bill.[174]
[edit]
Other projects

The members of U2 have undertaken a number of side projects, sometimes in collaboration with some of their bandmates. In 1985, Bono recorded the song "In a Lifetime" with the Irish band Clannad. The Edge recorded a solo soundtrack album for the film Captive in 1986,[175] which included a vocal performance by Sinéad O'Connor that predates her own debut album by a year. Bono and The Edge wrote the song "She's a Mystery to Me" for Roy Orbison, which was featured on his 1989 album Mystery Girl.[176] In 1990, Bono and The Edge provided the soundtrack to Royal Shakespeare Company London stage version of A Clockwork Orange (only one track was ever released, on the b-side to "The Fly" single). That same year, Mullen co-wrote and produced a song for the Irish International soccer team in Italia '90, called "Put 'Em Under Pressure", which topped the Irish charts. Together with The Edge, Bono wrote the song "GoldenEye" for the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye, which was performed by Tina Turner.[177] Clayton and Mullen reworked the title track of the movie Mission: Impossible in 1996.[178] Bono loaned his voice to "Joy" on Mick Jagger's 2001 album Goddess in the Doorway.[179] Bono also recorded a spare, nearly spoken-word version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" for the Tower of Song compilation in 1995. Additionally, in 1998, Bono collaborated with Kirk Franklin and Crystal Lewis (along with controversial mainstream artists R. Kelly and Mary J. Blige) for a successful gospel song called "Lean on Me".

Aside from musical collaborations, U2 have worked with several authors. American author William S. Burroughs had a guest appearance in U2's video for "Last Night on Earth" shortly before he died.[180] His poem "A Thanksgiving Prayer" was used as video footage during the band's Zoo TV Tour. Other collaborators include William Gibson and Allen Ginsberg.[181] In early 2000, the band recorded three songs for The Million Dollar Hotel movie soundtrack, including "The Ground Beneath Her Feet", which was co-written by Salman Rushdie and motivated by his book of the same name.[182]

In 2007 Bono appeared in the movie Across the Universe and performed The Beatles songs. Bono and The Edge also wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Additionally, The Edge created the theme song for Season 1 and 2 of the animated television series The Batman.[183]
[edit]
Legacy
Main article: List of awards received by U2

Rolling Stone ranked The Edge and Bono among the greatest guitarists and singers, respectively.

U2 first received Grammy Awards for The Joshua Tree in 1988, and have won 22 in total, from 34 nominations, more than any other band.[184] These include Best Rock Duo or Group, Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Rock Album. The British Phonographic Industry has awarded U2 seven BRIT Awards, five of these being for Best International Group. In Ireland, U2 have won 14 Meteor Awards since the awards began in 2001. Other awards include one AMA, four VMAs, ten Q Awards, two Juno Awards, three NME Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. The band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in early 2005.[111] In 2006, all four members of the band received ASCAP awards for writing the songs, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", and "Vertigo".[185]

