U2 - Boy

Here's a mind-bending 'what if?' moment. This, U2's debut album, was originally to be produced by Martin Hannett, but at the last minute he withdrew, distraught over the recent death of Joy Division's Ian Curtis. Imagine how the universe-gobbling careers of the four boys from Dublin would have fared in the hands of the Mancunian experimentalist. Luckily Hannett's replacement, Steve Lillywhite was (like Eno and Lanois seven years later) to help steer them to a sonic identity that made them stand out from the crowd. In the days of grey raincoated new wave, the band's sound was stadium-sized.

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