U2 began to work with Lillywhite on their first album in August 1980. A single, "A Day Without Me" was released in the same month and by October the group was ready for its first European shows. The BOY album was released in October,along with a third single, "I Will Follow."

During November U2 travelled to the US to play their first shows there. Back in Dublin in January '81 U2 collected nine firsts in The Hot Press Reader's Poll. One month later, at the final sold out show of the British tour, 700 people had to be turned away from London's 3,000 capacity Lyceum Ballroom. U2 spent the next three months touring the US.

In June '81, the first OCTOBER single was released. "Fire" was recorded at Compass Point Studios during a break in the U.S. tour.
OCTOBER entered the UK album chart at number 11 after one week of release, the second single from the album, GLORIA, also made the UK chart. European and American tours followed, culminating in a 5,000 capacity show at Dublin's RDS in January '82. "A Celebration," released in March, gave U2 their third chart single.

The release of WAR, marked a turning point: "New Year's Day" was a UK top ten hit and the album entered the UK at number one and went top ten in the U.S. The same year U2 headlined "A Day At The Races" at the Phoenix Park, Dublin, in front of 25,000 people.

Recorded at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Colorado, during U2's U.S. tour, UNDER A BLOOD RED SKY was U2's first live album. On release it topped the chart in the UK and reached platinum status by January '84. Meanwhile, WAR notched up its 12th consecutive month on the UK charts. Rolling Stone Writer's Poll voted U2 "Band Of The Year" for 1983.

In December '83 U2 undertook their first tour of Japan and it was during this trip that the group visited "The Unforgettable Fire" -an exhibition of photographs of the bombing of Hiroshima - the impact of which is self-evident.

U2 started work in May of 1984 with new producers, Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois at Slane Castle outside Dublin. By August, the album was complete and a world tour started in New Zealand returning to Europe by September with four albums in the Australian charts and "Pride," the first single, at number four.

THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE was released in October and entered the charts at number one. Further touring ('84-'85) saw landmark shows at Wembley Arena in November, New York's Madison Square Garden in April and The Milton Keynes Bowl and Dublin's Croke Park in June. "The Unforgettable Fire" entered the UK singles chart at number eight. Rolling Stone magazine named U2 "The band of the eighties."

In July '85 U2 performed at Live Aid and then returned to Dublin to write the next album.

U2 interrupted rehearsals in June '86 to play six American shows, entitled "A Conspiracy Of Hope" and a benefit for Amnesty International. The tour also featured Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Bryan Adams, The Neville Brothers, Joan Baez and The Police.

THE JOSHUA TREE established U2's stellar status. The album went straight to number one in the UK chart (arriving fittingly on St. Patrick's Day) and reached the same position in the U.S. by April. The first single, "With Or Without You" also went to number one in the U.S., top five in the UK, and when THE JOSHUA TREE tour started in Arizona in April, Time, the world's biggest-selling magazine, placed U2 on its cover proclaiming "U2, Rock's Hottest Ticket."

In May the European tour started in Rome and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was released. Again, chart positions were top five in the UK and number one in the U.S. The third single, "Where The Streets Have No Name" also enjoyed chart hit status.

In September '87 U2 embarked on the second part of their North American tour accompanied by film maker Phil Joanou who documented the group's progress through to Sun Devil Stadium in Arizona on December 19th and 20th.

In 8 months U2 had played over 100 shows, THE JOSHUA TREE had sold in excess of 14 million copies around the world and topped the charts in 22 countries.

In Spring '88, U2 moved to Los Angeles to carry out post-production work on the film footage shot by Joanou. During this time, U2 collected two Grammy Awards, for Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance, and a BPI Award for Best International act.

The first single "Desire" was released in September, reached number one world-wide, and was the first time that U2 had topped the UK singles chart. In October, U2 played at London's Dominion Theatre for the "Smile Jamaica" live television show in aid of hurricane-hit Jamaica. U2 were joined on stage by Keith Richards and Ziggy Marley.