U2 have sold more than 150 million records, placing them amongst the best-selling music artists of all-time.[186] The Joshua Tree ranks as one of the best-selling albums in the US, having shipped 10 million units,[187] and it is also among the best-selling albums worldwide with sales of 25 million copies.[188] Rolling Stone ranked U2 at number 22 in its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time",[3] while ranking Bono the 32nd greatest singer[189] and The Edge the 24th greatest guitarist.[190] In 2010, eight of U2's songs appeared on Rolling Stone's updated list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", with "One" ranking the highest at number 36.[191] Five of the group's twelve studio albums were ranked on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"—The Joshua Tree placed the highest at number 26.[64]
[edit]
Discography
Main articles: U2 discography and List of U2 songs
Boy (1980)
October (1981)
War (1983)
The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
The Joshua Tree (1987)
Rattle and Hum (1988)
Achtung Baby (1991)
Zooropa (1993)
Pop (1997)
All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)
No Line on the Horizon (2009)
[edit]
References
Footnotes
^ Paul McGuinness. (1998). Classic Albums: The Joshua Tree. [Television documentary]. Rajon Vision.
^ Rolling Stone (1994), p. xx
^ a b Martin, Chris (15 April 2004). "The Immortals: The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time: U2". Rolling Stone (946).
^ McCormick (2006), p. 27
^ Chatterton (2001), p. 130
^ McCormick (2006), p. 30
^ McCormick (2006), pp. 35, 40
^ McCormick (2008), p. 37
^ McCormick (2006), pp. 46–47
^ de la Parra (2003), p. 6
^ a b McCormick (2006), pp. 46–48
^ McCormick (2006), p. 44
^ Wall (2005), p. 45
^ McCormick (2006), pp. 53–56
^ de la Parra (2003), p. 8
^ de la Parra (2003), p. 10
^ Stokes (1996), p. 142; McCormick (2006), p. 88
^ Stokes (1996), p. 142
^ Lynch, Declan (11 October 1980). "Review of Boy". Hot Press.; Marley, Paul (25 October 1980). "Boy's Own Weepies". NME.; Browning, Boo (27 February 1981). "U2: Aiming for Number 1". Washington Post.
^ Henke, James (19 February 1981). "U2: Here Comes the "Next Big Thing"". Rolling Stone (337).
^ de la Parra (2003), pp. 16, 17
^ "Voice of Influential U2 Frontman". BBC. 23 December 2006. Retrieved 6 September 2007.
^ McCormick, Neil (2008). Album notes for October by U2 [Remastered deluxe edition CD booklet]. Island Records (B0010948-02).; McGee (2008), p.
^ Flanagan (1995), pp. 46–48
^ "U2 lyrics returned after 23 years". BBC News. 22 October 2004. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
^ McCormick (2006), p. 120
^ Stokes (1996), p. 36
^ Reynolds (2006), p. 367
^ Graham (2004), p. 14
^ McCormick (2006), p. 135
^ McCormick (2006), p. 127
^ "New Year's Day" reached number ten on the UK charts and received extensive radio coverage in the US, almost breaking that country's Top 50. (McCormick (2006), p. 139); "Songfacts: New Year's Day by U2". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 6 September 2007.
^ Block, Adam (1 May 1989). "Bono Bites Back". MotherJones. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
^ "Net Music Countdown: U2". netmusiccountdown.com. Retrieved 6 September 2007.
^ a b Connelly, Christopher (14 March 1985). "Keeping the Faith". Rolling Stone (443).
^ a b McCormick (2006), p. 147
^ a b c d de la Parra (2003), pp. 52–55
^ a b c d e Pond, Steve (9 April 1987). "Review: The Joshua Tree". Rolling Stone (497).
^ Graham (2004), p. 21
^ Island Records boss Chris Blackwell initially tried to discourage them from their choice of producers, believing that just when the band were about to achieve the highest levels of success, Eno would "bury them under a layer of avant-garde nonsense". (McCormick (2006), p. 151)
^ Stokes (1996), pp. 50–51
^ McCormick (2006), p. 151
^ Graham, (2004), pp. 23–24
^ Stokes (1996), p. 55
^ de la Parra (2003), pp. 62–63
^ Rolling Stone, which was critical of the album version of "Bad", described its live performance as a 'show stopper'. Henke, James (18 July 1985). "Review: Wide Awake in America". Rolling Stone (452–453).
^ Kaufman, Gil (29 June 2005). "Live Aid: A Look Back At A Concert That Actually Changed The World". MTV.com. MTV Networks. Retrieved 31 October 2006.
^ McCormick (2006), p. 164
^ de la Parra (2003), pp. 72–73
^ Rolling Stone (1994), pp. 68–69
^ McCormick (2006), pp. 169, 177
^ McCormick (2006), p. 179
^ so named as a "tribute" to, rather than a "metaphor" for, America (McCormick (2006), p. 186)
^ DeCurtis, Anthony (26 March 1987). "U2 Releases The Joshua Tree". Rolling Stone (496).
^ McCormick (2006), p. 174
^ Dalton, Stephen (8 September 2003). "How the West Was Won". Uncut.
^ Stokes (1996), p. 72
^ McCormick (2006), p. 186
