http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/u2-surprise-album-songs-of-innocence-apple-itunes-free-20140909

U2 surprised the world today by releasing Songs of Innocence, their first album in five years, as a gift from Apple, available for free immediately to anyone with iTunes. The band made the announcement with Apple CEO Tim Cook at a Cupertino press conference for the new iPhone 6, capping the event with a performance of the album's first single, "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)." After a standing ovation, Cook said, "Wasn't that the most incredible single you ever heard? We would love a whole album of that."

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"The question is now, how do we get it to as many people as possible, because that's what our band is all about," Bono said. "I do believe you have over half a billion subscribers to iTunes, so — could you get this to them?" "If we gave it away for free," Cook replied. And five seconds later, the album was unleashed in the largest album release of all time.

"We wanted to make a very personal album," Bono told Rolling Stone's Gus Wenner the day before the press conference in an exclusive interview. "Let's try to figure out why we wanted to be in a band, the relationships around the band, our friendships, our lovers, our family. The whole album is first journeys — first journeys geographically, spiritually, sexually. And that's hard. But we went there."

The band worked on Innocence for two years with producer Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton), then brought in additional help: Flood, their collaborator since 1987's The Joshua Tree, plus Adele producers Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder. "I think having them around really helped," says Bono, "Some of the music out there now that people call pop, it's not pop – it's just truly great. And we wanted to have the discipline of the Beatles or the Stones in the Sixties, when you had real songs. There's nowhere to hide in them: clear thoughts, clear melodies."

To begin, the band went back to its roots: Bono says the group listened to the music they loved in the Seventies, from punk rock to Bowie, glam rock, early electronica and Joy Division. The album kicks off with "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)," a loping pop song laced with distinctly punk-ish power chords. "I found my voice through Joey Ramone," says Bono, "because I wasn't the obvious punk-rock singer, or even rock singer. I sang like a girl — which I'm into now, but when I was 17 or 18, I wasn't sure. And I heard Joey Ramone, who sang like a girl, and that was my way in."

The driving, reggae-tinged "This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now," is a tribute to the Clash, with slinky guitars from the Edge that nod to Sandinista!. "After we saw the Clash, it was a sort of blueprint for U2," says Bono. "We knew we couldn't possibly hope to be as cool, and that's proven to be true, but we did think we could get behind a sort of social justice agenda."

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There is also an intensely personal song about Bono's mother, Iris Hewson, who died when he was 14. "Forty years ago, my mother fell at her own father's funeral, and I never spoke with her again," he says. "Rage always follows grief, and I had a lot of it, and I still have, but I channeled it into music and I still do. I have very few memories of my mother, and I put a few of them in a song called 'Iris.'"

The most joyous track on Songs of Innocence is "California (There Is No End to Love)," which unexpectedly nods to the Beach Boys in its intro. "It's like the sun itself," says Bono. "It's about our first trip to Los Angeles." The darkest track, meanwhile, is "Raised by Wolves," which tells of a deadly car bombing in Dublin. "It was a real incident that happened in our country where three car bombs were set to go off at the same time in Dublin on a Friday night, 5:30," says Bono, "On any other Friday I would have been at this record shop, just down the corner, but I cycled to school that day."

At times Songs of Innocence feels almost like a concept album about Bono's early years – there's even a track named after the street where the singer grew up, "Cedarwood Road." "It has a lyrical cohesion that I think is unique amongst U2 albums," says Bono, "I don't want it to be a concept album, but the songs come from a place. Edge laughed and said this is our Quadrophenia. We could be so lucky."

[Edited 9/9/14 12:35pm]

it's on my iTunes and I didn't even order it I guess every iTunes user gets a free copy?

The track listing:

''The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)''

''Every Breaking Wave''

''California (There Is No End to Love)''

''Song For Someone''

''Iris (Hold Me Close)''

''Volcano''

''Raised By Wolves''

''Cedarwood Road''

''Sleep Like a Baby Tonight''

''This Is Where You Can Reach Me''

''The Troubles''

SoulAlive said:

it's on my iTunes and I didn't even order it I guess every iTunes user gets a free copy?

It's very much like the million free copies of Jay-Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail album that Samsung delivered last summer via an Android app.

Viva U2!

free? they just won a shitload of new fans, even though they don't really need anymore

Well, that was fast. No need for me to install iTunes; the album has now appeared on several file-sharing sites.

I wonder if they have another mammoth world tour planned? Saw them over 3 years ago (and that was delayed from what was supposed to be 4 years ago).

