This U2 band might have a chance

U2 : Out of Control

[Purchase]

In March of 1980 NME featured U2 in an article with the headline "U2 Can Make It In The Rock Business".  Paul Morley calls the band "naively passionate', writing :

 "Now that The Boomtown Rats have disclaimed the tiny island and been disclaimed, Bono's U2 are indisputably Ireland's finest; recent winners of  a host of Hot Press awards; recent chart toppers with "Out of Control"...

"Bono and the group are warily preparing to leap from Irish success--a literally poor type of success; sales of 20,000 merits a Gold disc in Ireland and entertainers like the Pope win those--into British obscurity, and wondering how to grab attention, scythe through the settling collection of old values, scatter the old tribal narrow-mindedness

"Even over here," tuts Bono, "we get people coming up to us and saying 'Well, I like you ...but I don't really like you because I'm a mod and you're not!"

Even in Ireland.

 "I'm not fully in control of my own performances," Bono confesses. "I'm not sure which way it's going to go when I hit the stage. It could go any way. There have been times when I have been really frightened and could hardly sing. I hardly looked up. Like when I can't get anything out of the hall, the audience, I turn into myself, close my eyes and try to find something there."

Eighteen Years Dawning

U2: Out of Control

[Purchase]

On September 26, 1979 U2 released its debut EP Three in Ireland. All 1,000 copies , released on orange vinyl, were sold almost immediately and have become a collector's item. The ten minute record has three songs on it, all recorded as demos with producer Chas de Whalley at Windmill Lane Studios, marking the first of what would be many recordings there by the band during their career.

  "Out of Control" was written by Bono on his 18th birthday."(It's) about waking up on your eighteenth birthday and realizing that you're 18 years old and that the 2 most important decisions in your life have nothing to do with you - being born and dying." Like (Stories for) "Boys" it was rerecorded for U2's debut album, Boy. The third track is "Boy/Girl", a song the band often played live from late 1979 until the end of the Boy tour sometime in 1981.

within a year, U2 could not be ignored. They would soon become on of the biggest bands in the world. There is a copy of this EP on eBay with a price tag equivalent to $436.