Album dossier / 1980

Boy

U2 · Post-Punk/New Wave

U2's debut was recorded July-September 1980 at Dublin's Windmill Lane Studios, which became the band's home base through the decade, with producer Steve Lillywhite stepping in after Joy Division producer Martin Hannett -- the band's original choice -- was too shaken by Ian Curtis's suicide that May to take the job. Lillywhite used unorthodox techniques to capture a bigger drum sound, including recording Larry Mullen Jr. playing in a stairwell and cutlery skimmed against a spinning bicycle wheel. Its cover photo of a young boy's face, paired with lyrics about adolescence and lost innocence, set the tone for the band's early identity.