Wide Awake in America
| Wide Awake in America | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| EP by U2 | ||||
| Released | 10 June 1985 | |||
| Recorded | 1984–1985 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 20:42 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Producer | U2, Tony Visconti, Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois | |||
| U2 chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Robert Christgau | B |
| Rolling Stone | mixed |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Wide Awake in America is a four-track EP by the Irish rock band U2, released in 1985. It combines two live performances of songs from the group's 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire with two B-sides from the era, which had previously been available only in the United Kingdom.
It was originally released only in North America and Japan but sold so well that it charted in the UK as an import. It was re-released internationally in 1990.
The EP's centerpiece, "Bad" – a song about heroin addiction whose lyric inspired the collection's title – would become a staple of their live set, particularly after a remarkable extended performance at Live Aid in which Bono danced with a girl in the audience. Radio programmers often chose this Wide Awake in America version over the original studio recording for airplay. The EP's title is inspired by the chorus of "Bad", with its refrain, "Wide awake / I'm wide awake / I'm not sleeping."
"Bad" was produced by the band and recorded live from the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England on 12 November 1984, as part of the Unforgettable Fire Tour. The Edge misplayed the very last note of this song, but U2 decided to use this version anyway, and the error was fixed during mixing.Rolling Stone magazine had been critical of the album version of "Bad" and other songs on The Unforgettable Fire album, which it described as "unfocused". In its review of Wide Awake In America, it said that the album's songs benefited from the transition to live performance and that "Bad" was a "show stopper."
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