"Staring at the Sun" is a song by Irish

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band U2. It is the fifth track on their 1997 album, '' Pop'', and was released 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 ...

as the album's second single on 14 April 1997. The song peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart, number one in Canada and Iceland and number 26 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In the US, it topped 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 ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

and Adult Alternative Songs charts. It also reached the top 10 in Finland, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand and Norway.

Background

The song was written with the line "Stuck together with God's glue", which was taken directly from the title of the album by the Irish band Something Happens, who are good friends with U2. The band felt the song was a potential "anthem to rival '

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

'." A new mix of "Staring at the Sun" was released for the compilation, ''

The Best of 1990–2000 ''The Best of 1990–2000'' is the second greatest hits album by Irish rock band U2. It was released on 5 November 2002 through Island Records and Interscope Records. The follow-up to '' The Best of 1980–1990'' (1998), it was issued as both ...

''. During the mid-2002 recording sessions in which "

Electrical Storm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustics, acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorm ...

" and " The Hands That Built America" were recorded, parts for four U2 songs were re-recorded, including "Staring at the Sun". The song has been compared to the work of

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a symmetrical pattern when viewed fro ...

bearing the single's logo in gold was distributed to promote the single.

Critical reception

Kevin Courtney from ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' commented, "Could this be U2's riposte to " Champagne Supernova", an overt attempt to steal some thunder back from

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

que as anything

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel ...

has ever knocked out.

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 ...

picks out pictures of matchstick men on his guitar, while

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 ...

sings of "''Summer stretching on the grass ... Summer dresses pass . ..''" A front runner for U2's big Summer 97 hit." British magazine ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' gave it top score with five out of five and named it Single of the Week, writing, "Possibly the most obvious single on '' Pop'', this track is awash with a melancholy that's amplified by

's plangent, keening guitar signature. Big." David Sinclair from ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' said, "''God is good, but will He listen?'' Bono asks in this solid return to traditional U2 territory. Does He have a choice?"

Live performances

"Staring at the Sun" was played at most of the PopMart Tour shows. However, during the first concert at Las Vegas, U2 failed to time the song correctly and had to start over. Bono singing at the wrong tempo was to blame for the mistake. The song was performed acoustically for most of the rest of that tour. It had several appearances on the

Elevation Tour The Elevation Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the Irish Rock music, rock band U2. Staged in support of the group's 2000 album ''All That You Can't Leave Behind'', the tour visited arenas across North America and Europe in 2001. Contrasting w ...

, being the only ''Pop'' song to be performed on all three legs of the Elevation Tour. Sometimes it also appeared as a snippet in "

Discothèque A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighting displays, and a ...

". It was performed as a live staple of the North American leg of the 2018 Experience + Innocence Tour." It appeared in the live videos/

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

'' Please: PopHeart Live EP'', " Please" single, '' PopMart: Live from Mexico City'', '' Hasta la Vista Baby!'' and '' U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle, Ireland''.

Formats and track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Staring At The Sun (U2 Song) 1997 singles U2 songs RPM Top Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in Iceland Island Records singles Songs written by Bono Songs written by the Edge Songs written by Adam Clayton Songs written by Larry Mullen Jr. Song recordings produced by Flood (producer)