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From: U2rock55
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  • Gli U2 che conosco.....

  • I count three guitars - at once! The Edge is amazing!

  • riposa in pace Ian <3

  • Timeless and amazing this song is

  • ciao ian r.i.p

  • a song from they´re first album

  • This song oozes pure energy. Fantastic!

  • the Edge was 19 years old when he made this...what a smart fella

  • I really wish U2 would make an album like this again :( A true return to their roots even just one album! Boy, October, War, Joshua Tree!! Love the old stuff.. The new recent stuff isnt bad but it's not real U2.. Money isnt an issue here cause we all know they can make a Album that tanks commercially and they will all still be filthy rich!! Duran Duran recently did this with ALL you need is now... That album is fantastic a time trip to the early 80's Duran Duran sound.. Like to see U2 do this...

  • reminds me of flock of seagulls ...

  • Just putting together the 'bones' of a novel where a suicide is discovered in he first few pages. I've just moved from the trailer of 'Control' where we see the 'Atmosphere' track played as Curtis's his wife comes running out of the house; very well done and it's influenced me in some of the writing. This LP (their first still stand up there with all what they've done. Witness a track done from this LP or was it their first single? 'Out of Control'? done at Glastonbury. As good as ever.

  • Bono is a raving right wing loopy hypocrit avoiding paying his tax`s does he think he can take it all with him when he dies. He talks about eradicating poverty, helping the poor etc what an evil IRISH ARSE HOLE. wayne roony and many buisness men many pop stars should hold there heads in shame

  • @evilofisalm You do know that eradicating poverty and helping the poor are LEFT not RIGHT wing fundamentlas right? I see what you mean about right wing people not wanting to pay taxes though.

  • @lordisode And that includes the cast of u2 they are bigots

  • @evilofisalm Anyone who buys or downloads U2 music are being fooled. they are liars and thieves

  • @lordisode "You do know that eradicating poverty and helping the poor are LEFT not RIGHT wing fundamentlas right?"

    Not true. Just different approaches to the problem. Lefties believe the government should take on poverty by taxing the rich, social welfare programs, etc. Righties don't think the government should be involved in that; charity should be in the private sphere and done freely.

  • "I started a landslide in my ego............"

  • mais um classico da melhor banda dos ultimos tempos!!!!!!! isso é u2!!!!

  • Comment removed

  • how 80's does this song sound?? :P

  • the best part is 0:00 to 3:14

  • this is one of their best songs!! XD

  • U2 never equaled the greatness of their first album "Boy". After "The Joshua Tree" in 1987, they sucked.

  • This is the "Old U2" 1980 TO 1984 when they were raw... You can talk about Achtung Baby, Zooropa, Vertigo etc.. all you want. But nothing they have done is the last 21 years comes close to this and the stuff on October and War.. Nothing... Fantastic old fashioned back beat rythem..

  • @TheJasoncombee No way, joshua tree achtung baby are as good or better than the first albums... for me the best u2 is with achtung baby ..

  • @TheJasoncombee

    Thank you... EXACTLY!

  • @TheJasoncombee Two words... Miracle Drug. Boom, roasted.

  • @TheJasoncombee watch teh documentary "from the sky down" and you'll see why they changed the music. ;)

  • Unforgettable Ian.

  • i never really like u2 too much but i downloaded this album, goood stuff

  • I really liked this song too but... Im not too sure I like it much anymore....

  • OMG, AND I THOUGHT BEAUTIFUL DAY WAS BEAST!!! HOLY SHIT, THIS SONG IS THE SHIT!!!!!

  • niesamowite!!!!!! : )

  • is this song really about ian curtis's death?

  • @rickyisgould yes it is

  • @rickyisgould I have understanding that it was about a closer band's friend suicide (who unfourtunately did it). This actually inspired this song. Bono leved so sad about this that wrote this lirycs telling that friend (of unknow name) what would happend if he kills himself.