I expected to be completely disappointed. But i liked a few tracks!

But there still on that arena rock binge. They have no more balls with their music. Every song is a ''rock anthem''they used to take chances (Achtung Baby, Zooropa, War, All that you can't leave behind) Hell even Pop was a bit of a departure. The last 2 albums are just ''yeah rock anthem yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah''

But much like Prince... they have a good discography. I just don't get excited for new music from them

Damn! Iris is stuck in my head though... wtf.

the back to back punch of "Iris" and "Volcano" is killing me right now.

interesting album. a lot more surprises than the last few, at least on

the first listen. great surprise release, and free at that. this deserves

a bow

vol--ca--noooo

YES!!! Just found out about it a couple of hours ago and have downloaded. What a wonderful surprise on a Tuesday evening!!!! Oh yeah, I'll finally be purchasing a new iPhone and will opt for the iPhone 6 Plus...it's finally time to retire my iPhone 4 that I've had for 4 years.

Great music surprise on a blah Tuesday. Listening to it now... Thanks U2!

Identity said:

SoulAlive said:

it's on my iTunes and I didn't even order it I guess every iTunes user gets a free copy?

It's very much like the million free copies of Jay-Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail album that Samsung delivered last summer via an Android app.

except it's 500 million free copies

what do you guys think....is that a smart promotional idea? U2 is getting tremendous media attention right now and with a world tour on the way,this seems to be a very effective idea,imo.

Times have changed and artists have to come up with new,exciting ways to present their music to the world.The 'old model' doesn't work anymore.I think we're gonna be seeing alot of "surprise albums" in the future...albums that will be released in a non-traditional way.

alandail said:

Identity said:

It's very much like the million free copies of Jay-Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail album that Samsung delivered last summer via an Android app.

except it's 500 million free copies

Indeed, Apple achieved a brilliant marketing coup by delivering a loss leader on steroids!

I would be lying if I said the move didn't render me speechless.

SoulAlive said:

what do you guys think....is that a smart promotional idea? U2 is getting tremendous media attention right now and with a world tour on the way,this seems to be a very effective idea,imo.

U2 also got paid by Apple and got their music in the hands of a ton of people who would not have bought it otherwise. it's interesting the way they did it too. Anyone with an iTunes account, the album is already in your library ready to play (via the cloud) and ready to get included in shuffle mode.

Prince has given albums away before, but never on this scale or this easy to obtain.

U2

SoulAlive said:

it's on my iTunes and I didn't even order it I guess every iTunes user gets a free copy?

same here.

that is actually my first iTunes and/or MP3 purchase

Well, obviously they will get a shitload of money from apple, but really that's the way to go. Instead of bitching like a little child, who's toy got taken away (I'm looking at you, Gene Simmons), they just create their music and give it away, to anyone that wants (or doesn't want) it and in the best case pickg up some more fans, who will maybe not buy the album (the "old school" fans will do that), but show up on one of their concerts, where they make the real money (not that they need it anyway).

Identity said:

alandail said:

except it's 500 million free copies

Indeed, Apple achieved a brilliant marketing coup by delivering a loss leader on steroids!

I would be lying if I said the move didn't render me speechless.

I like U2 anyway, but as Guns said, haven't been very much excited with their music in the last 10 years or so....but this strategy is brilliant. If the album wasn't free, I probably wouldn't have bought the whole thing, only the songs that I liked (so far "Cedarwood Road" has been on repeat). It's a win-win for both Apple and U2, the way I see it. A good way to promote the new generation of iPhones along with the announcement of the Apple watch.

And in the meanwhile Prince is back with WB trying to get his shit released...
I guess U2 will overshadow him yet again by a great marketing move...

Neversin.

while i can't argue with the brilliance of the release strategy, and i'm admittedly not a big fan (i wouldn't listen if it weren't free), i find this to be an utterly bland album. it just sounds like a u2 album. big whoop.

Neversin said:

And in the meanwhile Prince is back with WB trying to get his shit released...
I guess U2 will overshadow him yet again by a great marketing move...

.

Note how this was a complete secret until after it happened, while Prince's "mega announcement" on GMA was spoiled hours earlier. But then he didn't bother turning up anyway and the "mega announcement" involved three people nobody cares about saying absolutely nothing interesting while a song was barely audible.

.

Wouldn't be surprised if we're heading for a new Rave-like disaster. The simple fact that Funkenberry is already talking about a compilation with a bunch of tracks missing from the two albums is just frikking hilarious, even if it's just him making shit up.

so how do they make money off this release? from itunes?