"Vertigo" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Single by U2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
from the album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb | ||||||||||||||||||||||
B-side | "Are You Gonna Wait Forever?" "Neon Lights" |
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Released | 8 November 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Recorded | 2003-2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Studio | HQ in Dublin, Ireland, and South of France | |||||||||||||||||||||
Genre | Alternative rock | |||||||||||||||||||||
Length | 3:11 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Label | Island, Interscope | |||||||||||||||||||||
Writer(s) | U2 (music), Bono and The Edge (lyrics) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Producer(s) | Steve Lillywhite | |||||||||||||||||||||
U2 singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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"Vertigo" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the opening track on their 2004 album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and was released for airplay as its lead single on 24 September 2004; upon release the song received extensive airplay and was an international hit, being featured in a popular iPod television advertisement.
It won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Rock Song and "Best Short Form Music Video in 2005.
The song lent its name to the band's Vertigo Tour. The song ranked number 64 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Best Songs of the Decade" and scored U2 their sixth UK number-one hit.
In the case of 'Vertigo,' I was thinking about this awful nightclub we've all been to. You're supposed to be having a great time and everything's extraordinary around you and the drinks are the price of buying a bar in a Third World country. ...you're just looking around and you see big, fat Capitalism at the top of its mountain, just about to topple. It's that woozy, sick feeling of realizing that here we are, drinking, eating, polluting, robbing ourselves to death. And in the middle of the club, there's this girl. She has crimson nails. I don't even know if she's beautiful, it doesn't matter but she has a cross around her neck, and the character in this stares at the cross just to steady himself.
During the How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb recording sessions, "Vertigo" was originally recorded as a song called "Full Metal Jacket". Bono said during a webchat that the song was "the mother of all rock 'n' roll tunes. I don't know where it came from but it's a remarkable guitar thing. You want to hear it - it's a reason to make a record. The song is that good!" The title was later changed to "Native Son". The lyrics in this iteration are about a native man who was against his country due to his lack of freedoms, an idea originally inspired by Leonard Peltier. The song went through several different musical and lyrical arrangements, but the band struggled to find a version they liked. Steve Lillywhite was brought in to try to find a mix that worked while Bono took a break from the album sessions; on his return, Lillywhite asked him if he would be able to sing the "Native Son" lyrics in front of an audience, and Bono found the experience too uncomfortable. New lyrics were written and Lillywhite helped the band rearrange the song. It was at this point that the song was rewritten into "Vertigo." At 3:08 long, "Native Son" is just a few seconds short of the run time of "Vertigo." The track has since been released on the digital album Unreleased and Rare, which was only available through purchasing the entire digital box set, The Complete U2, as well as the album Medium, Rare & Remastered.