In 1976, Larry Mullen Jr decided to form a band and put a poster on his school noticeboard looking for others with an ambition to be rock stars. Little did he realise that his band, known for about a day as The Larry Mullen Band, would go on to change the world of music.
In Popaganda, Tony Clayton-Lea looks back at the past thirty years of U2 and brings together all that has been said about and by the greatest rock band in the world. Split into forty themed sections, this is the book that let's us in on the phenomena that is U2. Find out what Bono thinks about fame, love and the pope - or what the other three think of Bono. Popaganda is the story of U2 and is the essential guide for every fan of the band.
'A concert is the most authentic form of music. Records were invented a long time after music. Ask Beethoven.' Adam Clayton (1984).
'We're not particularly into hit singles. Mind you, I need to do the roof of my house in the West so if we get a few hits away I won't be complaining.' Edge (1991).
'I read a lot of rubbish about U2. Sometimes when I see us described in some mythic sense or called corporate masters of our own destiny, I have to laugh out loud.
Being in U2 is more like riding a runaway train, hanging on to it for dear life.' Larry Mullen Jr (2006).
'I feel at home in chaos.' Bono (1987).