within a span of 23 years U2's music was stolen not once not twice
not even three or four times but five times ahead of their major albums coming out in
today's video we're going to explore what happened in all those instances
this first story starts in 1981 U2 was in oregon playing a show when a briefcase was stolen from
the band that briefcase contained lyrics that were going to be on their forthcoming album at the time
october. As a result of the stolen briefcase bono had to rewrite the lyrics to the album over
a very short period of time, something the band members claim was a terrible recording experience
a few years later when the band returned to portland bono appealed to the audience
to return that briefcase he made a similar request in 2001 when the band played the city
again finally 23 years later in 2004 the briefcase was finally returned to the band it would be a 44
year old woman named cindy harris who claims she found the briefcase in a rented house.
Harris would claim she initially had no idea it was stolen and when she finally realized
it was improperly taken she wasn't quite sure how to contact the band's management.
in the spring of 1991 ahead of u2 releasing their seventh studio album act tongue baby the band
learned that the rehearsal tapes were stolen. The group was in berlin germany during the recording
of the record and while it's not exactly clear how the rehearsal tapes ended up in the hands
of bootleggers, there would be two theories put forward one was that perhaps they were stolen
from the band members hotel rooms while another is that they were stolen from the band members cars
in dublin. The la times would report in 1991 that hotel maids found the tapes in the band members
hotel trash in berlin, but a spokesperson for the band would tell the paper "it's impossible
to fathom the band leaving these tapes in the hotel trash they would always be under lock and
key they'd say. The bootleg tapes originated from sessions that were done one year prior in berlin
at hanza studios. Either way bootleggers around the world started selling almost three and a half
hours of rehearsal tapes there would be multiple versions of the rehearsal tapes that were on the
black market when U2 learned about this and the mainstream press picked it up bono referred to
the recordings as and i quote gobbly [ __ ] and said he didn't understand why anybody would be
interested in it the la times would publish a piece in may of 1991 that proclaimed call
it the ultimate underground album rock radio isn't playing it record stories won't sell it the band's
record company hasn't even heard of it. The la times would go on to report that one bootleg that
was circulating at the time was titled the new u2 rehearsals in full versions with the album being
sold with two discs to a jacket promising 30 new tracks including she's gonna blow your house down,
sweet baby jane i feel free don't say goodbye and don't let the dues get you down. The times would
interview a fellow named pete howard who was the publisher of the international cd exchange
newsletter who was quoted as saying "what makes this almost unprecedented is that these tapes are
of songs that aren't even finished yet" He would claim he received the bootleg from an anonymous
subscriber going on to say some of the songs sound close to being the final versions but others are
still instrumentals without vocal tracks. You can even hear bono signaling the band to go into the
bridge or chorus. The band's label island records would take out full page ads in the british press
threatening lawsuits against any music shops who were caught selling the stolen tapes. the police
in london and germany would catch a few stores selling the bootlegs resulting in fines according
to the times the times would also interview the general manager for moby disc record store chain
in la who told the outlet that the retail bootleg market in la wasn't what it used to be and with
all the media attention on the U2 bootleg stores would have to be out of their minds to try and
sell it. This wasn't the only headache the man had to deal with during this time as the group
negative land put out their own release called u2 that resulted in some record stores promoting it
as the next album from the irish band but that wasn't the case. U2 and island records would
follow a lawsuit against the group and i've done a whole video on the story the link is down below
u2's 1997 album pop was the first record from the group that had to deal with internet leaks.
The record was set for a march 1997 release but in october of 1996 30 second snippets of
two songs off the album including wake up dead man and discotheque were leaked online. The
source of the league was said to be an advanced video that was sent to the group's label after
the album was delayed to 1997. A hungarian fan was identified as the source of the actual leak
then two months later in december of 1996 the entire version of discotheque leaked and u2's
label and management allowed stations to play the song to deal with the leak. The first radio
station to officially play the track was 2fm in dublin on january 7th 1997 a week and a half after
the song finally hit the internet. Things didn't end there though, if you guys lived in canada then
maybe you remember the old chain a and b sound who started selling the record a week early,
resulting in the band's label refusing to send new releases to the record chain for a short
period of time. Eventually the remainder of the tracks off the album would leak online
In december of 1999 youtube is working on their 10th studio album all that you can't leave behind
the band was in dublin during the recording of the record with bono staying at the clarence hotel
an accommodation according to mtv that was actually owned by the band. During
the making of the album it was reported that a shoulder bag from bono's room was reported
stolen and in that bag was a laptop and a series of notebooks. The laptop contained
unfinished tracks for their forthcoming album and the notebooks contain lyrics.
The news seemed pretty dire for the band and their fans with youtube indicating that this incident
could delay their upcoming album as a result bono offered a reward of 2 000 irish pounds
which was about 2 600 u.s at the time for the return of the missing bay with its contents
within a short period of time the bag would be returned to bono as a dublin man who would
only give his first name paul bought the computer from someone he believed to be a reputable source
he soon realized it was bono's missing computer which he heard about in the press
and he would return the laptop to the u2 frontman bono would issue a statement that read "everything
i'd written since august was on this and i hadn't backed up any of it so i would have really been a
goner" fortunately for the band and their fans the incident wouldn't delay youtube's upcoming album
as U2 readied the release of their 10 studio album how to dismantle an atomic bomb the ban
was in france to do a photo shoot and finish up work on the album bono also happens to own a house
in france as well the guardian would report that a cd belonging to the group's guitarist the edge
had fallen into bootlegger's hands this would happen in july of 2004
with the album due for release in november of that year the edge would put out a statement at
the time that read a large slice of two years of work lifted via a piece of round plastic
it doesn't seem credible but that's what happened to us and it was my cd.
The band's record label scrambled to call a meeting to deal with the fallout and claimed
the incident cost the ban upwards of 10 million pounds with an executive putting out a statement
that read "there's a crucial window period of a week or two after a band released a new album when
it will make most of its money at that point it is crucial to have property protection so if it's
been on the internet.beforehand it will obviously disrupt the whole band." the source would say.
The french police would launch an investigation into the theft questioning people who were at the
photo shoot and in the studio the band publicly announced that if the tracks were leaked online
they would release the album immediately on itunes the album would end up leaking online
a few weeks prior to its official release but the band didn't immediately put out the album
on itunes. Regardless of the unfortunate incident the album would still go on to
sell nine million copies worldwide that does it for today's video guys thanks for watching
be sure to like button and subscribe we'll see you again rock roll's your story. Take care.