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''Boy'' is the debut
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by
Steve Lillywhite Stephen Alan Lillywhite (born 15 March 1955) is an English record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited on over 500 records, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including new wave acts The Alarm ...
and was released on 20 October 1980 by
Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...
. ''Boy'' contains songs from the band's 40-song repertoire at the time, including two tracks that were re-recorded from their original versions on the group's debut release, the EP '' Three''. ''Boy'' was recorded from July to September 1980 at Dublin's
Windmill Lane Studios Windmill Lane Recording Studios (earlier Windmill Lane Studios) is a recording studio in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It was originally opened in 1978 by Brian Masterson and James Morris on Windmill Lane, and it subsequently relocated in ...
, which became U2's chosen recording location during the 1980s. It was their first time working with Lillywhite, who employed non-standard production techniques, such as recording drummer Larry Mullen Jr. playing in a stairwell, and recording smashed bottles and cutlery skimmed against a spinning bicycle wheel.McCormick (2006), pp. 96–100 The band found Lillywhite to be very encouraging and creative, and he subsequently became a frequent producer of their recorded work. Thematically, the album's lyrics reflect on adolescence, innocence, and the passage into adulthood,Jobling (2014), pp. 65–68 themes represented on its cover artwork through the photo of a young boy's face. ''Boy'' received generally positive reviews and included one of U2's first singles to receive airplay on US radio, " I Will Follow". The release was followed by the band's first tour of continental Europe and the US, the Boy Tour.de la Parra (2003), pp. 16–17 The album peaked on the UK chart at number 52 in August 1981 and in the US at number 63. In 2003, ''Boy'' was ranked 417th on ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
''s list of "
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indu ...
". In 2008, a
remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...
ed edition of the record was released.


Background

Originally, ''Boy'' was slated to be produced by
Martin Hannett James Martin Hannett (31 May 1948 – 18 April 1991) was an English record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy Division, the Durutti Column, A Cert ...
, an in-demand producer at that time for his critically acclaimed work with
Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...
. Hannett had produced U2's first single with
Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...
, " 11 O'Clock Tick Tock", but the band did not enjoy working with him, and the prospect of him producing the album was abandoned by Island due to the band's objections. Hannett was also severely affected by the May 1980 suicide of Joy Division frontman
Ian Curtis Ian Kevin Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980) was an English singer, songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, lyricist and occasional guitarist of the band Joy Division, with whom he released the albums ''Unknown Pleasures'' (197 ...
, the distress of which temporarily impaired his ability to work.McCormick (2006), pp. 56, 58, 96 Island A&R representative Nick Stewart said: "Martin by that stage was unwell; he seemed to be suffering from a little overdose of one thing or another." Looking for a replacement producer, Island sent a copy of U2's first release, the EP '' Three'' (1979), to
Steve Lillywhite Stephen Alan Lillywhite (born 15 March 1955) is an English record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited on over 500 records, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including new wave acts The Alarm ...
to gauge his interest in working with them. Listening to the record, he "liked the voice" but thought "it didn't sound very good". Before deciding whether to work with the group, he wanted to see them perform live to figure out a potential creative approach he could take in studio. After visiting Ireland to attend a concert of theirs at a small school hall, Lillywhite was convinced to come on board, thinking, "Oh my God, there's something about this". He subsequently agreed to produce a single for them, " A Day Without Me". Although the song failed to chart,McGee (2008), p. 32 U2 found they could work amicably with Lillywhite and agreed to have him produce their debut studio album.


