K. Paul Harris, Ph.D. 2007

Advisor: John Covach

Dissertation Title: U2’s Creative Process: Sketching in Sound

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Dissertation Abstract:

This dissertation examines compositional process in contemporary popular music, and the central role of recording technology in this process. I focus on the Irish rock band U2, one of the most technology-intensive popular music groups of the last two decades of the twentieth century. U2 is an ideal case-study in that they compose many of their songs almost entirely in the recording studio, in close collaboration with their producers. One of the most interesting partnerships of this kind has been the team of Canadian Daniel Lanois and Briton Brian Eno, co-producers of U2’s most critically acclaimed albums. The U2-Lanois/Eno collaborations thus serve as a rich source for exploring the relationship between recording and the process of musical composition. 

I examine how artists use technology to construct songs that convey their meaning largely through the carefully-crafted sounds that comprise the work, rather than primarily through lyrics, standard song forms, genre-specific arrangement, or other culturally-coded conventions of song. A secondary goal is to examine how the aesthetic priority of seeking unusual, affective sounds operating primarily at the musical surface influences U2’s style at other levels, such as song form, harmonic language, melody, and text writing and setting. 

Dr. Harris has worked as an instructor of Guitar and Music Theory in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. He has also held visiting professor positions at Boston University and the University of Puget Sound.