Ongoing History Daily: U2’s Unforgettable Fire artwork
Have you ever looked at the cover of U2’s Unforgettable Fire album and wondered what that was? It’s actually a slightly doctored photo of a real Irish castle called Moydrum.
Moydrum was built in the town of Athlone in Ireland back in 1814 but was burned out in 1921 by the IRA during a confrontation with the British army. It’s now used to store hay for a nearby farm. The photo on the cover of The Unforgettable Fire was taken by Anton Corbijn, one of rock and roll’s most famous photographers.
But here’s something more: the design of the album artwork was overseen by a guy named Steve Averill. In 1978, he was working for an ad agency in Dublin when a kid named Adam Clayton phoned him up for advice on a new name for his band which, at the time, was called The Hype. After talking for a while, Steve suggested that the Hype change their name to U2.
My last post was about the first internet concert in Canada.