#14 - The Fly (1991) Highest- 5 Lowest- 49 Achtung Baby
V-67/218 - gigantic industrial guitar loop, the deep bass, the offbeat percussion, &, of course, the Fly himself. Retro sunglasses were the key to Bono finding the voice, both lyrically & vocally, giving him a freedom to not be “Bono” & to reach out for a different dynamic & temperament, to not have to be so earnest & heroic, but rather to slip into another persona. “The way I saw ‘The Fly’ was like a crank call from hell … but the guy likes it there,” Bono said. “Look, I gotta go,” the Fly says. “I’m running outta change.”
Comment - Another commercial track. Like Desire, Discoteque & a few others. Sometimes the lead single leaves me cold. Here is another that did initially. I have grown to love a few of them, & while love is the wrong word I can enjoy this 1 now. I was so pissed off when I heard this I didn’t buy the AB album originally. Soon as I heard EBTTRT I was in like Flynn. Now I can enjoy the weirdness that is “The Fly”. It was a brave move for the band to be so adamant about this being the 1st single. The #5 ranking is matched by 2 in the 40s, including mine
Songfact:
"The Fly" single release advanced the AB album by about a month, & let's just say Americans didn't seem thrilled w U2's change in musical direction. Famously described by Bono as “the sound of 4 men chopping down The Joshua Tree”, this is where we 1st meet Bono's new leather-clad, wraparound-sunglass-wearing persona called The Fly. During the recording sessions, Fintan Fitzgerald, in charge of the band's wardrobe, found a 1970s pair of wraparound blaxploitation sunglasses. Bono would put them on & make everyone laugh whenever they faced a problem or disagreement. The Fly encouraged the singer to invent a new ‘persona’ to deliver the song’s pithy aphorisms, his voice ranging from a menacing breathy telephone-EQ’d whisper to a soaring gospel falsetto.
This song was inspired by the work of Jenny Holzer, an artist who displays short, provocative statements using various media, which can be anything from T-shirts to projections on buildings. Here are some examples:
"I repeat, for the sake of a last, simple sweetness: the sun goes around the Earth, yes"
"Abuse of power comes as no surprise"
After U2's wardrobe assistant Fintan Fitzgerald bought Bono a book of Holzer's statements, Bono started writing his own to form the basis of this song:
"A liar won't believe anybody else"
"A friend is someone who lets you down"
Since these statements didn't reflect Bono's true beliefs, he created a character to say them all, which is how The Fly was born.
Bono notes: "The fly on the wall is a really insignificant image outside of voyeurism. 'A man will rise, a man will fall, on the sheer face of love like a fly from a wall.' It's saying: 'Scale this rock face at your peril. Lots have tried before you & have been left on the fly paper.' And the 'Shine like a burning star' part I sang in the Fat Lady voice, which is really a kind of Jaggeresque, campy falsetto."
But bug-eyed sunglasses or not, even The Fly's contribution to the track is decisively upstaged by the abrasive 6-string soundscape that spikes the song w regular jolts of electrifying energy w Edge buzzing around like the title character, twisting his guitar to the breaking point.
The guitar tone used is an unholy fusion of flange, wah, delay & dirt, & as producer Daniel Lanois has confirmed that many of AB’s guitar parts were created using 1 of the 2 Korg A3 processors Edge brought to the sessions, it’s safe to assume the unit is involved somewhere in the signal chain. Live, Edge has varied the guitars he’s used to play it over the yrs. Add'l guitar sounds were added on top of the original mix, on the fly as it were, to create the phasing artefacts in the song’s intro.
Yet it’s the track’s solo section where Edge really outdoes himself, using the springboard of a complete cycle of the song’s verse-to-chorus section to create a series of licks that range from whammy-bar swoops to descending & ascending runs that seem to reach their apex before finding new places to go. The ultimate example of Edge creatively rinsing his guitar effects for every drop of emotional content, The Fly is his crowning 6-string moment.