Recording

''Boy'' was recorded at
Windmill Lane Studios Windmill Lane Recording Studios (earlier Windmill Lane Studios) is a recording studio in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It was originally opened in 1978 by Brian Masterson and James Morris on Windmill Lane, and it subsequently relocated in ...
in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
from July to September 1980. Lillywhite was displeased with how the "A Day Without Me" single had sounded, particularly the drums, and decided to change how he recorded the band for the rest of the album. He found Windmill Lane Studios to be "very, very dead sounding" and thought it was more conducive to capturing quiet recordings of
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
than the energy of rock music; engineer Kevin Moloney concurred, calling the studio a "late '70s design, a very wooden dead kind of room". At that stage in his career, Lillywhite was interested in capturing "3D sound" that conveyed a perspective to the recording. While walking through the stone-walled reception area of the studio, he was impressed with how the space sounded and decided to record drummer Larry Mullen Jr.'s drum kit in the area's stairwell. Using microphones hung from the ceiling at the top of the stairwell, Lillywhite recorded what he described as "this wonderful clattery sound". They had to wait until the studio's receptionist went home in the evenings to record the drums, as the phone rang during the day. Even in the evenings, they were not allowed to disable the phone's ringer, resulting in it occasionally interrupting recording in the middle of a
take A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production. Film In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each ...
. Mullen found the arrangement strange at first, as he was still acclimating to working with his bandmates together in a studio when Lillywhite set him up separate from the others. Lillywhite employed a creative, experimental approach as the producer, recording smashed bottles and silverware skimmed against a spinning bicycle wheel for sound effects. The band found him to be very encouraging; lead vocalist
Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...
called him "such a breath of fresh air", while guitarist
the Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is a British-Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist o ...
said he "had a great way of pulling the best out of everybody". The group's rhythm section struggled to keep time at that stage in their career, forcing Lillywhite and Moloney to spend extensive amounts of time at night splicing tape of the multi-track recordings to create drum loops that would be in time. Lillywhite recorded several bass parts played by Adam Clayton in order to teach Clayton the bassline that he ultimately wanted to be played. The approach necessitated Clayton recording many overdubs. With the band members still inexperienced at that point and manager Paul McGuinness giving them autonomy in their music-making process, Lillywhite speculated that he had more influence over the sound of ''Boy'' than any other producer of any other U2 album. Some of the songs, including " An Cat Dubh" and "The Ocean", were written and recorded at the studio. Many of the songs were taken from the band's 40-song repertoire at the time, including "Stories for Boys", "Out of Control" and "Twilight". Without much studio time, the band quickly recorded each song, before spending a few hours on overdubs and moving onto the next song. Bono had not finalized his lyrics prior to the recording sessions; during the group's earlier live performances, he often changed lyrics from concert to concert, owing to his lack of interest in lyric writing. The procrastination forced him to finish missing couplets in the studio while his bandmates were busy recording guitars and percussion. Bono was displeased with the vocal performances that he gave in the studio when wearing headphones, and as a result, he changed his approach to sing into a handheld microphone in the control room while listening to playback of the music at high volume. After about six takes of each song, Lillywhite would edit together a composite vocal track of the best parts, after which Bono would listen back and replicate the results by singing another six takes.


Composition and songwriting

The Edge recorded all the songs using his Gibson Explorer guitar, and he drew inspiration from music he was listening to at the time, including
Television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
and early
Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees ( ) were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later ...
. When asked by
Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...
about the band's musical influences at the time, the Edge explained: "I think we were influenced a lot by music that was rooted in Europe, the German sort of sensibility, the music of
Neu! Neu! (; German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plank, w ...
and
Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...
, which was about a different sort of way of using chord changes and a sort of nihilistic approach to the backbeat", "and the UK bands", "like iouxsie andthe Banshees, probably
Echo & the Bunnymen Echo & the Bunnymen are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch (singer), Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson. By 1980, Pete de Freita ...
" "and
Magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
". The album's theme is the psychological nature of the transition of adolescence from childhood to manhood, with lyrics and atmospheric music examining a dawn of sexuality ("An Cat Dubh"), the entry into adolescence ("Twilight"), mortality ("Out of Control"), the exile from one's past enforced by the passage of time ("Into the Heart"), mental disturbance ("The Electric Co.") and youthful ambition ("The Ocean"). "I Will Follow" focused on the trauma of the early death of Bono's mother when he was 14 years old. The album's lyrics contain several literary references. For example, "Shadows and Tall Trees" takes its name from a chapter title in the dystopian
William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel '' Lord of the Flies'' (1954), Golding published another 12 volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 19 ...
novel ''
Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is the 1954 debut novel of British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of prepubescent British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves that led to ...
'', and "The Ocean" mentions
Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...
's novel ''
The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is an 1890 philosophical fiction and Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American period ...
''. Music author and ambient historian Mark Prendergast writes that ''Boy'' has "an aquatic quality, contrasting anthemic rock songs with brooding
instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...
passages of spray, fine drizzle and lapping waves". He further highlighted Lillywhite's addition of
musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic ...
sounds, namely milk bottles and scraped bicycle spokes, to "I Will Follow", and commented that the Edge's "unconventional approach" to his Gibson Explorer throughout the record "was to eschew
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
influences for echoed chords and sustained
harmonic In physics, acoustics, and telecommunications, a harmonic is a sinusoidal wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'' of a periodic signal. The fundamental frequency is also called the ''1st har ...
s. He used a system of two Vox amplifiers coupled to two Memory Man echo units linked to a switchbox connected to his guitar." Music critic Mark Cooper reflected that "U2's sound seemed to have come out of nowhere"; he added that the album's "drive and exuberance belongs to
punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
", citing Mullen's crashing drums, the more glam-derived riffs of the Edge, and the chorus of "Stories for Boys" for their similarities with punk's "football terrace" sound, but commented that the band's "emotional palette" was distinct from punk: "Here was a music thriving on teenage spiritual awakenings with a musical approach that owed next to nothing to tradition."


