salomeU2000
The Fly
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By Martijn Janssen
Part 1
"This is the first place that gave U2 the time of day--this country, these people. We went from Ireland to England, and, after that, Holland," -Bono during a U2 concert in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, October 31, 1984.
It is October 1980. Four Irish boys are in Europe. They're in a band. In their native Ireland they've already had some success with their first singles. The UK has also shown some interest and the band has done some small tours over there. Next week their debut album will come out but now they are in the Netherlands, playing their first shows on the main continent.
The success of U2 did not come overnight. It grew gradually with each new album. Through their exciting live shows and word of mouth the band attracted more and more fans. In some areas it took a while before people were convinced of the qualities of the band, in others the seed of success was visible from the start. The Netherlands were one of those early adopters. The week before the release of Boy U2 visited the Netherlands for the first time. Between the 14th and 18th of October 1980 they did a quick tour in Europe, playing three concerts and one radio session in the Netherlands, and one concert in Brussels. U2's first album also got favourable reviews in the Dutch music press but Boy, and single "A Day Without Me," did not make a big impression on the charts.
U2 started 1981 doing a small European tour in January and February which included four Dutch concerts. They also toured the United States in the spring, after which they went into the studio again to prepare their second album. In the period between the end of the US tour and the ending of the album sessions U2 played only a handful of concerts, mainly festival dates. Besides a few English concerts and their first appearance at Slane Castle supporting Thin Lizzy, the only other concert they played is at the Pinkpop festival in the Netherlands. That festival was a sellout with 50,000 tickets sold. U2 are second to last on the bill of seven acts, but they are still received with great enthusiasm.
For the moment the enthusiasm for their live performances did not translate into huge sales. The second album October still did not have much impact on the charts nor had its single "Gloria." Little information about its performance in the Netherlands is known, there are no exact chart positions available, only that at the beginning of 1982 the album is in the bottom of the LP Top 50 for a few weeks.
On May 14, 1982 U2 play a historical concert in the Netherlands. The show is recorded for television and six songs are aired in July. More importantly, the record company releases their performance of "I Will Follow" as a single and it reaches the charts. It is U2's debut on the singles chart and many more singles will follow. The single does very well, eventually reaching #12.
The next year sees the release of War. After two promising albums U2 need a success, they need an album that shows they can generate money for Island Records. The first single to promote the new album is "New Year's Day" and it makes a good impression on the charts as it reaches #11. No other singles of the album reach the Dutch charts though and, unfortunately, there's not enough information to know whether more singles were issued but failed to reach the charts or if no more singles were released at all. The War album itself is quite successful on the album charts, reaching the top three on the album charts in March 1983.
With The Unforgettable Fire success is within reach. Shortly after its release the album climbs to the top five of the charts. The single "Pride (In The Name Of Love)" becomes U2's first top 10 single as it reaches #8. The second single, the album's title track, equals this feat as it also has #8 as its highest position. Two sold-out concerts in the Ahoy arena, with a capacity of 10,000 persons per concert, confirm U2's new status as a hot act with superstardom waiting around the corner.
That corner is turned in July 1985 at the Live Aid festival. U2's performance makes a big impression on the whole world, the Netherlands included. Interest in U2 surges and several albums re-enter the charts. Their live album Under A Blood Red Sky even reaches the top 10 in the LP Top 75 two years after its release. The single "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is released and it becomes U2's biggest hit to date, eventually reaching #3. The next album should propel U2 to that promised superstardom.
With The Joshua Tree U2 does indeed hit the jackpot, though chart statistics may not do justice to the success of the album. After entering the LP Top 75 at #17 the album shoots to the top position the next week and will stay there for a whopping 13 weeks, making it the biggest album of 1987, together with Paul Simon's "Graceland" which had occupied the top position since October 18, 1986 for an overwhelming 22 weeks. This lead of 13 weeks also places U2 in the top 10 of most weeks at #1. In total the album will stay in the top five for 28 consecutive weeks. And U2's second week jump from #17 to the top position also places them in the top 10 of biggest jumps to #1.
The singles from the album are also a big success. "With or Without You" betters the performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" as it reaches #2 on the charts. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking" For charts at #6 and "Where the Streets Have No Name" also reaches the top ten, peaking at the #10 position. Where U2 could fill the Ahoy arena for two nights on their The Unforgettable Fire Tour, they now have no problem at all selling out the Feyenoord Stadium twice with a 46,000 capacity per night, and it took them less than one hour to sell those 92,000 tickets.
