Nostalgia Kinky

An informative, rewarding and exceptionally warm read from author and historian Bradley Morgan, U2 Until The End of The World is now available as a beautiful coffee-table hardcover edition from Weldon Owen’s Insight Editions. Distributed by Simon & Schuster, Morgan’s new guide to one of the most iconic rock bands in history is both an excellent introduction to the band as well as an intensive deep-dive into all aspects of their lengthy career that’s gonna hit the big 50 mark in just a few years.

If you came of age in the eighties and early nineties like I did, then you came of age with U2. I had metal head friends that were into U2, local punk collaborators, pop lovers and stoners I knew and all of us had some of the then unstoppable Irish group’s music in our collection. And for the folks that didn’t it didn’t matter as the music was everywhere. The Joshua Tree came out in the spring of my final year of junior high and I still recall how inescapable those glorious single were. Morgan points out that the album “has gained a reputation as one of the greatest and most influential albums of the last 40 years” and I can absolutely say that was the feeling at the time.

By the time the magnificent Achtung Baby came in 1991 I had just graduated high school and it seemed like Bono and crew were at their absolute peak. It was an awesome period that saw the creators of Post-Punk classics like Boy and War still capable of creating amazing and timeless music together. Morgan notes in this period U2 embraced irony while not letting go of their political roots and that the opening acts they chose (Kraftwerk, Public Enemy and my boys Big Audio Dynamite) reflected especially how “politically engaged” they still were.

Morgan’s new book about U2 is valuable for a number of reasons. First and foremost is that it is an expertly researched and written book that is beautifully presented, absolutely packed with photos. More than that though Morgan’s obvious love for the band and their music comes through on every page, making it a marvelous anecdote to the often negative modern reactions thrown at U2. Morgan doesn’t shy away from the controversies but his consistently positive embrace and focus on THE WORK puts everything in much more understandable context than the majority of recent writing or videos about U2.

On a narrative level U2 Until The End of The World is fairly straightforward and its chronological order goes along with the unending driving ambition of the band. One thing that has always impressed me about U2 is that its been the same four guys for the last five decades. You know how crazy that is in the world of Rock music? Morgan obsessively chronicles every prolific step from the singles to the albums to the films to the reception that greeted all. An academic, Morgan also expertly details the world around U2, how they affected it and how it affected their music. A poignant example of this occurs in the chapter on The Joshua Tree where the tragic murder (that I’ll never get over) of actress Rebecca Schaeffer comes up due to the scumbag killer’s obsession with their song “Exit”. Morgan writes that the song strays “further into the country’s darker impulses” and it is that kind of attention to the history around U2 that makes Until The End of The World such a special book.

Amongst the most welcome choices Morgan makes in this new book is the equal level of attention he gives to each phase of U2’s career. Most studies have focused mostly on the great period between the release of the debut album and Zooropa in the mid-nineties but Morgan spends just as much time on the often more divisive second act of their career making this as complete a portrait of the band ever published.

Bradley writes near the conclusion of his book that eventually “U2 will end”, a rather surreal and sad thought to think of. It feels like the world has lost so many valued institutions as of late that I hope U2 doesn’t join those ranks anytime soon. After reading Morgan’s endearing book, I’d like to see these four guys keep soldiering on. U2 will always have their haters but can those haters write a song as timeless as “One”, as powerful as “Sunday Bloody Sunday” or as surprising “The Wanderer”? Morgan eloquently writes in the section dealing with the fallout from Rattle and Hum that “when U2 sought to redefine their sound, it was the beginning of a new journey”
Here’s to a future where those new journeys are possible not just for the band but for us.

-Jeremy Richey, December 2025-

U2 Until The End of the World is available to order everywhere books are sold. Highly recommended.