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Elevation (song)

Summary

"Elevation" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the third track on their tenth studio album, All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000), and was released as the album's third single on 25 June 2001. The song became the band's 16th number-one single in their native Ireland and their second number one in the Netherlands. It also topped the charts in Canada and reached the top 10 in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. A different mix of the song, entitled the "Tomb Raider mix", was included on the soundtrack of the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. In 2002, "Elevation" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony. The song lent its namesake to the band's 2001 Elevation Tour.

"Elevation"
Single by U2
from the album All That You Can't Leave Behind
B-side"Don't Take Your Guns to Town"
Released25 June 2001 (2001-06-25)
Recorded2000
StudioHQ (Dublin, Ireland)
GenreAlternative rock
Length
LabelIsland, Interscope
Composer(s)U2
Lyricist(s)Bono
Producer(s)
U2 singles chronology
"Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of"
(2001) 		"Elevation"
(2001) 		"Walk On"
(2001)
Music video
"Elevation" on YouTube
Alternative cover
12-inch vinyl cover

Writing and composition edit

Adam [Clayton] came into his own on "Elevation" because he is the hip-hop man in the band and there is a real hip-hop attitude in the rhythm section.

—The Edge[1]

"Elevation" was inspired by a sound that guitarist the Edge achieved from a vintage effects unit when playing his Gibson SG guitar through a Fender Bassman amplifier.[2] He likened the pedal to "some mad funkadelic thing".[1] Co-producer Daniel Lanois, who had brought the unit to the studio, called it his "secret weapon", saying: "It's like a distortion pedal that has a warp, or a tone control, built on. As you push the pedal down you get the high frequency."[3] Within ten minutes, the Edge developed the riff that inspired the rest of the song.[2] He then programmed a rhythm on a drum machine to which the band started playing and lead singer Bono improvised vocals.[1] For the heavily distorted sound of the song's main guitar riff, the Edge played his instrument through a 1970s Hiwatt amplifier. The wah-wah guitar effect at the end of the song was achieved by filtering the tone through an Electrix Filter Factory sound module.[2] The Edge said that "Elevation" was light relief among a sequence of serious songs on the album that included "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of", "Kite" and "Walk On", which he collectively described as "farewell songs of one kind of another".[1]

Music video edit

 
The band (as "Evil U2") in the music video for "Elevation".

The music video for "Elevation" was directed by Joseph Kahn and is one of the most expensive music videos ever filmed.[citation needed] It was shot in the New York Street area of Universal Studios Hollywood's backlot, better known as Studio Tour.

Set with Lara Croft along with Bono, the music video also acts as a short film with its story about the rescue of the Edge (inserted into footage from Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) from the "evil U2". It begins with Bono receiving a phone call in the middle of a crowded New York street from his evil counterpart known as "evil Bono", who states that they have captured The Edge and demands for "the key". The evil counterpart announces that Bono himself is surrounded before ending with the words "not even Lara Croft can help you now", which puzzles Bono. After escaping and rescuing civilians from several of the "evil U2's" murder attempts, the band reunites and performs a "rock-off" against their evil counterparts, which ends with the "good U2" emerging victorious. The "good U2" join forces with Lara and leave the scene for an unknown place, passing a street with levitating vehicles and a pachyderm (remnants of the "evil U2's" crimes), ending with a Boeing 747-400 flying overhead before fading to black (the plane is also seen at the very beginning of the video).

The video was released as a digital DVD ("Version 7" below), the band's first, on 16 July 2001.[4] It was later featured on the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider DVD, as a special feature. The making of the video was shown on MTV's Making the Video.[5]

Live performances edit

 
U2 performing "Elevation" during the Elevation Tour in Cologne, Germany. The house lights remained on during the first half of the song.

The song was played at every concert on the Elevation Tour, typically opening the concert. Shows would traditionally open under the venue house lights with the Influx Mix of "Elevation" playing as the band's intro music. The band then played the first half of the song with the house lights still on, which would then be switched off just before the third verse. The song was also played live during every show of the Vertigo Tour, where it was played without drums and bass for the first verse and chorus before the rest of the band joins in.

On the U2 360° Tour, the song was initially sporadically played on the first leg before becoming a mainstay for the rest of the tour, typically appearing in the first half of the set. On the Innocence + Experience Tour it was played as part of the "e-stage" set at about half of the tour's shows.

The song was played at every date of The Joshua Tree Tour 2017, played in the encore after "Beautiful Day". On the Experience + Innocence Tour the song was also played at every date and opened the second act on the "e-stage", this tour featured a return of the Influx Mix as intro music to "Elevation" which was played as the band walked through the "barricage". On The Joshua Tree Tour 2019, performances of the song were very similar to the Experience + Innocence Tour including using the Influx Mix as intro music, it however opened the encore instead of the "e-stage" act. On both these tours, Bono performed the song as his "MacPhisto" persona.