Below is a breakdown of The Joshua Tree's performance on the Dutch charts, which is also the only chart information available. The album entered the LP Top 75 on March 21, 1987. A ? indicates a week where no information was available:
17-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1
1-1-1-1-3-2-2-?-2-2
3-4-5-5-5-4-5-5-6-?
After the huge success of The Joshua Tree it would be very difficult for U2 to top that achievement, and chart-wise their next album Rattle & Hum did not do as well. On October 28, 1988 the album entered the charts at #11 and in its second week jumped to #1, a position it would hold for four weeks. While it does not come close to The Joshua Tree's overwhelming statistics, it's still a very solid performance, also considering the album stayed in the top five for a while after handing over the top position.
There's also no lack of success on the singles front. "Desire" equalled "With or Without You's" performance by reaching #2. "Angel of Harlem" was another top 10 hit as the single stopped at #8 and also "When Love Comes to Town" reached the top 10 with its #9 position. Only "All I Want is You" failed to make the top 10, stalling at #12. The single broke a string of nine consecutive top ten hits, a string that started with "Pride" in September 1984.
At the end of the year U2 declares the Dutch capital Amsterdam a Love Town as it schedules three concerts there in mid-December. Unfortunately, the first concert is cut short and the other two are postponed due to Bono having vocal problems. The concerts are eventually re-scheduled for the beginning of January, then taking place in Rotterdam and the coming of the U2 circus renews interest. More than a
year after its debut Rattle & Hum returns to the charts and radio also starts playing U2 songs frequently. Six months after originally charting, the single "All I Want is You" is charting again, sort of. Radio has picked up the B-side "Everlasting Love" as a single track and eventually the B-side will outperform the original A-side as "Everlasting Love" becomes yet another top 10 single for the band.
U2 close the '80s with a bang. Their New Year's Eve concert from Dublin is broadcasted all over Europe and the band's make-up concerts in Rotterdam a week later are one big party. Then, there is the big silence; the band wants to "dream it all up again" and the fans wait faithfully.
_______________________
For questions, remarks and suggestions you can always email me at popmartijn@hotmail.com
By Martijn Janssen
Part 1
"This is the first place that gave U2 the time of day--this country, these people. We went from Ireland to England, and, after that, Holland," -Bono during a U2 concert in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, October 31, 1984.
It is October 1980. Four Irish boys are in Europe. They're in a band. In their native Ireland they've already had some success with their first singles. The UK has also shown some interest and the band has done some small tours over there. Next week their debut album will come out but now they are in the Netherlands, playing their first shows on the main continent.
The success of U2 did not come overnight. It grew gradually with each new album. Through their exciting live shows and word of mouth the band attracted more and more fans. In some areas it took a while before people were convinced of the qualities of the band, in others the seed of success was visible from the start. The Netherlands were one of those early adopters. The week before the release of Boy U2 visited the Netherlands for the first time. Between the 14th and 18th of October 1980 they did a quick tour in Europe, playing three concerts and one radio session in the Netherlands, and one concert in Brussels. U2's first album also got favourable reviews in the Dutch music press but Boy, and single "A Day Without Me," did not make a big impression on the charts.
U2 started 1981 doing a small European tour in January and February which included four Dutch concerts. They also toured the United States in the spring, after which they went into the studio again to prepare their second album. In the period between the end of the US tour and the ending of the album sessions U2 played only a handful of concerts, mainly festival dates. Besides a few English concerts and their first appearance at Slane Castle supporting Thin Lizzy, the only other concert they played is at the Pinkpop festival in the Netherlands. That festival was a sellout with 50,000 tickets sold. U2 are second to last on the bill of seven acts, but they are still received with great enthusiasm.
For the moment the enthusiasm for their live performances did not translate into huge sales. The second album October still did not have much impact on the charts nor had its single "Gloria." Little information about its performance in the Netherlands is known, there are no exact chart positions available, only that at the beginning of 1982 the album is in the bottom of the LP Top 50 for a few weeks.
On May 14, 1982 U2 play a historical concert in the Netherlands. The show is recorded for television and six songs are aired in July. More importantly, the record company releases their performance of "I Will Follow" as a single and it reaches the charts. It is U2's debut on the singles chart and many more singles will follow. The single does very well, eventually reaching #12.
