Ongoing History of New Music

Ongoing History Daily: U2 and Michael Jackson’s odd request

Think back to U2’s third album, War, the one with the picture of a young boy on the cover. His name is Peter Rowen, the brother of a friend of the group.

When the album was on sale, there was a huge blowup of the cover on display at the Tower Records store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. A giant black-and-white picture of this young boy. Michael Jackson saw it and loved it so much that he contacted U2 to ask them if he could have the picture once the record store was done with it.

True story. Make of it what you will.

Yesterday’s Ongoing History Daily was about reuniting The Clash.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39178 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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