^ Graham (2004), pp. 27–30
^ King, Philip, and Nuala O'Connor (directors). (1999). Classic Albums: U2 - The Joshua Tree. [Television documentary]. Isis Productions.; McCormick (2006), p. 186
^ The Beatles, The Band, and The Who were the first three.
^ "Rock's Hottest Ticket" Time Archive, April 1987. Retrieved on 20 January 2007.
^ Grammy Award for Album of the Year and a Grammy for the Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal. Grammy Winners List grammy.com. Retrieved 4 December 2006.
^ a b c d "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone (937). 11 December 2003.
^ de la Parra (2003), pp. 102–103, 111
^ Stokes (1996), p. 78; Graham (2004), pp. 36–38
^ Rattle and Hum review. Allmusic.com. Retrieved 3 November 2006; Christgau, Robert. "Rattle and Hum. robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 3 November 2006.
^ Rolling Stone (1994), p. xxiii
^ Rolling Stone (1994), p. xxiv
^ Fricke, David (1 October 1992). "U2's Serious Fun". Rolling Stone (640). Retrieved 26 April 2010.
^ McCormick (2006), p. 213; "A Story of One" [Video documentary].
^ Eno, Brian (28 November 1991). "Bringing Up Baby". Rolling Stone (618).
^ Flanagan (1995), pp. 4–6; Graham (2004), p. 43
^ Flanagan (1995), p. 7
^ Flanagan (1995), pp. 6–11
^ Flanagan (1995), p. 30; Graham (2004), p. 49; Stokes (1996), p. 102
^ a b c Dalton, Stephen (26 October 2004). "Achtung Stations (Part 1)". Uncut.
^ Graham (2004), p. 44
^ Tyaransen, Olaf (2002-12-04). "Closer to the Edge". Hot Press.
^ de la Parra (2003), pp. 139–141; Flanagan (1995), pp. 12, 13, 58–61; Stokes (1996), pp. 110–111
^ McGee (2008), p. 143
^ Light, Alan (1993-03-04). "Bono: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone (651).
^ Deevoy, Adrian (1993-09). "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night". Q.
^ de la Parra (2003), pp. 153, 166
^ Graham (2004), p. 51
^ de la Parra (2003), pp. 166–172
^ Sullivan, Jim (7 November 1995). "Eno, U2 Make An 'Original'". Boston Globe.
^ McCormick (2006), pp. 261–262
^ McCormick (2006), p. 269
^ Graham (2004), pp. 62–63
^ "Pop: Kitsch of Distinction". NME. 1 March 1997.; Smith, Andrew (23 March 1997). "Pop". The Sunday Times.
^ Hoskyns, Barney (20 March 1997). "Review: Pop". Rolling Stone (756).
^ Mueller, Andrew (May 2004). "U2's "Pop" Reconsidered". Uncut Legends 1 (3). Retrieved 18 June 2010.; Dentler, Matt (30 October 2000). "U2 makes album world is waiting for". The Daily Texan.; Breimeier, Russ. "The Best of 1990–2000 – U2". Christianity Today. The Fish. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
^ "U2 Set to Re-Record Pop". Contactmusic.com. Retrieved 31 October 2006.
^ Carter, Geoff (27 April 1997). "U2 live: Play-by-play of the concert". The Las Vegas Sun.; Anderson, Kyle (4 October 2006). U2, Brute? spin.com. Retrieved on 29 December 2006.
^ de la Parra (2003), pp. 193–202
^ a b Rock On The Net: U2 rockonthenet.com. Retrieved 31 October 2006.
^ U asked U2! msn.com. Retrieved 15 January 2007; Furthermore, Bono described the show as "one of the toughest and one of the sweetest nights of my life". (Bono in Conversation. The Independent (26 September 1997). Retrieved 15 January 2007.
^ "U2 And Homer Share Stage In "Simpsons" 200th Episode". MTV. 14 August 1997. Retrieved 9 May 2008.
^ Tyrangiel, Josh (23 February 2002). "Bono's Mission". Time. Retrieved 10 March 2007.
^ McCormick (2006), pp. 289, 296
^ Time to Get the Leathers Out. Guardian.co.uk (27 October 2000). Retrieved on 31 October 2006
^ Hunter, James (9 November 2000). "Review: All That You Can't Leave Behind". Rolling Stone (853).
^ The Rock Radio: U2 biography. therockradio.com. Retrieved 31 October 2006.
^ McCormick (2006), pp. 308–309
^ VH1: All Access: U2. [Television documentary]. 2005.; McCormick (2006), p. 309
^ de la Parra (2003), p. 268
^ "Top 10 Super Bowl Halftime shows". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
^ a b Wenner, Jann S. (3 November 2005). "Bono on the Records". Rolling Stone (986).
^ Waddell, Ray (13 December 2005). U2's Vertigo Leads Year's Top Tours. Billboard. Retrieved 31 October 2006.
^ a b "U2 stars enter rock Hall of Fame". BBC News (BBC). 15 March 2005. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
^ McConnell, Daniel (6 August 2006). "U2 move their rock empire out of Ireland". The Independent. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
^ a b O'Brien, Fergal (15 October 2006). "Bono, Preacher on Poverty, Tarnishes Halo With Irish Tax Move". Bloomberg. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
^ Hyde, Marina (9 December 2006). "They live like aristocrats. Now they think like them". The Guardian (Guardian Media Group). Retrieved 18 June 2010.
^ "U2 reject tax avoidance claims". Belfast Telegraph. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 26 February 2009.