U2 chose this as the 1st single off AB because of its innovative sound. The band felt that since they were in a position to experiment, they should. This helped them reestablish credibility as an "alternative" group.
Stateside listeners who liked their U2 more jangly & sincere stayed away in droves. The song shot to #1 in the U.K. but could get no further than #61 on the US Billboard chart.
Adam Clayton mentioned: "at that time, it was impossible to know whether U2 fans would follow Bono down this particular path, so [the song] was a real leap of faith. The whole track is a high-energy sonic barrage but w an angelic chorus. It's a classic example of U2 & Eno interfacing."
The Fly became a character Bono used on the group's Zoo TV tour. Wearing huge sunglasses & black leather, it was a parody of an egomaniacal rock star.
To match the character's dark fashion, Bono dyed his naturally brown hair black. Behind Bono, huge monitors flashed random words like "Sex," "Panic," "Death," etc. Bono attended some press conferences in the character of The Fly, complete w giant shades. He appeared on the
cover of Rolling Stone as The Fly in their issue dated March 4, 1993.
The song is a look at fame & excess, a topic that intrigued Bono as he embraced his celebrity but was aware of its downside. Bono said: "It was written like a phone call from Hell, but the guy liked it there. People thought we were just mocking rock'n'roll stardom & all that, but actually I was just owning up to it."P.M. Dawn sampled this on their song "Fly Me To The Moon."
Did you know?
When David Bowie visited the band after they’d finished The Fly, he told them they should re-record it. 
Recording: This evolved out of the recording sessions for "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)." "One day, [engineer] Flood had a different look in his eye. We recorded 'The Fly' w Edge's guitar sound literally like a fly had broken into your brain & was buzzing around."
The vocals are heavily processed, adding to the feel that it was not really Bono singing, but a character he was performing.
Release: "Alex Descends Into Hell For A Bottle Of Milk/Korova 1" was the b-side to the 1991 single, The Fly
Charts-peaked at: UK # 1
US: #61 (#1 Alt) Canada: #16 #1 in IRE & AUS
"The Fly" became successful among alternative rock audiences, though it struggled to find airtime on pop radio.
In the UK, the song entered the Top75 'straight-in' at #1 in late Oct 1991 & became the band's 2nd #1 there....knocking Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" from the #1 spot, after a consecutive run of 16 wks at the top spot. But it quickly slid down the chart, as the band's label had intended for the single to be available for a 3-week period only & were keen to release 2 singles (the follow-up being "Mysterious Ways") before Christmas.
It debuted at #1in Australia, preventing "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred from reaching #1 for a week.
Video: The video was filmed in both Dublin & London in Sept 1991, w footage of the band in-studio performing the song, intercut with scenes of Bono walking around the streets as The Fly. A bank of televisions w the early icons of The Zoo TV Tour, are "flashing words” in the background.
Live Versions / Remixes:
Bono during the 2005 Vertigo Tour: "It took us 15 yrs to really get it right live,"
'Baby' The Fly - early demo version
The Lounge Fly Mix (Remastered 2021) appeared as a B-side on the single. Features different lyrics /more dance-orientated
ZOO TV Tour in Sydney - 1993-11-27
The Fly (Elevation Tour June 6, 2001) - Boston Check this 1 out w the different lead in (New verse & diff guitar riff).
Also at 5:45, Bono stage dives into the crowd (haven't seen that)
Glastonbury Festival, Pilton, England, June 24th 2011
Live - Berlin, Germany, I+E Tour - Nov 13, 2018
In 2011, Gavin Friday reworked the song for the tribute album AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered. "Edge rang me up & said, 'Nobody wants to do The Fly – they're all afraid of it." I think it's because it has its own essence, sonically.
When Rolling Stone ranked their Top50 U2 songs:
n/a
Been played live349 times…........only ~15x times on the 360 tour. Not played on the 2017/2019 JT Anniv tours
At the time after the Elevation tour of 2001, Edge stated that "The song hasn't stood the test of time."
the penny dropped that the venue was Red Rocks and Adam Clayton was just Adam Clayton