  • @rickyisgould the song, the original demo version, with the same lyrics and structure, was already recorded before Ian offed himself, - you can hear it here on youtube; it's not about Ian. However, they chose to make this the first song recorded during the Boy album sessions partly in honor of Ian, since the lyrics indirectly referred to suicide, and, they wanted to see how well Steve Lillywhite could capture their sonic vision of this superb composition.

  • 23 years old dead...r.i.p.

  • I'm not a U2 expert and only own "Boy", but I gotta say this song is one of my favorite songs by anyone ever. Great lyrics, great melody and a general sense of melancholy perfectly expressed. In my opinion, this record is one of the best and most unique debut albums in recorded history. 31 years later, there still isn't a band that sounds like these guys. Good on ya, U2.

  • R.I.P. Ian Curtis

  • @ChrisssThomas

    Was this song dedicated to him? I'm missing something.. lol. I love Ian and Joy Division (: RIP Ian (: xxxx

  • @HopeVJustice The recording of this song was in part respect to Ian, but U2 had already been playing this song live with the same lyrics and meaning since late 1979/early 1980, prior to Ian's death.

  • great song still after all these years - for me 29 years U2 Fan

  • I'm gonna start a landslide in my ego to and see what happens

  • A starting a landslide  in my ego.......... this song has won with the time, Now it follows beeing fantastic. Classic tune of boy!

  • One of the best songs ever!

  • What magical song. remember the happiness of childhood.

  • @emersontotalyconfuse Isn't this song about suicide...

  • @swissbird101 the song was made BEFORE that...

  • @swissbird101 I believe it's about Ian Curtis' suicide.

  • @selldeidre r.i.p. ian

  • @selldeidre Do you think so??? I have been the biggest Joy Division fan since the 1970's and never thought about what this song is about.

  • I love the lyrics of How to dismantle an atomic bomb, and the music of J.T. or War, but everytime I listen to Boy, I completely rediscover it. It's, with no doubt, one of their best albums.

  • man, of all the U2 albums I've listened to, this is the one which has grown on me the most. Doesn't have the immediacy of War, J.T., or Achtung baby, but its almost dream-like in terms of melodies. Great debut and a great song.

  • they sold out mostly at Joshua Tree

  • I hated it originally, still can't figure out why.

  • this f'in song rules... remember bono fuckin ruled when i was a boy and stayed f'in rock always.... u2 the whole band has been cool since i was 8 years old..ps f all raider haters

  • This is the U2 I knew and loved!!!! After Unforgettable Fire it was sell out city!! 

  • @generationx1966 No it wasn't.

  • Now this is better... new-wave-esque music. Because their latter songs plain sucks.

    War is probably their best album and Joshua Tree comes by a mile behind. The rest? Worst band ever.

  • the edge's guitar on the first 5 albums is like the sound of being a teenager

  • bpm+? ^^

  • Great song and voice! =)

  • I love this song! Even though I'm 16, I think the 80's were so awesome! U2 are GREAT!

  • @RedMist85 I'm too !

  • These guys were all just teenager kids when they were writing and playing these amazing songs, incredible when you think about it.

  • Edge and Larry were still 18 when they did this recording, Bono and Adam were 20, and the other crucial person, Steve Lillywhite, was 24/25.

  • 'As it goes , this song , 2nd to my all time favourite... Electric Co.... Being a teenager with this album... Great Days.'

  • The way The Edge uses the memory man analog delay here is just phenomenal *__* (......he's using those Korg digital ones too ....)

    This dude is an effin' guitar wizard *__*

  • Wow! Came out in 1980. I was my second year in college. Here in Chicago at that time there was only one alternative radio station and that was WXRT. They played all the goth, rockabilly, punk and new wave at the time. Now I am a 50 yr old man, at the time of this writing, yet it still brings me back to my younger days, doing the underground niteclubs (anyone remember Smart Bar on N Clark St?) and this blue polo shirt I had. Wow. Amazing. Feel young again. Thanks!

  • @jrfuent LOL...I know the feeling. Heard this and "I Will Follow" on WHFS in Washington, DC...the only station at the time playing "progressive." It was so new and different.

  • This song is about suicide ... not yet my favourite track. Very nice though.

  • i started a landslide ............. amazing havent heard this in years !!!