^ Thelwell, Emma (31 March 2008). "U2 ties knot with Live Nation deal". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
^ Hiatt, Brian (2009-04-05). "Taking care of business". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 2009-10-23. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
^ Boyd, Brian (2009-02-27). "The background: making No Line on the Horizon". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 2009-10-23. Retrieved 2009-02-28. Note: subscription required.
^ "New U2 album is No. 1 in 30 countries". Reuters. 2009-03-11. Archived from the original on 2009-10-23. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
^ Michaels, Sean (2009-10-26). "U2's Bono disappointed with latest album sales". The Guardian (London). Archived from the original on 2010-04-29. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
^ "Paul McGuiness on U2's World Tour". Hot Press. 4 March 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
^ Waddell, Ray (6 March 2009). "U2 to 'Kiss the Future' on Global Stadium Tour". Billboard. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
^ Kreps, Daniel (23 November 2009). "U2 to headline 2010 Glastonbury Festival on 25 June". Rolling Stone.
^ "U2 announce return to the stage in homemade video". Rolling Stone. 13 July 2010. Archived from the original on 13 July 2010.
^ "The Voices: Artists of the Decade". Rolling Stone (1094–1095). 24 December 2009 – 7 January 2010.
^ "Top Touring Artists of the Decade". Billboard. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
^ a b Peake, Steve. "Top 10 U2 Songs of the '80s". About.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
^ Fricke, David (30 December 2004). "U2 Drops Bomb". Rolling Stone (964).
^ Gulla (2009), p. 64
^ a b Hutchinson, John (September 1986). "U2's Leading Edge". Musician (95): 33. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
^ Maione, Marylinn (12 February 2006). "Column: off the record..., vol. 6–201". atu2.com. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
^ Reynolds (2006), p. 368
^ Considine, J.D. (20 January 1983). "Review: War". Rolling Stone (387).
^ Gardner, Elysa (1992-01-09). "Review: Achtung Baby". Rolling Stone (621). Retrieved 2010-04-26.
^ a b Pareles, Jon (28 April 1997). "Under A Golden Arch, Sincerely U2". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
^ Pareles, Jon (14 November 2004). "U2: The Catharsis in the Cathedral". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
^ McCormick (2006), pp. 135, 139
^ McGee (2008), p. 98
^ "U2 – How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb Review". Uncut. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
^ Plotz, David (25 January 2002). "The soaring nothingness of U2". Slate. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
^ McCormick (2006), p. 113
^ "Clash Star Strummer Dies". BBC News (BBC). 27 December 2002. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
^ Bono (April 2001). "Eulogy: Bono Remembers Joey Ramone". Time. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
^ "Saint Bono". The Age. 26 July 2003. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
^ NewOrderStory [DVD]. Warner Bros., 2005.
^ McCormick (2006), p. 56, 58, 96
^ Bono (15 April 2004). "The Immortals – The Greatest Artists of All Time: Elvis Presley". Rolling Stone.
^ Werner, Jann (3 November 2005). "Bono – The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone.
^ Bayles (1994), p. 321
^ "Van Morrison: Induction year 1993". rockhall.com. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
^ Thomas, Stephen. "Radiohead". AllMusic. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
^ Carrie Allison (20 June 2005). "Snow Patrol Talks Opening For U2 and New Album". Retrieved 7 May 2009.
^ Gitlin, Lauren (10 August 2006). "Enter the Fray". Rolling Stone.
^ Musicians. OneRepublic's AmIAnnoying.com. Retrieved on 8 February 2008.
^ "The Fortieth Anniversary". Rolling Stone (1025–1026). 3–17 May 2007.
^ [1] This Allure – InReview.net
^ "The Academy Is... | Related Music Artist | Discover New Music | MTV". MTV. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
^ "Music Under Fire: MUF Interviews Your Vegas". Musicunderfire.com. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
^ NME's 10 Most Influential Bands/Artists. NME Magazine, 2002; Chan, Alvin. Angels & Airwaves – Between the Blinks. musicOMH.com June 2006. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
^ McCormick (2006), pp. 39, 113, 343
^ Tyrangiel, Josh (4 March 2002). Bono. Time. Retrieved 16 January 2007; McCormick (2006), p. 289
^ McCormick (2006), p. 238
^ McCormick (2006), p. 262
^ McCormick (2006), p. 277
^ McCormick (2006), pp. 285–286
^ McCormick (2006), pp. 295–296
