Vertigo (U2 song)

"Vertigo" is the opening track and first single from U2's 2004 album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The single was released for airplay on September 24, 2004; upon release the song received extensive airplay and was an international hit, being featured in a popular iPod Television advertisement. It won "Best Rock Song", "Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal" and "Best Short Form Music Video" at the 2005 Grammy Awards. The song lent its namesake to the band's Vertigo Tour.

Composition

During the Atomic Bomb recording sessions, "Vertigo" was originally recorded as a song called "Full Metal Jacket". The Edge had told Planet Sound Magazine that the song was "The mother of all rock tunes" and "A reason alone for making a new record". The title was later changed to "Native Son". The lyrics in this iteration are about a native man who was against his country due to his lack of freedoms, an idea originally inspired by Leonard Peltier. The song went through several different musical and lyrical arrangements, but the band struggled to find a version they liked. Steve Lillywhite was brought in to try and find a mix that worked while Bono took a break from the album sessions; on his return, Lillywhite asked him if he would be able to sing the "Native Son" lyrics in front of an audience, and Bono found the experience too uncomfortable. New lyrics were written and Lillywhite helped the band rearrange the song. It was at this point that the song was rewritten into "Vertigo". At 3:08 long, "Native Son" is just a few seconds short of the run time of "Vertigo." The track has since been released on the digital album Unreleased and Rare, which was only available through purchasing the entire digital box set, The Complete U2, as well as the album Medium, Rare & Remastered.

U2 performed "Vertigo" in a television commercial for the Apple iPod as part of a cross-marketing plan to promote both the album and Apple's music products (especially the U2 Special Edition iPod and the iTunes Music Store's exclusive digital box set for U2, The Complete U2).

At the beginning of the song, U2 lead singer Bono counts off in Spanish ¡Unos, dos, tres, catorce!. In English, this translates to "some, two, three, fourteen!" When asked about this oddity in an interview for Rolling Stone, Bono replied "there may have been some alcohol involved.". In the live version on Vertigo 2005: Live from Chicago, Bono jokingly announces the language as Gaelic. A Spanish reply of "¡Hola!" is also heard behind the "Hello, hello" of the refrain, as well as "¿Dónde está?" after the line "I'm at a place called Vertigo,".

The "Hello, hello" line itself is reminiscent of similar lyrics in the song "Stories for Boys" from U2's debut album Boy; in Vertigo Tour concerts, the band frequently included a section of the latter song in their performances of "Vertigo". These concerts have also sometimes featured "Vertigo" played twice, once early in the show and again as a final encore; this also looks back to U2's early days, when they did not have enough songs to fill out an entire performance and had to repeat some at the end.

Music video

The video for the song features U2 performing in a featureless desert as black jet streams emit from behind each band member; on the ground is a huge white bulls-eye symbol used as a motif for the album graphics. The circular platform that the band performs on constantly elevates up and down in a spiral pattern, as the wind blows in the band's face. It was directed by the team of Alex & Martin.

Recognition and subsequent use in popular culture

In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Vertigo" at number 58 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

Snippets of the song have been used extensively as PA music at sporting events; for example, beginning in the 2006-2007 season, whenever the Montreal Canadiens, an NHL hockey team, scored a goal on home ice or finished a victory, "Vertigo" has been played in celebration, replacing a long-time club anthem.

"Vertigo" was featured in a season 5 episode of CSI, "Swap Meet".

Track listings

(the same version is on both sides)

also released in Europe as a 3" CD (Island / 986 8185)

Charts

Upon release, "Vertigo" debuted at #18 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and #46 on the Billboard Hot 100; in the following weeks the track jumped to #1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and also moved from #27 to #3 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and from #35 to #9 on the Adult Top 40. It also debuted at #1 on the Hot Digital Tracks chart and, after falling to #4, returned to the top position. The track later moved into the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #31; it spent 20 weeks on the chart (It should be noted that at this point in time, Billboard did not include digital downloads as part of the charting process for the Hot 100. This practice started in 2005, and even then, an already fading "Vertigo" received a 20-spot jump on the charts thanks to the downloads. Had Billboard counted downloads in 2004, "Vertigo" would have most likely been another Top 10 hit for U2.).

In the United Kingdom, the song moved from BBC Radio 1's B-list on the first week of its airplay release to the A-list in the second week. The song was released commercially on November 15; it debuted at #1 and remained there for one week; it spent 9 weeks in the top 40.

In Australia, the track debuted at #5 on the Aria charts and was ranked #38 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004. In The Netherlands "Vertigo" reached #2 on the Mega Top 100.

The digital single holds a 2x Platinum status in the United States, selling over 400,000 downloads.

Translation of "Vertigo (U2 song)"

Spanish: Vertigo (canción), French: Vertigo (musique), Italian: Vertigo (U2), Dutch: Vertigo (U2), Polish: Vertigo, Swedish: Vertigo (musiksingel).