U2's Long History of Stolen Music - October, Achtung Baby, Pop,

U2: Today we take a look at the band's unfortunate history of stolen music.

0:00 - October
1:19 - Achtung Baby
4:12 - Pop
5:24 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
6:30 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

U2 Negativland Feud

Have a video request or a topic you'd like to see us cover? Fill out our google form!

-----CONNECT ON SOCIAL-----

#u2 #bono #theedge

I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos.

Within a span of 23F years U2’s music was stolen not one, not twice, not three times, but four times ahead of their album’s coming out. In today’s video we’re going to explore what happened in all four instances.

Story 1

This first story starts in 1981. U2 was in Oregon playing a show when a briefcase was stolen from the band. The brief case contained lyrics that were going to be on their forthcoming album at the time October. As a result of the stolen briefcase Bono had to rewire the lyrics to the album in the studio, something the band members claimed was a terrible recording experience. A few years later when the band returned to Portland Bono appealed to the audience to return the briefcase. He made a similar request in 2001 when the band played Portland again.

Finally, 23 years after it went missing the briefcase was returned in 2004 by a 44 year old woman named Cindy Harris, 44 who claimed she found it in the attic of a rented house in 1981. Harris would claim she had no idea that it was stolen in 1981 and when she finally realized it was improperly taken, she wasn’t sure how to contact the band’s management.

Story 2

In the spring of 1991 ahead of U2 releasing their seven thstudio album Achtung baby the band learned that theirr rehearsal tapes were stolen. The band was in berlin, germany during the recording of the album. While it’s not exactly clear how teh rehearsal tapes ended up in the hands of bootleggers there’s been two theories put forward. One was that perhaps they were stolen from the band members hotel rooms, while another is that they were stolen from the band members cars in Dublin. The LA Times would report that hotelmaids found the tapes in the band members hotel trash can in berlin, but a spokesperson for the band told the paper “It’s impossible to fathom the band leaving these tapes in the hotel trash. They would always be under lock and key.” The bootleg tapes originated from sessions done the previous year in Berlin at Hansa (hanza) studios.

Either way bootleggers around the world started selling the almost 3.5 hours of rehearsal tapes. There would be multiple versions of the rehearsal tapes put out .When U2 learned about this and the mainstream press picked it up, Bono referred to the recordings as and i quote “gobbleygook” and said that he didn’t understand why anybody would be interested in it.

The LA Times would publish a piece in May of 1991 that read “Call it the ultimate underground album. Rock radio isn’t playing it. Record stores won’t sell it. The band’s record company hasn’t even heard of it.” The LA Times would report that one bootleg that was circulating at the time was titled “The New U2: Rehearsals and Full Versions,” with the album being sold with two discs to a jacket promising 30 new tracks including “She’s Gonna Blow Your House Down,” “Sweet Baby Jane,” “I Feel Free,” “Don’t Say Goodbye” and “Don’t Let the Dues Get You Down.”

The Times would interview a fellow named Pete Howard who was the publisher of the international CD exchange newsletter who said “What makes this almost unprecedented is that these are tapes of songs that aren’t even finished yet,” . He would claim he received the bootleg from an anonymous subscriber going on to say “Some of the songs sound close to being final versions, but others are still instrumentals without vocal tracks. You can even hear (lead singer) Bono signaling the band to go into a bridge or chorus.”

The band’s label island records would take out full page ads in the british press threatening lawsuits against any music shops who were caught selling the stolen tapes. The police in London and Germany would catch a few stores selling the bootlegs, resulting in fines according to the Times. The Times would interview the general manager for Moby Disc record store chain in LA who told the outlet that the retail bootleg market in LA isn’t what it used to be and with all the media attention on the U2 bootleg, stores would have to be out of their mind to try and sell it. This wasn’t the only headache to plague the band during the making of the album as the group negativland put out their o

[skycaptainshell]

The phrasing suggests that U2 has a history of stealing music.

[busch]

U2" I still haven't found what I'm looking for!"

[Brad]

Things I learned from this video.
1 - Never leave anything of value with a member of the band U2

[mothmanifest]

Bono and The Edge walk into a bar, the bartender says, “oh no, not you two again.”

[gipnor]

U2 lost one album that ended up being discovered on everyone’s iPhone and was damn near impossible to remove!

[docsamson]

I once went to a U2 concert and to my surprise, they actually played music in between lectures.

[wtrdawnlord]

It seems unprecedented that any band would have FIVE high profile thefts of such important materials. Once is understandable. Five is publicity stunts. It's been said many times, there's no such thing as bad publicity.

[nps]

The first theft was true and completely unplanned. They would’ve learned from that experience and wouldn’t let it happen again. I’m sure the other thefts were P.R. Stunts, you have your people and security around. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with U2, between their politics and their music it’s hard to choose sides. But they’re so good live it’s hard to hate them too much.

[buckodonnghaile]

Perhaps they should spend less on Bono's sunglass collection and more on security?

[mrfuzz]

Funny when I saw the title I thought it was implying U2 had a long history of stealing other people's music ;)

[robertkees]

I can still remember taking a train from NC to Fla. back in the day and having a Sony Walkman and listening to U2's The Unforgettable Fire, man that was fun. Looking outside as the world passed by was almost dream like thanks to that album. Of course I didn't know the music was stolen, but then again I stole the CD so I guess that makes us even.

[DrummrBy]

U2 are the greatest band in history
I’m from Dublin and I don’t give a fuck what opinions people have
They’re brilliant

[fractaled]

I'd say a couple of the incidents were publicity stunts.

[werewally]

At 80 Courics Bono is still the world record largest dump ever taken. Incredible.

[StratsRUs]

Brilliant band throughout 80s and early 90s.Heavy as f*ck live !

[TheClownfight]

I remember the whole Negativeland mess, I actually have the original book detailing the whole court case. It even came with the iconic and super banned material. All of that it likely online free now. I also remember that U2 came off as total rich dbags trying to crush this little independent band. the reality likely was it was lawyers and suits attacking. This story gives me more perspective, though, on why U2 was so defensive about missing or pirated music. One good thing that came out of that tedious and soul crushing lawsuit against SST and Negativeland was some good discussions about 'found sound' and 'fair use'. Thanks for this piece!

[Ruggedystim]

Imagine if it was the same guy who was stealing from them the whole time. We'll call him Scott

[zacharymcmillan]

I can't look at Bono anymore without remembering the South Park episode where he was exposed for being the world record biggest dump. 🤣👍

[larryschulte]

SOUNDS LIKE THE STOLEN MUSIC THING IS JUST A WAY TO DRUM UP ANTICIPATION FOR THEIR NEW RECORDINGS

[georgehenry]

I am so relieved! I clicked because I thought the headline was suggesting U2 were plagiarists.