^ Ambassador of Conscience Award: 2005 Award Ceremony. artforamnesty.org. Retrieved 5 February 2007.
^ Brown, Aaron (24 May 2002). "CNN Access: Bono backs 'effective aid' for Africa". CNN.com. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.. Retrieved 18 June 2010.; Bono and O'Neill in Africa: Summing up the trip CNN.com. Retrieved 31 October 2006; Bono wins Chirac aid boost pledge. CNN.com, 21 June 2002. Retrieved 31 October 2006.
^ The Edge (U2) Announces 'Music Rising', a Campaign to Aid Musicians Affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita modernguitars.com. Retrieved 16 January 2007.
^ Hiatt, Brian (25 September 2006). "U2, Green Day Unite". Rolling Stone.
^ O'Keefe, Derrick (23 March 2005). "The Empire Moves and Co-opts in Mysterious Ways". CounterPunch. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
^ Browne, Harry (16 May 2006). "RED Light District: Bono's Independent". CounterPunch. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
^ Stossel, John and Patrick McMenamin (12 May 2006). "Will More Foreign Aid End Global Poverty?". Retrieved 19 January 2008.; and "Bono aid is making Africa sick". The Sunday Times. 1 January 2006. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
^ Richard Murphy, "Bono's Choice", http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2006/08/20/100/
^ McCormick (2006), p. 169
^ McCormick (2006), p. 211
^ de la Parra (2003), p. 141
^ de la Parra (2003), p. 132
^ Wenner, Jann S. (6 December 2001). "Review: Goddess In The Doorway". Rolling Stone (883–884).
^ Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch to release documentary about Beat writer William S Burroughs - video NME. Retrieved on 22 November 2010
^ Pancella, Angela. U2 Connections: William Gibson. atu2.com. Retrieved on 25 January 2008; American Masters: Allen Ginsberg PBS.com. Retrieved on 25 January 2008.
^ Salman Rushdie's Words Become U2 Lyrics CNN.com (22 January 1999). Retrieved on 25 January 2008.
^ Pompeo, Joe (3 March 2009). Gossip Girl Sings! Sonic Youth Returns! And Where's Your Famous Blue Raincoat? (HTML). The New York Observer. The New York Observer, LLC. Retrieved on 8 March 2009
^ Kilgore, Kym (31 March 2008). "U2 signs on with Live Nation". LiveDaily. Retrieved 11 September 2008.; Grammy Winners List grammy.com. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
^ Hewson, Clayton, Evans, Mullen, U2 Band members (2006, 2008). "Song of the Year 2006". Blue Mountain Music Ltd. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
^ Beech, March (21 May 2010). "U2 Singer Bono Has Emergency Back Surgery Before Tour". Bloomberg L.P.. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
^ "Gold & Platinum". RIAA. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
^ Sherwin, Adam (2009-03-03). "New U2 album No Line On The Horizon given lukewarm reception". The Times. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
^ "100 Greatest Singers of All Time – #32: Bono". Rolling Stone (1066). 2008-11-27. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
^ "100 Greatest Guitarists – #24: The Edge". Rolling Stone. 2008-11-27. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
^ "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone (Special collectors edition). 2010.
Bibliography
Bayles, Martha (1994). Hole in Our Soul: Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0029019621.
Chatterton, Mark (2001). U2: The Complete Encyclopedia. London: Firefly Publishing. ISBN 0-946719-41-1.
de la Parra, Pimm Jal (2003). U2 Live: A Concert Documentary (Updated ed.). London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-9198-7.
Flanagan, Bill (1995). U2 at the End of the World. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-385-31154-0.
Rolling Stone (1994). U2: The Ultimate Compendium of Interviews, Articles, Facts and Opinions from the Files of Rolling Stone. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-283-06239-8.
Graham, Bill; van Oosten de Boer, Caroline (2004). U2: The Complete Guide to Their Music. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-9886-8.
Gulla, Bob (2009). Guitar Gods: The 25 Players Who Made Rock History. Westport: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-35806-7.
McGee, Matt (2008). U2: A Diary. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1-84772-108-2.
Reynolds, Simon (2006). Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-303672-6.
Stokes, Niall (1996). Into The Heart: The Stories Behind Every U2 Song. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-719668-7.
U2 (2006). McCormick, Neil. ed. U2 by U2. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-719668-7.
Wall, Mick (2005). Bono: Saint & Sinner. London: Andre Deutsch Publishers. ISBN 0233001239.

