It's U2 revisited here at #106, just a few posts after we last saw them at card #101. This shot looks like it could be a candid of them sketching out a song at soundcheck or something, maybe something from the Rattle & Hum era. I bet there are U2 superfans out there who could identify the date of the photograph. I'm just glad all four guys fit into frame without much squeezing.
U2 - "Desire"
The band will later return once more in the UK edition, with 4 cards there, 3 of which feature different photos than we got in the US. This black and white shot at #106 is the lone "US exclusive" of the bunch.
I recently watched Bono: Stories of Surrender, a film of Bono's stage show based on his memoir. It touches on his upbringing and how the band formed and that kind of stuff, along with stripped-down performances of a few U2 songs without the other guys.
trailer
Other than that, I don't have much to mention in addition to our previous U2 post. But hey, I've got a 12-card U2 set that I could feature, so let's do that.
Glossy fronts, rounded corners, minimal design elements.. reminiscent of Mothers cards we baseball card collectors are familiar with, but a bit bigger.
Best I can recall, I got this set a few years back in an eBay lot where I was primarily interested in the other part of the lot (MusiCards promos or something? I can't remember), but the oddball U2 set was a nice bonus. I assumed it was something common, but now I'm having trouble finding it on TCDB, or even finding other examples on eBay or COMC.
MusiCard for scale. The backs are identical besides the x/12 numbering up top, all featuring a 1990 calendar in Portuguese, with "U2 Rattle and Hum" at the bottom. So my best guess puts this as a late 1989 promotional release for the Rattle and Hum film/album, specifically for Brazil or Portugal. Or maybe this was a Broder-type unofficial thing? (No copyright is sus.) Weird. Welp, feel free to speak up in the comments if you can shed any light on these Portuguese Rattle & Hum cards, or whatever else you'd like to comment about.
Ha, I was listening to the new Haim album as I was drafting this, and it was a trip when the closing song "Now it's time" came on, as it borrows heavily from U2's "Numb".
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.
U2 - "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
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
U2 - "A Day Without Me" (--not actually "Landslide in my Ego", as I first knew it as.)
Eventually I built up a better U2 library in my collection and learned the real names to their older songs. I loved all that stuff, though when 1997's Pop came out-- or more specifically the lead single "Discothèque"-- it didn't jive with me at all, and I never really picked up my fandom back to the level it was at before that.
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!
