THE FLY ON THE WALL

“Edge was always the tempo, the metronome for the band… HE DIDN’T FOLLOW LARRY — LARRY FOLLOWED THE EDGE”

STEVE LILLYWHITE HAS a very unique distinction; he’s been witness to the monumental rise of U2. The band initially approached him to record their debut album, 1980’s Boy. After a lengthy tour, U2 was running on fumes and looking for direction. So they turned to Lillywhite to help them craft October.

“My first thought was, ‘I’m not going to do it,’ because in those days, I had this strange, almost moralistic approach that artists should work with as many producers as possible,” Lillywhite says. “As a producer, I could work with as, so when they said, ‘No, we want you to do our next album,’ I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll do it.’”