U2 Get in Bed With Apple

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Following the ubiquitous images of U2 gyrating to their new single "Vertigo" in a TV spot for Apple's iPod and iTunes, the band and the corporation are set to announce that they've partnered to release a special-edition iPod pre-loaded with U2 music this fall.

The unique black iPod will be preprogrammed with the band's upcoming album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, as well as a greatest-hits mix of tracks from their catalog. With these added perks, this version of the music player will cost $30 more than the original.

"Vertigo" is currently the top seller on the iTunes online music store -- ahead of new tracks by superstars Eminem, Usher and Destiny's Child -- breaking the U.S. record for digital download sales in a single week.

This marks the first time the band has partnered with a major corporation, going so far as to meld their performance of a new single with the look and feel of that company's existing ad campaign.

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Song Stories

“The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie”

The Joy Formidable | 2011

The opener off the Welsh group’s The Big Roar album was an epic one, but the band was worried that track had polarized fans. “The first song is eight minutes long,” Rhydian Dafydd, the Joy Formidable bassist, said. “If you did that in the Seventies people would be, ‘Whatever.’ You do it now, people think, ‘Holy s---!’ Some people think it’s the f---ing greatest track on the entire album, and some people think it’s f---ing boring. It’s that element of needing to challenge people.” The band concluded through the song’s lyrics that love was the “everchanging spectrum of a lie.”

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