The sound that introduced the world to U2 became the signature sound of the band. The Edge has been quoted as saying notes are “expensive” and using them sparsley and ones that are best suited for each song. The Edge gave us that echoed, jangly chords that repeat and change only slightly as to not over-flourish the sound.
U2’s debut album, ‘Boy’, came out in 1980 and it’s second single, “I Will Follow” became a hot all over the world. The lyrics were written by Bono as a tribute to his mother, who passed away when he was 14.
The song holds the distiction as the ONLY song U2 has played live on every tour since the first album.
The 1981 single went to #20 on the U.S. Billboard Top Tracks chart, and the live version from ‘Under A Blood Red Sky’ in 1983, hit the U.S. Hot 100, but only peaking at #81. It was a favorite video on MTV though and pretty heavy rotation.
This is STILL one of my Top 10 favorite songs from the band as it was the beginning of a legendaray career that continues to this day.