RATTLE AND HUM was released in October, a double album containing nine new tracks: part live and part recorded material, its four sides fitted neatly onto a single CD. It entered the British chart at number one and reached the same spot in the U.S. Two weeks later, Joanou's film received its world premier in Dublin, opening world-wide three days later. During its first weekend of release, "U2: Rattle and Hum" was the second biggest grossing film in the U.S. and Canada, an unprecedented success for a "music" film.

Two more Grammys were collected at the 1989 Awards, this time for Best Rock Performance and Best Video. Again, U2 collected the BPI Award for Best International Act.

In September came the Lovetown Tour of Australia, New Zealand & Japan - including two nights at the Tokyo Dome - after which U2 returned to Europe to play a small number of venues. The shows in Dublin (December 26-31), celebrated the start of a new decade. The New Year's Eve show, which started at midnight, was radio transmitted throughout Europe and the USSR. The BBC and RTE, who collaborated on the transmission, estimated the audience to be in excess of 500 million.

Recorded in various locations,including Berlin and Dublin, ACHTUNG BABY was U2's first release of the nineties. Taking the radio transmission of the Dublin concert on New Year's Eve '89 one step further U2 incorporated a satellite dish in their Zoo TV tour which started a 31-city tour of the U.S. in February '92. A European "Kiss-Me-Quick" tour followed during which an MTV competition winner had the show beamed live by satellite from Stockholm to his home in Nottinghamshire. The tour concluded with a Greenpeace concert, held in Manchester on June 19 with Public Enemy, Kraftwerk and BAD II, in protest of the proposed second nuclear processing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria.

The following day U2 was involved in a Greenpeace action, delivering contaminated waste from the beaches of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England back to the plant. The action was taken despite but not in breach of a court injunction preventing such a protest.

In August U2 took Zoo TV to the stadiums of the U.S. with their Outside Broadcast Tour. The tour ran until mid-November, ending in Mexico City. By the end of 1992 U2 had played live to more than 2 1/2 million people.

Zooropa was recorded in Dublin from March to May 1993 and for the first time the Edge took the producer's title, along with Flood and Brian Eno, and he also featured as lead vocalist on "Numb," the first track from the album. Johnny Cash was guest vocalist on "The Wanderer." ZOOROPA started life as an EP and grew during the recording sessions into an album. The ZOOROPA '93 Tour which started on May 9 in Rotterdam, travelled through the stadiums of Europe, covering eighteen countries in four months, finishing in Dublin's RDS on August 28th. After a brief rest, the tour moved to Australasia and Japan, with the final concert being played at the Tokyo Dome on the 10th of December 1993. On the ZOO TV tour, U2 played 157 shows to over 4 MILLION people.
U2 decided to take a well-earned break following the mammoth ZOO TV Tour and very little new about the band emerged. In 1995 Bono was rumoured to have been offered a part playing 'MacPhisto' in the film 'Batman Forever' but instead, U2's contribution to the summers blockbuster was the hit single 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me'. A song originally concieved during the Achtung Baby sessions and revisited for the Batman film.

A soundtrack without a film was the description of the 'Original Soundtracks 1' album which found U2 collaborting with Brian Eno under the guise of 'Passengers', with special guests Luciano Pavarotti, Holi, and Howie B. With the band insisting that the album was not a U2 release and with very little publicity, the album sold less than bonifide U2 albums of the past. A single "Miss Sarajevo" was released in Britain with the proceeds going to the charity War Child.

Things were quiet in early 1996, with Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton's revamped theme to "Mission : Impossible" being the only release from any members of U2.

U2 returned to the studio in the summer to start work on their next album. With an original release date of October, and with concerns on the bands new 'sound', the release date slipped and the band continued to work on the new album. At the end of September 1996, U2 still hard at work at the Hanover Quay studios, decided to install a camera in the studio and to beam pictures of the work in progress around the internet.

Discotheque became the first single to be released from the new album and saw U2 dressing as the 'Village People' in the video. The Album was finally finished at the end of November.

Staring At The Sun was released in April 1997 with the PopMart World Tour kicking off in Las Vegas, Nevada on April the 25th. The Tour continued through July '97 in North America, then moved to Europe with the Sarajevo landmark concert being broadcast worldwide. The PopMart tour travelled back to North America in October.