Irish postpunk band that by the end of the 1980s had established itself not only as one of the world's most popular bands but also as one of the most innovative. The members are Bono (byname of Paul Hewson; b. May 10, 1960, Dublin, Ireland), the Edge (byname of David Evans; b. August 8, 1961, Barking, Essex 【now in Greater London】, England), Adam Clayton (b. March 13, 1960, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England), and Larry Mullen, Jr. (b. October 31, 1961, Dublin).

Though forged in the crucible of punk rock that swept Europe in the late 1970s, U2 instantly created a distinctive identity with its grandiose sound, a merger of the Edge's minimal, reverb-drenched guitar and Bono's quasi-operatic vocals. The band members were attending a Dublin secondary school when they began rehearsing, undeterred by their lack of technical expertise. The band's early records were characterized by an intense spirituality, and they commented on social and political issues, such as the civil strife in Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland), with compassion and tenderness. The group became renowned for its inspirational live performances and was a word-of-mouth sensation long before it made much of an impact on the pop charts. But, with the multimillion-selling success of The Joshua Tree album (1987) and the number one hits “With or Without You” and “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,” U2 became pop stars. On Rattle and Hum (1988), a double album and documentary movie, the band explored American roots music— blues, country (country music), gospel (gospel music), and folk—with typical earnestness but were pilloried by some critics who found the project pompous.

U2 reinvented itself for the new decade, reemerging in 1991 with the album Achtung Baby and a sound heavily influenced by European experimental, electronic (electronic music), and disco music. With this came a stage show that trafficked in irony and self-deprecating humour, qualities virtually absent from the band's music in the previous decade; the 1992 Zoo TV tour was one of the most technically ambitious and artistically accomplished large-scale rock spectacles ever staged. But, despite the flashier exterior, the band's lyrics remained obsessed with matters of the soul. The dehumanizing aspects of media and technology were a recurring theme on subsequent records, even as the band immersed itself in techno textures. In 2000, U2 released the aptly titled All That You Can't Leave Behind, which incorporated elements of the band's earlier music.