"Desire" | ||||||||||||||||
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Single by U2 | ||||||||||||||||
from the album Rattle and Hum | ||||||||||||||||
Released | 26 September 1988 | |||||||||||||||
Format | CD, cassette, 12" | |||||||||||||||
Recorded | STS Studios in Dublin, Ireland | |||||||||||||||
Genre | Rock and roll, rhythm and blues | |||||||||||||||
Length | 2:59 | |||||||||||||||
Label | Island | |||||||||||||||
Writer(s) | ||||||||||||||||
Producer(s) | Jimmy Iovine | |||||||||||||||
U2 singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||
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"Desire" is a song by Irish rock band U2 and the third track on their 1988 album, Rattle and Hum. Released as the album's lead single, "Desire" was the band's first number-one single in the UK and Australia. It reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., and topped both the Modern and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts, the first song to reach the top of both of these charts simultaneously. It reached number two on the Dutch Top 40. In 1989, "Desire" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
The band cite the Stooges' song "1969" as the primary influence on "Desire," which is an interpolation of the Bo Diddley Beat.
"Desire" debuted live on the first night of the Lovetown Tour on 21 September 1989, and appeared at almost every concert on that tour. It segued into a cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," and the Lovetown performances of this song are considered by fans to be far superior to the one found on Rattle and Hum.
On the Zoo TV Tour, "Desire" was re-invented with different effects on the Edge's guitar, and it opened most encores. Bono would use the song to accentuate characteristics of his onstage alteregos Mirrorball Man and MacPhisto. On the PopMart Tour, Bono and the Edge would play the song acoustically. For the Elevation Tour, it was a stripped-down electric version played at the tip of a heart-shaped walkway that extended into the audience. Adam Clayton would join in with bass just before the bridge, and Larry Mullen, Jr. played along on a single drum.