Artwork

The model boy on the cover is Peter Rowen, the younger brother of
Guggi Guggi (born Derek Rowen) is an Irish artist and musician who was once a member of the post-punk band Virgin Prunes. Early life Derek Rowen was born in Dublin in 1959. He is one of 10 children. He grew up with and remains best friends with U2's ...
, Bono's friend and a former member of the Virgin Prunes. Peter also appeared on the covers of '' Three'', '' War'', '' The Best of 1980–1990'', the unreleased ''Even Better than the Early Stuff'', '' Early Demos'' and many singles. The photographer, Hugo McGuiness, and the sleeve designer, Steve Averill (a friend of Clayton), went on to work on several more U2 album covers. For the American release and other international distributors, the album's cover image was changed, due to Island Records' fears that it could be perceived as pedophilic.McGee (2008), p. 41 The label's in-house designer Bruno Tilley commissioned artist and photographer Sandy Porter to design the new cover. The two were given a very limited budget, precluding them from traveling to U2 and taking photos of them, leaving them with little choice but to use photos of the four band members from a prior shoot. Tilley visited Porter in London to collaborate on the cover. Porter's initial idea was to distort the images and create a "more graphic, stylised piece of artwork", leading to several experiments. These included:
photocopying A photocopier (also called copier or copy machine, and formerly Xerox machine, the generic trademark) is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers ...
the images and pulling them during the scanning; using a photographic
enlarger An enlarger is a specialized transparency Image projector, projector used to produce Photography, photographic prints from film or glass Negative (photography), negatives, or from reversal film, transparencies. Construction All enlargers consist ...
while moving the baseboard; and photographing the image prints using long exposure while moving them. The result of these processes gave Porter the "raw material" to continue, though some areas of the images did not distort well and were subsequently marked up with a black pen. Taking inspiration from the ''
Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is the 1954 debut novel of British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of prepubescent British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves that led to ...
'' reference in the song "Shadows and Tall Trees", Porter selected four "rough and distorted images that had a feel how the sea washes and distorts marks in the sand". He then cut the images with a scalpel, spray mounted them, and further "copied, printed, touched up, recopied and printed" them onto high-contrast
photographic paper Photographic paper is a coated paper, paper coated with a light-sensitive chemical, used for making photographic prints. When photographic paper is exposed to light, it captures a latent image that is then Photographic developer, developed to form ...
.


Release

''Boy'' was released on 20 October 1980 in the UK, and 3 March 1981 in the US. The album reached number 52 in the UK. In the US, it peaked at number 63 on the ''Billboard'' 200, but after the success of U2's later material, it re-entered the American charts for a lengthier spell. In the band's native Ireland, the album reached number 13, and it placed highest in Canada at number 12. The original releases of ''Boy'' sold nearly 200,000 copies. " A Day Without Me" and " I Will Follow" were released as singles on 18 August and 24 October 1980, respectively. "I Will Follow" peaked at number 20 on the ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' Top Tracks rock chart in the US, becoming a hit on
college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...
and establishing a buzz surrounding the group's debut. The album's sexual overtones led to its enthusiastic acceptance in American gay clubs shortly after its release. Bono commented on this phenomenon, saying: "import copies got in and, as you know, in America a lot of music is broken in gay clubs and so we had a gay audience, a lot of people who were convinced the music was specifically for them. So there was a misconception if you like." In 2008, a remastered edition of ''Boy'' was released, featuring remastered tracks, along with B-sides and rarities. Three different formats of the remaster were made available. The artwork for the remastered editions of the album was standardised worldwide to that of the 1980 UK release. For
Record Store Day Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...
2020, in commemoration of its 40th anniversary, the album was reissued on white vinyl in a limited edition of 10,000 copies.