Debt relief
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010)


Debt relief is the partial or total forgiveness of debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by individuals, corporations, or nations. Traditionally, from antiquity through the 19th century, it refers to domestic debts, particularly agricultural debts and freeing of debt slaves. In the late 20th century it came to refer primarily to Third World debt, which started exploding with the Latin American debt crisis (Mexico 1982, etc.). In the early 21st century, it is of increased applicability to individuals in developed countries, due to credit bubbles and housing bubbles.Contents [hide]
1 International debt relief
1.1 War reparations
1.2 Third world debt
1.3 Arguments against debt relief
2 Personal debt relief
2.1 Origins
2.2 Contemporary
2.2.1 Tax treatment
3 Bankruptcy and non-recourse loans
4 Alternatives
4.1 Historical
4.2 Contemporary
5 Inflation
6 Debt relief in art
7 References
8 See also

[edit]
International debt relief
[edit]
War reparations

In the mid-20th century, the 1953 Agreement on German External Debts, which substantially reduced German's war reparations, was a notable example of international debt relief. Part of the reasoning was that German's World War I reparations were deeply resented in Germany, and credited internationally as a cause of World War II, and thus debt relief helped reconciliation and peace in Europe.
[edit]
Third world debt

Debt relief for heavily indebted and underdeveloped developing countries was the subject in the 1990s of a campaign by a broad coalition of development NGOs, Christian organizations and others, under the banner of Jubilee 2000. This campaign, involving, for example, demonstrations at the 1998 G8 meeting in Birmingham, was successful in pushing debt relief onto the agenda of Western governments and international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Ultimately the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative was launched to provide systematic debt relief for the poorest countries, whilst trying to ensure the money would be spent on poverty reduction.

