1980. Post punk and pre-MTV. Among the wave of bands that brandished the spirit of punk rock with a new slant of angular guitars and pulsing beats, U2 would have been just another face in the crowd. An exciting new band for sure, but who could anticipate what they would become?

Images in the 1980s defined U2 in black and white, with minor shades of gray. Give credit to Anton Corbjin's vast, often gloomy portraits of the band. The debut album, Boy, featured the black and white photo of either a boy, or the stretched faces of the Irish quartet. The myth of U2, cultivated in these black and white images and the striking music, created a band that was not from Ireland but another time and another place.

The music feels black and white, angular and echoed. Duo tones suited the band well as it gives the music, and the musicians, a grand feel.

That feel was in song titles, "Twilight," "An Cat Dubh" - translated to The Black Cat - and "Shadows and Tall Trees." Boy, more than any other U2 album is very much a product of its time. Three-chord punk thrashed by kids who did not know how to play their instruments led to cold scrawled guitar leads and introspective lyrics played by kids who did not know how to use their instruments.

After the cocksure swagger of Robert Plant and the defiant sneer of Johnny Rotten, where was the role of rock and roll frontman to go? Ego was essential. Ego is always essential when the main job function is to shout at strangers who paid to get in the room.

Bono and many of his contemporaries were a new kind of rock and roll singer. Grew up with the Rolling Stones, lives changed by punk, yet these kids were coming from something else. Introspective, almost to a fault. Not obsessed with sex. In the case of U2, committed to their age and what they were in that moment. Let me qualify that. From Boy all they way to How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb, U2 have embraced their age.

At each stage of its career, U2 has embraced its experiences honestly, which may be the ultimate secret of success. Boy is from the experience of a 17 year old just as All That You Can't Leave Behind finds the same men coping with life 20 years later. The commitment to honesty is why the music endures and touches new generations.

Boy is an apt title. Young manhood finds the male species at its most egotistical. A young man knows nothing except his own world. This is Lord of the Flies come alive in rock music.

In "The Ocean" Bono whispers"
A picture in grey, Dorian Gray
just me by the sea.
And I felt like a star,
I thought the world would go far,
if they listened to what I said.

"A Day Without Me" muses what would be if the protagonist were to commit suicide. What happens to the world I left behind? There is no surprise Bono's ego is a hang-up for many people. The problem is he nailed what it feels like to be in that space between boy and man.

Boy is a prototypical debut album. The songs are long on passion and ambition, short on technical polish but full of the promise of what could be. The band's ambitions always seemed to be larger than those of their contemporaries, a fact evident even at the release of Boy. As Edge begins his journey, the essentials of what his guitar could do were there. The guitar expanded outward, echoing into the distance and giving the songs a sense of space. Adam Clayton's bass notes were thick and covered as much ground as possible.

U2 staked its reputation as a live band. One listen to Boy and it is obvious these songs are thrilling in a live setting. No other band has embodied the idea of the music becoming bigger than the band. Not commercially, but emotionally and physically. U2 songs have room to grow and mutate in your imagination.

There is a reason Boy was a favorite among college radio stations at the time, and why it was important to me as I attended college 20 years after its release. The record taps into the insecurities and ego that floods young man's life at that age. You are standing on the cusp of potential greatness, the sea at your feet, but not fully aware of the potential for failure.

While latter day U2 songs tend to stick to normal structures, early tracks did not. Attribute that perhaps to a young band who still did not know how to write songs in a traditional sense. Debut records often rely on youth and ambition over skill and experience. That is how it should be. When a young band happens upon a riff or movement that works it is exciting and fresh. There is something to say for not knowing what you are doing but having the ego to think it is important. Eventually it will become important.

Songs like "I Will Follow" and "Out of Control" laid the groundwork for the U2 anthem. This foundation would eventually become songs like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" or "Pride (In the Name of Love)". However, it is in the left turns where U2 is often at their most cunning and compelling. The dark and eerie thump of "An Cat Dubh" or late album highlight "Shadows and Tall Trees," are perfect counterpoints to the big sing along songs like "The Electric Co."