Critical reception

''Boy'' received generally favourable reviews. Paul Morley of ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' called it "honest, direct and distinctive", adding that he found it "touching, precocious, full of archaic and modernist conviction". Betty Page of '' Sounds'' said that they "achieved a rare mixture of innocence and aggression", and described the album as "an overall feeling of loving care and energy intertwined with simplistic and direct hooks and chords". Lyndyn Barber from ''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
'' hailed it as a "rich" record, writing that "''Boy'' is more than just a collection of good tracks assembled in an arbitrary order", and that it had "youthful innocence and confusion". Robin Denselow of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' wrote that it was a "strong debut album", praising Lillywhite for helping U2 improve since a live show that the reviewer attended. Denselow said the group succeeded at their goal of achieving a balance of "power and sensitivity" and said the record "only needs slightly stronger melodies to be very impressive indeed". '' Time Out''s critic Ian Birch hailed ''Boy'' as a "timely" album and said, "Firing off a tradition laid down by the likes of Magazine, iouxsie andthe Banshees and Joy Division, U2 have injected their own brand of grace and sinewy spaciousness to create a romanticism exactly right for those who sport chunky riffs and mackintoshes". Declan Lynch of Irish magazine ''
Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a monthly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who cont ...
'' remarked that he found ''Boy'' "almost impossible to react negatively to". K.R. Walston of the ''
Albuquerque Journal The ''Albuquerque Journal'' is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of New Mexico. History The ''Golden Gate'' newspaper was founded in June 1880. In the fall of 1880, the owner of the ''Golden Gate'' died and Journal Publishing Company was ...
'' said that U2 "knows how to nurse a listener along, toying with tempo and chord structures just enough to sound original but not overly avant garde". The review concluded, "the future shines brightly for bands like this". Terry Atkinson of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' called ''Boy'' a "subtly ravishing first album, by turns pretty, propulsive, playful and irresistably catchy", while further describing it as "supple and melodic, but tough and vital as well". Atkinson believed that the lyrics had "occasionally trite or vague passages" but were transcended by Bono's "heartfelt, soaring vocals". Sean McAdam of ''
The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' described it as "a hypnotic album with nuance" that he "recommended without a bit of reservation". He praised Lillywhite's production for creating an "eerie ambience" and said of the band, "U2 have the musical chops, a compelling vocalist... and most importantly 4-minute pop songs that sound at once concise and infectious". Scot Anderson of the ''
Iowa City Press-Citizen The ''Iowa City Press-Citizen'' is a daily newspaper published in Iowa City, Iowa, United States that serves most of Johnson County and portions of surrounding counties. Its primary competitors are '' The Gazette'' of Cedar Rapids, which has a n ...
'' called ''Boy'' "an album that, while flawed, shows the potential of the band". Anderson thought certain songs were too long or too short, but believed U2 distinguished themselves from their peers with their spirit and humanity, making "a most refreshing splash in the New Wave".
Dave Marsh Dave Marsh (born ) is an American music critic and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of '' Creem'' magazine, has written for various publications such as ''Newsday'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''Rolling Stone'', and has published num ...
of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' said the record's music was "unpretentious and riveting" and called U2 "easily the best Irish rock band since
Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...
's original Them troupe". He also lauded Lillywhite for his "always spearheaded production". In a separate review for ''Rolling Stone'', Debra Rae Cohen found the band skilled and likeable while crediting Lillywhite for helping them "blend echoes of several of Britain's more adventurous bands into a sound that's rich, lively and comparatively commercial." Overall, she believed the album did not live up to the high standard set by the opening track "I Will Follow", finding most of it "diffuse and uneven". More critical was
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
, who dismissed the album in his "Consumer Guide" column for ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'': "Their youth, their serious air, and their guitar sound are setting a small world on fire, and I fear the worst." The album finished in 18th place on the "Best Albums" list from ''The Village Voice''s 1981
Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...
critics' poll.