The HIPC programme has been subject to conditionalities similar to those often attached to IMF and World Bank loans, requiring structural adjustment reforms, sometimes including the privatisation of public utilities, including water and electricity. To qualify for irrevocable debt relief, countries must also maintain macroeconomic stability and implement a Poverty Reduction Strategy satisfactorily for at least one year. Under the goal of reducing inflation, some countries have been pressured to reduce spending in the health and education sectors.

The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) is an extension of HIPC. The MDRI was agreed following the G8's Gleneagles meeting in July 2005. It offers 100% cancellation of multilateral debts owed by HIPC countries to the World Bank, IMF and African Development Bank.
[edit]
Arguments against debt relief

Opponents of debt relief argue that it is a blank cheque to governments, and fear savings will not reach the poor in countries plagued by corruption. Others argue that countries will go out and contract further debts, under the belief that these debts will also be forgiven in some future date. They use the money to enhance the wealth and spending ability of the rich, many of whom will spend or invest this money in the rich countries, thus not even creating a trickle-down effect. They argue that the money would be far better spent in specific aid projects which actually help the poor. They further argue that it would be unfair to third-world countries that managed their credit successfully, or don't go into debt in the first place, that is, it actively encourages third world governments to overspend in order to receive debt relief in the future. Others argue against the conditionalities attached to debt relief. These conditions of structural adjustment have a history, especially in Latin America, of widening the gap between the rich and the poor, as well as increasing economic dependence on the global North.[citation needed]
[edit]
Personal debt relief
[edit]
Origins

Debt relief existed in a number of ancient societies:
Debt forgiveness is mentioned in the Book of Leviticus, in which God councils Moses to forgive debts in certain cases every Jubilee year – at the end of Shmita, the last year of the seven year agricultural cycle or a 49-year cycle, depending on interpretation.
This same theme was found in an ancient bilingual Hittite-Hurrian text entitled "The Song of Debt Release".[1]
Debt forgiveness was also found in Ancient Athens, where in the 6th century BCE, the lawmaker Solon instituted a set of laws called seisachtheia, which canceled all debts and retroactively canceled previous debts that had caused slavery and serfdom, freeing debt slaves and debt serfs.
Additionally, the Qur'an supports debt forgiveness for those who are genuinely unable to pay. The injunction is as follows:
If the debtor is in difficulty, grant him time till it is easy for him to repay. But if ye remit it by way of charity, that is best for you if ye only knew.
—Qur'an 2:280 [1]
[edit]
Contemporary

Personal debt has become an increasingly large problem in many developed countries in recent years, due to credit bubbles. For instance, it is estimated that the average US household has $19,000 in non-mortgage debt. With such large debt loads, many individuals have difficulty making repayments on debts and are in need of help.

There are many companies who offer debt consolidation services. However, such services may not always be in the best interests of the person involved and may involve taking out a loan secured by a person's home. Marketing materials are designed to persuade customers to take up the company's offer rather than offering a personal best solution for reducing debt. Where debt has become a problem, it is often best to turn to an independent consumer's association for advice before calling debt consolidation companies as consumer's associations often have great experience with such problems and may be able to advise the most effective avenues for debt relief- for the price.