  • sounds like some 80s car chase song lol

  • I rubbed my clit to this boy

  • @Jackthemeat i still do ;)

  • @Jackthemeat You are bad to the bone!

  • How to dismantle an atomic bomb is their worst album, in my opinion. I like "War" their 3rd album, It is Dark, Mysterious, Heart Felt & Passionate! Very Dreamy, quite Surreal..

  • @DvD21mIL Totally disagree, 'Bomb is up there with their best albums.

    Pop And Zooropa sucked.

  • @KenfromDublin

    Pop and Zooropa in my opinion are their best albums

  • this song is a tribute to joy division's ian curtis, fitting tribute really

  • This album is 30 years old yet it's still fresh in my eyes. I love the early era of U2.

  • Damn gotta love that intro

  • Today's a day without me.....

  • ..and i'll "rediscover" them too. ;)

  • I really must go back and "re-discovver" U-2. I'm falling in love with this band all over again. Great track!

  • the intro is fantastic!

  • Ian Curtis will live forever.

  • Ian curtis for a life.........he was the best

  • Nobody like him...

  • That's great stuff, but better than Achtung?

    Stretches it a bit :)

  • This album and the second, October, are the best of U2.

  • Acrobat74, just to mention, people are talking about the character/soul/sound combination aspect of Boy/October as being more/most attractive.

  • I see your point but it's down to personal preference, isn't it.

    Peronally I prefer the darker soundscapes of Achtung to this youthful energy.

  • not sure if it stretches it too much.. AB has who's gonna ride your.. I can't even finish writing the name of it :-( this has An Cat Dubh, Electrico and Out of Control.. If they'd only let 11 o'clock on, it would still be up there with Achtung baby as their overall best in my opinion.

  • I'm starting a landslide in my ego

    Look from the outside to the world I left behind

    great song, great lyrics U2 is the greatest..

  • Boy is still the greatest of U2's albums,no thanks to Steve Lillywhite.I first saw them on The Tube in 1982 and was amazed.Then I heard their records and thought,this isn't as good as the live version.This was quite a change from groups of that era who's albums were good but they were rotten live.

  • look from th outside, to the world I left behind

  • This song is epic! Though all of Boy is :P One of my favourite U2 songs :)

  • I love Boy because it risks itself in all sorts of creative and unique ways. The result is something provocative, timeless, meaty, moving, thrilling... You never get a sense that the songs are just meandering around with nothing happening in them. My favorite U2 album, a notch above Joshua and Achtung. Every one of these songs just gets me every single time.

  • Wow, U2 actually sounded pretty (post) punk in their young years.

  • Very underrated in my opinion! I think they should play this live again.. why not on the 360° tour? If they can play Out of control, electric co, an cat dubh/into the heart and i will follow again, they can play this again too! I'd love to hear it again!!

  • Problem with it live is they depart greatly from the studio version, into substantially lower quality, unlike other of their songs, such as Electric Co. Check out the live guitar tribute video of this song on HarmonicsExplorer channel.

  • Still one of my favourite U2 songs of all time!!!

  • what ive heard of this band is amazing!

    r all of there cds/songs this good? please reply

  • yes they are take my word 4 it

  • Hey RedBlood1994!!!! Yep...U2 is amazing!!!! I've been a fan since 1983...and I guess I prefer their pre-1990's/2000's stuff...but...Everything You Can't Leave Behind is FANTASTIC, as is No Line on the Horizon!!! My favourite album is War! Welcome to the wotld of U2!!!...ENJOY!! :)

  • Well, depends on what you like. In my opinion, yes! Of course, they have bad songs too, but that's a matter of personal taste as well. Personally, I love all their albums. If I were you, I'd start with their best albums. Almost every U2 fan will tell you The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby are their best. Other than that, you should check All that you can't leave behind, The unforgettable fire (album), Boy and How to dismantle an atomic bomb. Or just start with Boy and work your way up :-)

  • i saw them in Philly with my dad..

    amazing

  • saw them in zagreb with my friends and family... this moment will live in my head FOREVER!