Boy Tour

Following the album's release, U2 embarked on the Boy Tour, their first concert tour of continental Europe and the US. Despite being unpolished, these early live performances demonstrated the band's potential, as critics complimented their ambition and Bono's exuberance. On an otherwise successful American leg of the tour, Bono's briefcase containing in-progress lyrics and musical ideas (which were intended for the group's second album, ''
October October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôctō'' meaning "eight") after Januar ...
'') was lost backstage during a March 1981 performance at a nightclub in
Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
.McCormick (2006), pp. 113–120


Legacy

In 2003, ''Boy'' was included at number 417 on ''Rolling Stone''s list of "
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indu ...
". The magazine wrote, "Too ingenuous for punk, too unironic for new wave, U2 arrived on ''Boy'' as big-time dreamers with the ambition to back it up." In 2006, '' Uncut'' ranked the album at number 59 on its list of the "100 Greatest Debut Albums". It was ranked as the seventh-best U2 album in a 2017 list by ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
''s Zach Schonfeld, who also called it "a U2 album without the ego" and the "preaching or presumptions of saving the world" that plagued them in the future. In 2020, ''Rolling Stone'' included ''Boy'' in their "80 Greatest albums of 1980" list, praising the band for creating "an incredible collection of songs steeped in lost innocence and apprehensions about entering the adult world." In ''
The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...
'',
Margaret Moser Margaret Moser (May 16, 1954 – August 25, 2017), or Margaret Moser Malone, was an American journalist, music enthusiast, critic and historian, groupie, and backup singer. She was best known for her work as the director of the Austin Music Awa ...
recalled the popularity of ''Boy'' in
Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...
amidst the closures and decline of local music clubs: "The newer, hipper
Club Foot Clubfoot is a congenital or acquired defect where one or both feet are supinated, rotated inward and plantar flexion, downward. Congenital clubfoot is the most common congenital malformation of the foot with an incidence of 1 per 1000 births. ...
was a beacon, and we danced away the summer on its cement floor to U2. ''Boy'' was a glimmer of hope in the approaching darkness of the
Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party and became an important figure in ...
years". In her opinion, the record was "a shout disguised as a whisper, the calm before a storm", its musical formula foreshadowing the band's subsequent success. Reviewing the 2008 reissue, '' Q'' appraised ''Boy'' as a remarkably ambitious debut, noting a distinct "adolescent energy" and "gauche charm" to the album, while ''
Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...
'' said it retained its "palpable ardency" years after its release. According to
Steven Hyden Steven Hyden (born September 7, 1977) is an American music critic, author, and podcast host. He is the author of the books ''Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me'' (2016, on rivalries in pop music history), ''Twilight of the Gods'' (2018, on the his ...
of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'', "''Boy'' showed U2 had a strong enough musical identity to command the world's attention from the very beginning". Some critics have been less impressed by the album in retrospect. Writing for ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'', Bill Wyman found it "heady" but "erratic", while ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' critic
Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...
described the album as "callow
post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...
that owes a lot to Joy Division and early
Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band formed by lead vocalist John Lydon (previously, as Johnny Rotten, lead vocalist of the Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene (a founding member of the Clash), bassi ...
." According to
Ann Powers Ann K. Powers (born February 4, 1964) is an American writer and popular music critic. She is a music critic for NPR and a contributor at the ''Los Angeles Times'', where she was previously chief pop critic. She has also written for other publicat ...
in the ''
Spin Alternative Record Guide The ''Spin Alternative Record Guide'' is a music reference book compiled by the American music magazine ''Spin (magazine), Spin'' and published in 1995 by Vintage Books. It was editing, edited by the rock music, rock critic Eric Weisbard and Crai ...
'' (1995), the album "established what might be called
2's 's may refer to: * 's, an ending used to form the possessive of English nouns and noun phrases * 's, a contraction of the English words ''is'' and ''has'' * 's, a form of the English plural ending, written after single letters and in some other ...
revelationary reputation, hints at the impulse toward faith (after all, its hit was 'I Will Follow'), but mostly communicates confusion of the adolescent variety." ''Uncut'' critic
David Quantick David Quantick (born 14 May 1961) is an English novelist, comedy writer and critic, who has worked as a journalist and screenwriter. A former freelance writer for the music magazine ''NME'', his writing credits have included '' On the Hour'', ' ...
was more negative in his reappraisal, recalling his enjoyment of the album in 1980 as a "rockier" contemporary of Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen, in spite of Bono's "preening" vocal performance, but upon listening to the reissue, felt "shock at how bad it is". He wrote: "Lilywhite's production is stunningly thin, Bono's voice is awful, the lyrics are dismal, and only the singles—the Ian Curtis-obsessed 'I Will Follow' and the great 'Out of Control'—stand up. The rest is awful prog noodling". ''Boy'' is one of only three U2 albums from which every song has been performed live at least once. ''Boy'' held this distinction individually until 2017 when all songs from ''
The Joshua Tree ''The Joshua Tree'' is the fifth studio album by the Irish rock music, rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 by Island Records. In contrast to the ambient music, ambient experimentati ...
'' were performed live on the album's 30th anniversary tour.