As long as some form of Chapter 7 bankruptcy debt relief exists within American law, the credit card companies must pay attention, and do as much as they can to help their clients repay debts through relatively traditional means (depending upon the service those clients have entered). Even leaving bankruptcy aside, it is in the best interest of credit card companies that their debtors at least feel some motivation to continue repaying their accounts and not simply disappear or view those ever growing balances as untouchable.
[edit]
Tax treatment

In US tax law, debt forgiven is treated as income, as it reduces a liability, increasing the taxpayer's net worth. In the context of the bursting of the United States housing bubble, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 provides that debt forgiven on a primary residence is not treated as income, for debts forgiven in the 3-year period 2007–2009. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 extended this by 3 years to the 6-year period 2007–2012.
[edit]
Bankruptcy and non-recourse loans
Main articles: Bankruptcy and Non-recourse loan

The primary mechanism of debt relief in modern societies is bankruptcy, where a debtor who cannot or chooses not to pay their debts files for bankruptcy and renegotiates their debts, or a creditor initiates this. As part of debt restructuring, the terms of the debt are modified, which may involve the debt owed being reduced. In case the debtor chooses bankruptcy despite being able to service the debt, this is called strategic bankruptcy.

Certain debts can be defaulted on without a general bankruptcy; these are non-recourse loans, most notably mortgages in common law jurisdictions such as the United States. Choosing to default on such a loan despite being able to service it is called strategic default.
[edit]
Alternatives
[edit]
Historical

The sick men's ward at Marshalsea debtors' prison.

If a debt cannot be or is not repaid, alternatives which were common historically but are now rare include debt bondage – including debt peonage: being bound until the debt is repaid; and debt slavery, when the debt is so great (or labor valued so low) that the debt will never be repaid – and debtors' prison.

Debt slavery can persist across generations, future generations being made to work to pay off debts incurred by past generations. Debt bondage is today considered a form of "modern day slavery" in international law,[2] and banned as such, in Article 1(a) of the United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery. Nevertheless, the practice continues in some nations. In most developed nations, debts cannot be inherited.

Debtors' prison has been largely abolished, but remains in some forms in the US, for example if one fails to make child support payments.
[edit]
Contemporary

In debt restructuring, the existing debt is metaphorically torn up and replaced by new debt.

In modern times, the most common alternatives to debt relief in cases where debt cannot be paid are forbearance and debt restructuring. Forbearance meaning that interest payments (possibly including past due ones) are forgiven, so long as payments resume. No reduction of principal occurs, however.

In debt restructuring, an existing debt is replaced with a new debt. This may result in reduction of the principal (debt relief), or may simple change the terms of repayment, for instance by extending the term (replacing a debt repaid over 5 years with one repaid over 10 years), which allows the same principal to be amortized over a longer period, thus allowing smaller payments.

Personal debt that can be repaid from income but is not being repaid may be obtained via garnishment or attachment of earnings, which deduct debt service from wages.
[edit]
Inflation
Main article: Inflation This section requires expansion.


Inflation - the reduction in the nominal value of currency - reduces the real value of debts. While lenders take inflation into account when they decide the terms of a loan, unexpected increases in the rate of inflation cause categorical debt relief.

Inflation has been a contentious political issue on this basis, with debasement of currency a form of or alternative to sovereign default, and the free silver in late 19th century America being seen as a conflict between debtor farmers and creditor bankers.
[edit]
Debt relief in art

Debt relief plays a significant role in some artworks: in the play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, c. 1598, the heroine pleads for debt relief (forgiveness) on grounds of Christian mercy. In the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a primary political interpretation is that it treats free silver, which engenders inflation and hence reduces debts. In the 1999 film Fight Club (but not the novel on which it is based), the climactic event is the destruction of credit card records – dramatized as the destruction of skyscrapers – effecting debt relief.
[edit]
References
^ Harms, William (1996-02-01). "Linking ancient peoples". The University of Chicago Chronicle 15 (10). Retrieved 2009-02-26.
^ The Bondage of Debt: A Photo Essay, by Shilpi Gupta
[edit]
See also
Agreement on German External Debts
Anti-globalisation movement
Conditionality
International development
International Monetary Fund | World Bank
Survie NGO activist group against Third World debt
Odious debt
Third World debt
Jubilee USA Network
Eurodad