U2 didn't just rock the crowd at Apple's iPhone 6 launch event on Tuesday; the band released their new album, "Songs of Innocence," for free on iTunes. The rock band performed their latest single "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone), and then chatted with Apple CEO Tim Cook about the new album.
Lead singer Bono told Cook that the album was already complete but they needed a way to release it to fans. Cook suggested the band release "Songs of Innocence" through iTunes since it has over half a billion subscribers. Back in March, U2 announced that they were postponing the release until 2015, but the band and Cook dropped the album today.
According to USA Today, the 11-track album can be downloaded for free for all iTunes customers through Oct. 13.
"From the very beginning U2 have always wanted our music to reach as many people as possible, the clue is our name I suppose - so today is kind of mind-blowing to us. The most personal album we've written could be shared with half a billion people... by hitting send. If only songwriting was that easy," Bono said in a statement. "It's exciting and humbling to think that people who don't know U2 or listen to rock music for that matter might check us out. Working with Apple is always a blast. They only want to do things that haven't been done before - that's a thrill to be a part of."
This is the first album from the band in five years. In a pre-release interview with Rolling Stone, Bono said "Songs of Innocence" took two years to make, calling it a "very personal album."
"Let's try to figure out why we wanted to be in a band, the relationships around the band, our friendships, our lovers, our family," Bono said. "The whole album is a firsts journeys - first journeys geographically, spiritually, sexually. And that's hard. But we went there."
"It's a lyrical cohesion that I think is unique amongst U2 albums," he added. "I don't want it to be a concept album, but the songs come from a place. Edge laughed and said this is our 'Quadrophenia' [referring to the 1973 album by The Who]. We could be so lucky."
