U2’s debut album was released in October 1980. Recorded in Dublin and produced by long time producer Steve Lillywhite, From the album’s driving and anthemic lead off song (and the album’s biggest hit single) “I Will Follow” every song on their debut sounded huge, with layers of guitars swirling around Bono’s passionate singing. It was an inspired mixture of gigantic stadium-rock and post-punk qualities.

Originally the album was going to be produced by Martin Hannett who produced Joy Division, but was too distraught to work on the album given the suicide of Joy Division’s lead singer Ian Curtis just months before U2 began recording the album. U2 turned to Lillywhite who had recently produced Peter Gabriel’s third album, with the breakthrough song “Games Without Frontiers.”

“I Will Follow” was written by Bono about the death of his mother, who died of a brain hemorrhage at the funeral of her father. It was the band’s first big hit reaching in to the top 20 of the billboard charts.