“The History of Rock ‘N’ Roll” covers the landmark moments in musical history. From rhythm and blues to Elvis and the Beatles, Woodstock, punk, hip hop, and much more, this 10-episode rockumentary is essential viewing for anyone who cares about music.

U2 should be included in both the 8pm & 11pm portion of the program on March 2nd 2010 on Fuse. Use the channel finder to location your station.

Pioneers of rock photography talk through their favourite shots

Anton Corbijn: U2, 1986

Photograph: Anton Corbijn

I’d been working with U2 for four years when we did this picture. The working titles for their new album were “the two Americas” and “desert songs”, so I went looking for deserts in California. The shots which include the actual Joshua Tree were shot in Death Valley, the cover shot was at Zabriskie Point. The tree is named after the biblical Joshua. I suggested it to Bono, and he came back the next morning with a bible in his hand saying we’d go for it.

I came to England from Holland in the late 70s and started working for the NME. The interesting thing is that the two groups I’m most associated with – Depeche Mode and U2 – are both bands I was not a fan of at first. I turned Depeche Mode down for five years because I thought they were too poppy. With U2, they were playing on a boat moored on the Mississippi and I thought, “OK, I’ll listen to a couple of songs just to prove I was there then I’ll leave.” I didn’t realise the boat would set off, so I had to stay for the gig. I liked the guys and ended up travelling with them and did more pictures. It was the beginning of a friendship.

When the Joshua Tree album came out and became so big I felt very removed from it. I looked at the billboards and it didn’t feel like the little picture I printed in my dark room. It became this other thing.

Photographing U2 has become more difficult as they have become more well known. The Joshua Tree was taken over a period of three days travelling through the desert. It’s unthinkable for U2 to do that now. For their last album I had two hours in bad weather.

Even after 28 years I always try to take a different picture of U2. If I’m stuck, I’ll go to Holland, smoke a joint and come back with new ideas.

Read the full article at Guardian News >>

U2 leads Billboard’s Money Makers list with $108M earned, Springsteen is second with $57M

U2's 360 tour

If money makes the world go round, then U2’s latest tour, which is dubbed “360 Degrees,” proves this saying true.

The veteran act leads Billboard’s 2010 Money Makers list, earning more than $108 million in 2009.

Bruce Springsteen is second with $57 million and Madonna follows with $47 million. AC/DC and Britney Spears round out the top 5 with $43 and $38 million, respectively.

Billboard compiles the list from monies earned through tours, CD and digital sales, publishing royalties and more.

Madonna topped the list last year; Springsteen came in third. Both U2 and Madonna have touring deals with Live Nation.

- ABCnews

U2 Producer Steve Lillywhite Wants to Be Your Next American Idol Judge

Last week, noted producer Steve Lillywhite made an impassioned video plea to be considered a potential replacement for “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell, a job he’s certainly qualified for, having worked on some 30 game-changing albums in just as many years, from his early New Wave days with Siouxsie and the Banshees and Talking Heads to Peter Gabriel and U2′s formative years to current chart-toppers like 30 Seconds to Mars.

The man also has a British accent (Lillywhite grew up outside of London and is currently based in New York), a strong opinion and loads of charisma, so why did some think the video campaign was a joke?

Read more >

U2 Tap Lenny Kravitz, Interpol, and The Fray for 360 Tour was a top story for this week. Here it is again: U2 are bringing their 360 World Tour back to North America in June and on Saturday they announced some of the support acts for several of the dates. Here is what they had to say:

When the 360 Tour returns to North America in June, Lenny Kravitz will be first up on stage each night for the shows in Salt Lake City, Anaheim and Denver. (Tickets for the June 3rd Salt Lake City show go on sale this Monday.)

The Fray will be opening in Oakland, Seattle and Edmonton. Interpol will be on the bill for the shows in Minneapolis, E.Lansing, Toronto, Chicago, Miami and Philadelphia.

- antimusic

Photo:Michal Czerwonka for The New York TimesDavid Evans, better known as U2's the Edge, right, and Stephen Billings, a landscape architect, walking on the property Mr. Evans owns above Malibu.

MALIBU, Calif. — The house that the U2 guitarist longs to build here would have a copper roof, fashioned to resemble fluttering leaves. Boulders that dot the property would be left in place and assigned charming names like Dinosaur Vertebrae and Cistern. The dirt dug up to build would be reused, when possible.

Yes there would be a pool, but its central purpose would be to ward off fire should the local native plants not do the job. And every imaginable green building technique would be used.

But all of this does not mollify those who police the mountainside along one of the most gorgeous stretches of American coastline, where public access versus exclusive seclusion is an ever-raging debate that even a member of the most vocally earth-hugging rock band on the planet cannot escape.

Standing high above the Pacific Ocean, wearing his signature black beanie, David Evans, or the Edge, his nom de guitar, made the case for his proposed 156-acre development that would include five houses, his own among them. The project would “respect and honor the landscape,” he said, and set a new standard for building in remote areas by incorporating the environment rather than mowing it down. Read the rest of this entry »