Track listing

Early vinyl and some cassette copies have an unlisted and untitled 30-second
instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...
sample at the end of the album (following "Shadows and Tall Trees") of "Saturday Night", a song that would later become "
Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...
" on the 1981 record ''
October October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôctō'' meaning "eight") after Januar ...
''. It was dropped from most vinyl and all early CD versions, but was reinstated as an unlisted 12th track on the 2008
remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...
ed edition of ''Boy'' and appeared in full for the first time as "Saturday Night" on the Deluxe Edition
B-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...
CD. The 30-second sample is now known as "Saturday Matinee" since the release of the album on online streaming services. Until the remastered release of ''Boy'', it was referred to as an early sample of the song "Fire". Some pressings of the album, (mostly in North America) indexed the track length of "An Cat Dubh" and "Into the Heart" at 6:21 and 1:53, respectively. The 2008 remastered edition of the album reinstated the original European track lengths of 4:47 and 3:28. Early compact disc releases (
West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...
-pressed and in a
digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case A ...
) combined the two songs into a single track at 8:15, as did some US jewel-case versions (on the disc itself, but not on the packaging).


2008 remastered edition

On 9 April 2008 U2.com confirmed that the band's first three albums (''Boy'', ''October'' and '' War'') would be re-released as newly remastered versions. The remastered ''Boy'' was released on 21 July 2008 in the UK, with the US version following it the next day. As with ''The Joshua Tree'', the cover artwork has been standardised to the original UK release. The remaster of ''Boy'' was released in three different formats: #Standard format: A single CD with re-mastered audio and restored packaging. Includes a 16-page booklet featuring previously unseen photos, full lyrics and new liner notes by Paul Morley. The 11 tracks match the previous release of the album. #Deluxe format: A standard CD (as above) and a bonus CD including b-sides, live tracks and rarities. Also includes a 32-page booklet with previously unseen photos, full lyrics, new liner notes by Paul Morley, and explanatory notes on the bonus material by the Edge. #Vinyl format: A single album re-mastered version on 180 gram vinyl with restored packaging.


Bonus CD


Personnel

U2 *
Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...
– vocals, glockenspiel *
The Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is a British-Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist o ...
– guitar, glockenspiel * Adam Clayton – bass guitar * Larry Mullen Jr. – drums Technical *Steve Lillywhite – producer *Paul Thomas –
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
*Kevin Moloney – assistant engineer *John Dent – mastering


Charts


Weekly charts


Singles


Certifications


See also

*
U2 discography The Irish rock band U2 has released 15 studio albums, one live album, three compilation albums, 84 singles, and nine extended plays (EPs). The band formed at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in 1976 as teenagers. In 1979, the group issued t ...


References

Footnotes Bibliography * * * *


External links


''Boy''
on U2.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boy (Album) U2 albums 1980 debut albums Island Records albums Albums produced by Steve Lillywhite 1980s in Irish music