Beyond the Pond is a bi-weekly podcast in which Brian Brinkman (@sufferingjuke) and David Goldstein (@daveg924) use the music of Phish as a gateway to introduce the listener to many other bands, the vast majority of which are not jambands. An episode generally begins with a deep dive into a designated portion of Phish improvisation, and then can spin off to any variety of musical themes and other acts, the overarching purpose being introducing the listener to as many new and different bands as possible.

Most episodes of Beyond the Pond involve us using elements of Phish improvisation as a springboard for discussing other bands that we think you will enjoy. This is not one of those episodes.

In this episode, we wanted to talk about one of our favorite bands, and one that we’re convinced does not always get the respect they deserve in the Phish community at large, U2. And as is the Beyond the Pond way, it’s not enough for us to merely “talk” about this band, but rather we take a chronologic deep dive through each of their albums and attempt to explore how they grew into arguably the Biggest Band in the World, how they radically re-invented themselves with stunning results in the early 90’s, and how they’ve basically spent much of the last 20 years trying to figure out what’s next. We also resurrect key B-sides, talk much smack about the deep cuts on 1983’s War, and debate whether their late 80’s single “All I Want Is You” is legitimately good or merely “that boring song at the end of the Reality Bites soundtrack.”

For this episode we’re delighted to be joined by our friend Ryan Nichols (@ryannichols7); a huge Phish fan with an encyclopedic mind for music, and a scholar on all things U2-related.

This was a free flowing conversation that ran rather long, so we’re splitting up this episode into two parts; this part will cover U2’s albums from Boy (1980) through Zooropa (1993), and part 2 will follow next week with Pop (1997) through Songs of Experience (2017). U2 is a really, really good band, that has also done some really, really embarrassing stuff. Therefore, they’re lots of fun to talk about. You’ll enjoy this.

We appreciate you listening, and are certain that you will learn something new over the course of just under two hours. You can review and subscribe to Beyond the Pond on iTunes, or simply listen through the player below.

You can find us on Twitter at @_beyondthepond

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