U2 makes their first appearance in the 1991 MusiCards set huddled together outdoors on card #101. Checklist shenanigans are afoot here, as U2 gets another card at #106, with four unrelated acts between them.
Spoiler alert, but this part of the checklist (again, more or less alphabetical) looks like this:
#99 Tina Turner
#100 Tina Turner
#101 U2
#102 UB40
#103 Jody Watley
#104 Karyn White
#105 Paul Young
#106 U2 <--- End of "pop" section
#107 Al B. Sure <--- Start of "R&B/rap" section
#108 Al B. Sure
Perhaps there was another artist down at the end of the alphabet meant to have card #106 that had to be swapped out for some reason and so U2 filled in? (I'd like to believe Frank Zappa was penciled in there, LOL.) More likely is the guy at Pro Set in charge of correlating the set screwed up when assigning numbers again, like with the whole "Card #90" debacle. The janky order isn't really a big deal, of course; just something slightly interesting to point out as we make our way through the set.
Partially since I've again procrastinated until the last day of the month for the blog's monthly post, I think I'm going to keep the second U2 card in sequence and save it for later.
After a very slanted front photo, looks like The Edge got cropped out of the back shot. The second card, #106, doesn't even have a back photo, but rather just a big text "U2" in that space, so perhaps Pro Set was working with a limited number of band photos to choose from here, or simply had trouble fitting the four guys into the design. The blurb jumps right into lauding Joshua Tree, then lists the fellas, divulging the oh-so-secret real names of Bono and The Edge in the process.
The Joshua Tree has in fact endured as the band's peak, as far as critical and commercial success, though they've put together an incredible body of work. It's amazing that they're still together with all the original members to this day. There can't be many other rock bands out there who've remained active for decades with no major lineup changes. It's my understanding that the guys split the money evenly, which must help with the longevity.
I was a little too young to be fully present for the Joshua Tree era, but Achtung Baby (1991) and Zooropa (1993) were right in my wheelhouse. I owned those CDs and loved them. I even had an Achtung Baby t-shirt that I rocked in high school, though I never saw them live.
When I was first getting into the band, circa 1990, I made dubbed cassettes of their early albums I borrowed on tape from my cousin. Copies of copies, I didn't even have song titles and had to make up tracklistings based on my best guesses from the lyrics. LOL
But yeah, what a run to begin their career:
Boy (1980)
October (1981)
War (1983)
The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
The Joshua Tree (1987)
Rattle and Hum (1988)
Achtung Baby (1991)
Zooropa (1993)
Those all get a thumbs up from me. Bono can get on your nerves sometimes, sure, but you gotta admit U2 had something special going there.
Welp, I gotta run, but for more U2 info, here's the link to their main Wikipedia page. And we'll circle back to them again soon at card #106.
Are you a U2 fan? Favorite songs of theirs? Let me know in the comments. Thanks!
This set is probably one of the most underrated sets of all time. Great Card
ReplyDeleteBig fan. I’ve seen them live six times and would go again. It started with War for me but I think October might be my favorite album of theirs. First time I saw them was the first leg of the j tree tour at the LA sports arena. Lone justice opened and later Bob Dylan came out to play knockin on heaven’s door. So many great memories for which U2 is part of the soundtrack.
ReplyDeleteWas 100 percent a fan in the '80s and early '90s. Started with "Unforgettable Fire," which I heard on a British radio program that a local radio station aired once a week. I bought all their LPs (and then cassettes and CDs) until "Pop" and then picked it up again for "All That You Can't Leave Behind" and "How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." It's difficult to explain how huge they were in 1987.
ReplyDeleteStreets with no name and their collobration with BB King are my favorites. My brother saw them in Portland for $9.38 at a KGON concert when they were just starting. Bonos briefcase with the lyrics for WAR were stolen in Portland when they doing at show at a tavern that no longer exists.
ReplyDeleteUnlikely that Zappa was supposed to be in the set, but ZZ Top makes perfect sense. Which totally fits with something you wrote here: ZZ Top was together for 51 years with no lineup changes, until the death of Dusty Hill in 2021. I think U2 needs about 5 years to catch that record, although of course they have one more member which makes it more impressive. For a 4 member group I think U2 has already passed the Four Tops who had the same members from 1953 until the death of Lawrence Payton in 1997. (Obviously putting "Top" in a band name is very helpful in keeping it together!)
ReplyDeleteI was never that big a U2 fan, although I certainly respect them. Never saw them live. I think I'd pick "Sweetest Thing" as my favorite by them.
I was a huge fan of U2 back in the 80's and 90's. I'd probably put them somewhere in my Top 20 list... with an outside chance of cracking the Top 10. Stopped buying albums after Zooropa (wasn't a big fan of that album). But I liked all of their previous albums. I did like Beautiful Day though.
ReplyDeleteFavorites? In God's Country, New Year's Day, With or Without You, and Sunday Bloody Sunday