Boy

Boy was U2's debut album, released 20/10/1980. It was produced by Steve Lillywhite and recorded from March to September in 1980. Boy presents a rock/post-punk music genre and a length of 42 minutes and 14 seconds. As Bono said, Boy was a retrospective of U2 over two years - the end of our adolescence... what we were looking for in Boy was a sort of cinema sound, panavision - really textured and big, like a huge screen in a cinema..

A remastered edition of Boy was released in 2008.

Cover/Sleeve Design
The boy on the album cover is Peter Rowen; the picture was taken by Hugo McGuiness and Steve Averill designed the sleeve. The american and canadian cover was changed into a distorted picture of U2, due to some fears about accusing the band of pedophilia.

Reception
Rolling Stone magazine's rating for Boy is 3.5 stars out of 5 and Allmusic's is 4 stars out of 5. The album peaked number 52 in the UK charts and 63 in the US charts. It's certified gold in the UK and platinum in the US.

Due to some 'sexual overtones' in some of the album's tracks, Boy was a great hit in gay pubs.

Tracks
1. 'I Will Follow' (3:36)

2. 'Twilight' (4:22)

3. 'An Cat Dubh' (4:47)

4. 'Into the Heart' (3:28)

5. 'Out of Control' (4:13)

6. 'Stories for Boys' (3:02)

7. 'The Ocean' (1:34)

8. 'A Day Without Me' (3:14)

9. 'Another Time, Another Place' (4:34)

10. 'The Electric Co.' (4:48)

11. 'Shadows and Tall Trees' (4:36)

Early vynil and remastered versions of the album featured an untitled track, which is believed to be a sample from Saturday Night, which would later become Fire.

North American versions of Boy have An Cat Dubh (6:21) and Into the Heart (1:53).

Singles/EPs
The singles Three (1979), Another Day (1980), A Day Without Me (1980) and I Will Follow (1980) contain songs from Boy.