U2 BY U2 - IMPORTADO

Ever wonder how the band got its name? For that story we have to go back to 1978. Steve Averill (the guy designing our book) was at school with our four heroes, who were all in a band (it wasn´t called U2 at the time) and all the band members - especially Bono - hated their current name. But they had this problem: They were going to a talent show and flyers had to be made, so they had to come up with something. Bono was a big fan of the band XTC from the 70´s, so he wanted to call them V2, because it looked cool graphically and it was also the name of a German rocket. Steve said nothing, but when it was time to make the banners, he changed the name to U2 (he didn´t like the Nazi connotations of V2 , and he liked the way U2 looked graphically). So the name goes up on all the banners. Band doesn´t mind the name but again, Bono hates it. Problem is, they win the competition, get written about in all the papers, go on to make history, and once the world knows you as U2, it´s kinda hard to go back. The story of how U2 got its name is just one of many that are in our book, and most of them have never been told before. That´s because there´s never been a book written by U2, with the help of two guys they went to school with - a designer (the same guy that´s done every U2 graphic design since they began) and a writer (the same guy that´s been writing about them since day one). Everyone involved are friends so they can all remember the stories, they have all the photos, images and designs they need, and taken together, every one of them plans to create the best illustrated rock autobiography of all time.