  • If the band asked what song I'd like them to play, this would probably be it. :)

  • (l)

  • I think U2 composed this about Joy Division's frontman, Ian Curtis, suicide. Not sure how accurate this statement is, but I think it may be true.

  • Naw, U2 had already been playing this song and had an original demo of it months before Ian offed himself, but it was the first single they recorded with Steve Lillywhite after Ian offed himself, perhaps in tribute to him. The suicide relation of the song was 'inspired' by someone U2 knew of that attempted to off their self, prior to 1980.  So says the U2 book 'Into the Heart'.

  • Yes, this song was in tribute to Ian Curtis

  • For detailed clarity: The song wasn't written in tribute to Ian, but rather, the act of recording this song for Island Records was supposedly in tribute to Ian(the demo version was in late '79 or very early '80, before Ian's death) since the song had a suicide influence in the lyrics, from an episode with someone else Bono knew. U2 chose to do their next recording following Ian's death with this song, apparently in tribute to Ian. Kapeesh?

  • I cant believe there was a time when U2 wasnt shit and Bono didnt reek of pretentious twat

    I have to listen to this album again!

  • his friend killed himself?

  • 2:19 Bono's closing vocals remind me alot of Siouxsie Sioux.

  • uuuf!! when U2 was a good band LOL

  • my favorite song off the Boy album.

  • Mine too, bonezzzz!!

  • I used to be a fervent detractor of U2.

    This song has made me regret that stance.

  • U2 siempre es y siempre sera la mejor banda del mundo0, aunke digan lo0 ke digan.... I LOVE U2!!!¨¨

  • this song is great what are edges delay settings for this plz can any one tell me

  • about 385ms.

  • Thanks U2rock55 for posting this classic amazing U2 song. This ENTIRE album was a gift to all of us from U2. A window into their soul(s). Not like today where they just melt into the crowd. This stood out in a BIG way.

  • Melt into the crowd?? They are still the most original band today , how can you say that?

  • Think about it. Go back to Boy War & October and listen. I mean REALLY listen. Don't listen to anything after Pride. Do it for a week or 2. Then listen to Pride and post Pride stuff. Then tell me if you still feel the same way. If you REALLY listen you will know exactly why I posted what I did about "Melting into the crowd."

  • un des 3 meilleurs albums de u2 avec WAR et OCTOBER.

    Un grand merci à u2rock55

  • What a nice memory! I haven't heard this song in about 20 years. I just had the most tremendous flashback to my Sophmore year in High School...my old beat up Volkswagen bug, a red-headed girl I was chasing...teenaged angst...worried about the future....wanting to be a grownup...that brash, teenaged bravado that I had....damn how I wish I could be that guy again! Made me want to trash my office and walk out of the building and time travel back to my youth. Thanks for posting this.

  • Cool story, bro.

  • @Texagator - Feelin that brother!

  • @Texagator Wow,dude...I could not have out it better.Saw them on the WAR tour in '82 while a soph in HS in TX.... Peace..

  • @generationx1966 Please, I know it's a stupid question, but i really need to know: was Edge already bald?

    jkjkjk :D

  • @Texagator That's bittersweet. Sigh.

  • U2 used to be a fantastic group.

  • This album is amazing from start to finish. I'm no big fan of u2. I pretty much think anything after this is mediocre. But Boy is a masterpiece. A brilliant piece of the golden age of post-punk, Tony Wilson's Factory children (I know, U2 were with Island, but they, at least initially, embodied that spirit). Great song, great album, and a good tribute to the brilliant man that was Ian Curtis.

  • i think ur wrong...u2's best work was the joshua tree

  • followed by achtung baby

  • Personally, I think Boy has got some good songs on it, but U2's first great album was War. It's hard to look past Joshua Tree as their best album.

  • whats the title of the song that likes on vertig

    btw  cool song, U2 ownes

  • i think this is the best album ever and i am happy you put it on youtube

    i still got that elpee, its when i met them at parkpop 88 , one of the first times of parkpop, he was not really very famous then, but a very cool person, and i followed him ever since, in his music, im no stalker, he grew with my taste, im a fan, cant u see, again thanks for giving us this

    didi

  • i was a boy when this song came out still sounds fu**ing great

  • Oh my god flock of seaguls suck, all those years I thought they wrote this! It's a U-2 song!