The next year sees the release of War. After two promising albums U2 need a success, they need an album that shows they can generate money for Island Records. The first single to promote the new album is "New Year's Day" and it makes a good impression on the charts as it reaches #11. No other singles of the album reach the Dutch charts though and, unfortunately, there's not enough information to know whether more singles were issued but failed to reach the charts or if no more singles were released at all. The War album itself is quite successful on the album charts, reaching the top three on the album charts in March 1983.
With The Unforgettable Fire success is within reach. Shortly after its release the album climbs to the top five of the charts. The single "Pride (In The Name Of Love)" becomes U2's first top 10 single as it reaches #8. The second single, the album's title track, equals this feat as it also has #8 as its highest position. Two sold-out concerts in the Ahoy arena, with a capacity of 10,000 persons per concert, confirm U2's new status as a hot act with superstardom waiting around the corner.
That corner is turned in July 1985 at the Live Aid festival. U2's performance makes a big impression on the whole world, the Netherlands included. Interest in U2 surges and several albums re-enter the charts. Their live album Under A Blood Red Sky even reaches the top 10 in the LP Top 75 two years after its release. The single "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is released and it becomes U2's biggest hit to date, eventually reaching #3. The next album should propel U2 to that promised superstardom.
With The Joshua Tree U2 does indeed hit the jackpot, though chart statistics may not do justice to the success of the album. After entering the LP Top 75 at #17 the album shoots to the top position the next week and will stay there for a whopping 13 weeks, making it the biggest album of 1987, together with Paul Simon's "Graceland" which had occupied the top position since October 18, 1986 for an overwhelming 22 weeks. This lead of 13 weeks also places U2 in the top 10 of most weeks at #1. In total the album will stay in the top five for 28 consecutive weeks. And U2's second week jump from #17 to the top position also places them in the top 10 of biggest jumps to #1.
The singles from the album are also a big success. "With or Without You" betters the performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" as it reaches #2 on the charts. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking" For charts at #6 and "Where the Streets Have No Name" also reaches the top ten, peaking at the #10 position. Where U2 could fill the Ahoy arena for two nights on their The Unforgettable Fire Tour, they now have no problem at all selling out the Feyenoord Stadium twice with a 46,000 capacity per night, and it took them less than one hour to sell those 92,000 tickets.
Below is a breakdown of The Joshua Tree's performance on the Dutch charts, which is also the only chart information available. The album entered the LP Top 75 on March 21, 1987. A ? indicates a week where no information was available:
17-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1
1-1-1-1-3-2-2-?-2-2
3-4-5-5-5-4-5-5-6-?
After the huge success of The Joshua Tree it would be very difficult for U2 to top that achievement, and chart-wise their next album Rattle & Hum did not do as well. On October 28, 1988 the album entered the charts at #11 and in its second week jumped to #1, a position it would hold for four weeks. While it does not come close to The Joshua Tree's overwhelming statistics, it's still a very solid performance, also considering the album stayed in the top five for a while after handing over the top position.
There's also no lack of success on the singles front. "Desire" equalled "With or Without You's" performance by reaching #2. "Angel of Harlem" was another top 10 hit as the single stopped at #8 and also "When Love Comes to Town" reached the top 10 with its #9 position. Only "All I Want is You" failed to make the top 10, stalling at #12. The single broke a string of nine consecutive top ten hits, a string that started with "Pride" in September 1984.
At the end of the year U2 declares the Dutch capital Amsterdam a Love Town as it schedules three concerts there in mid-December. Unfortunately, the first concert is cut short and the other two are postponed due to Bono having vocal problems. The concerts are eventually re-scheduled for the beginning of January, then taking place in Rotterdam and the coming of the U2 circus renews interest. More than a
year after its debut Rattle & Hum returns to the charts and radio also starts playing U2 songs frequently. Six months after originally charting, the single "All I Want is You" is charting again, sort of. Radio has picked up the B-side "Everlasting Love" as a single track and eventually the B-side will outperform the original A-side as "Everlasting Love" becomes yet another top 10 single for the band.
U2 close the '80s with a bang. Their New Year's Eve concert from Dublin is broadcasted all over Europe and the band's make-up concerts in Rotterdam a week later are one big party. Then, there is the big silence; the band wants to "dream it all up again" and the fans wait faithfully.
_______________________
For questions, remarks and suggestions you can always email me at popmartijn@hotmail.com
ke stile! i love u2!!