  • love the ending to this track >>>>>> OHHH OHH UTTOOOO OHHHH

  • As a point of interest, Bono purportedly wrote this is a tribute to Ian Curtis, of Joy Division, following his suicide.

    An oft-repeated anecdote by Tony Wilson is that when U2 visited Factory Records, U2 frontman Bono said when Curtis was alive he was the best frontman in rock and he himself was only number two; Bono pledged to take Curtis' place.

  • The song and lyrics were already written and had been performed live months before Ian offed himself. The lyrics referred to some other dude in Ireland.

    The Wikipedia definition was apparently misinformed.

  • Maybe Bono sang after Ian died as a tribute?

  • From the info I've seen, Bono's lyrics were influenced by the attempted suicide of an acquaintance of a friend of Bono's, in Ireland, nothing to do with Ian Curtis, except that U2 may have been inspired to have there next recording at the time, spring/summer 1980, be ADayW/OMe, in tribute to Ian Curtis, but not written in tribute to Ian Curtis. Like Gvert stated, the song and lyrics had already been recorded and performed live months before Ian offed himself.

  • just such a unique album. a lot of their albums are totally diff than others which is good, but hard to jusdge and compare-which i guess you don't have to. boy always has a great place in my heart though...

  • I mean the song had been already recorded in a primitive studio-demo form before the Boy album studio rendition was recorded. The primitive earlier recorded demo is available here on youtube.

  • I just Wiki'd the Boy album, and the kid's name was Peter Rowen.

    He was paid in candy for the photo shoot, a box of Mars bars.

    He is now a successful Photographer in his own right, and photographed U2 playing live at Slane Castle, Dublin, in 2001.

    He was the younger brother of Bono's friend Guggi. I bet he wishes he had asked for a percentage of the album's sales now, rather than settling for payment in chocolate bars!

    Also U2 have joked in the past of doing a follow-up to Boy called Man

  • I wonder what the Boy from the album cover looks like now ?

    I think he was the Edge's nephew - he will be a couple of years older than me, I was born in '75, but I was into U2's music from an early age.

    I will never forget the day a friend of my Parents' came round and her daughter had a tape of The Joshua Tree and my Brother and I asked her to play it on our wee Stereo.

    I thought it was like Gospel music - it was certainly very powerful. I had never heard an Album like that before.

  • stover75...

    I suppose you had never heard an Album like that ever since...

  • i love song very good thank's for U2

  • A Day Without Me. the best band ever. from the 1980 till now. thanks to you u2.

  • The Bugaloos(bump,bump)The Bugaloos(bump,bump), there with you in every way, feelin' high, to the sky.....

  • it's always nice to see people stop talking shit about U2 and actually talk about the good things...:)

  • indeed it is :)

  • long live the old U2...

  • will they ever try to go back to this fuckin genius-ness? lets hope so.

  • Joy division is defintley one of my favorite groups along with U2. "Control" is a film that you should watch if your a Joy Division fan,

  • buen trabajo no puedes poner tambien el disco achtung baby?

  • This song is about Ian Curtis of Joy division. It's funny how Joy division influenced Mega bands like U2 and yet the common folk have never heard of them.

  • Right on dude, I'm a mega early u2 fan ( pre - joshua tree ) and I thought it was strange how similiar they sounded to Joy Division. If it wasn't for Joy Division I don't if there would be that U2 sound.

  • I agree totally, anything joshua tree on is a let down. I don't think Joy Division will ever get the credit they are due. In 3 years they managed to influenced present "day so-called great bands."

  • i was thinkin the same thing in 1980 two of the greatest inspirations on pop music died ian curtis and john lennon

  • They had already been performing this song live in concert months before Ian offed himself. The lyrics were referring to some dude in Ireland. The Wikipedia definition is apparently misinformed.

  • a day with out love live and sorry . lol

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