Critical reception edit

"Elevation" received positive reviews. When reviewing the album, Adam Sweeting from The Guardian praised the song, calling it an "irresistible mix of crude techno and raw guitar-swagger."[6] New Zealand Herald editor Russell Baillie called it a "grand surge" noting the song's guitar and vocals which he described as "churning" and "giddy", respectively.[7] NME was positive toward the song for "the well-exercised U2 template."[8] Along with "Wild Honey" and "Walk On," Entertainment Weekly contributor David Browne called the song "lusty" and stated it has "the charging-horse feel of U2's youth, with a bumpy-noise upgrade courtesy of producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois."[9]

Brent DiCrescenzo of Drowned in Sound gave a negative review of the song, labelling Bono's lyrics as: "slaughters hope with reckless chops of the hackneyed sword."[10]

Legacy edit

The version of the song released as a single was entitled the "Tomb Raider Mix" (remixed by Chris Vrenna),[11] differing significantly from the album version, in that it features guitars with a more "hard rock" sound than the electronic-inspired feel of the album version. The drums in the single version are also harder, with additional tambourine included. The name comes from its role in the soundtrack to the movie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. This arrangement is how U2 have performed the song since its release.[citation needed] "Elevation" won the "Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal" in 2002.[12]

Elevation Partners, a $1.9 billion private equity company of which Bono was a co-founder and managing director,[13] was named after the song.[14] In 2006, when the NFL asked teams to stop using "Rock and Roll (Part 2)" by Gary Glitter as a touchdown song, the New England Patriots chose to use "Elevation"; they used it for the 2006 through 2009 seasons. The song has been used from 2006 to 2008 when the Vancouver Canucks score goals at home; it was used regularly during the 2007 NBA Playoffs and before kickoff at Colorado Rapids games (the Rapids play in the stadium at the highest elevation in the league). "Elevation" appeared on the soundtrack to the video game NBA 2K13. The song appeared in the series The Sopranos and Smallville

"Elevation" is played during the opening of the popular Machinima series Clear Skies.[15]

Formats and track listings edit

Version 1 (CD version released only in the UK)
No.TitleLength
1."Elevation" (Tomb Raider mix)3:35
2."Elevation" (Escalation mix)7:04
3."Elevation" (Vandit club mix)8:54
Version 2 (first regular CD edition, released in Europe, Canada and the UK)
No.TitleLength
1."Elevation" (Tomb Raider mix)3:35
2."Last Night on Earth" (Live at Foro Sol, Mexico City, Mexico, 3 December 1997)6:20
3."Don't Take Your Guns to Town" (Johnny Cash cover)4:11
Version 3 (Europe only)
No.TitleLength
1."Elevation" (Tomb Raider mix)3:35
2."Elevation" (Biffco mix)4:18
Version 4 (second regular CD-single released in Europe, Australia and Canada. The version released in Australia also had "Last Night on Earth" (Live from Mexico City))
No.TitleLength
1."Elevation" (Tomb Raider mix)3:35
2."Elevation" (Escalation mix)7:04
3."Elevation" (Influx remix)4:02
4."Elevation" (Quincey and Sonance mix)6:53
Version 5 (labeled the "Tour Edition", this edition was numbered and sold on tour stops throughout Europe)[11]
No.TitleLength
1."Elevation" (Tomb Raider mix)3:35
2."I Remember You" (Live at Irving Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, New York) (Ramones cover)1:28
3."New York" (Live at Irving Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, New York)5:42
4."I Will Follow" (Live at Irving Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, New York)3:51
Version 6 (released in Australia only)
No.TitleLength
1."Elevation" (Tomb Raider mix)3:35
2."I Remember You" (Live at Irving Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, New York) (Ramones cover)1:28
3."New York" (Live at Irving Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, New York)5:42
4."Don't Take Your Guns to Town" (Johnny Cash cover)4:11
5."Elevation" (Biffco mix)4:18
Version 7 (DVD-single edition)[4]
No.TitleLength
1."Elevation" (Tomb Raider mix)3:35
2."Elevation" (Tomb Raider video)3:50
3."Excerpts from MTV's Making the Video"3:46
Version 8 (double 12-inch vinyl released in the UK)
No.TitleLength
1."Beautiful Day" (Quincey and Sonance mix)7:56
2."Beautiful Day" (Perfecto mix)7:48
3."Beautiful Day" (David Holmes remix)5:34
4."Elevation" (Vandit club mix)8:54
5."Elevation" (Influx remix)5:34
6."Elevation" (Escalation mix)5:34
7."Elevation" (Quincey and Sonance remix)5:34

Credits and personnel edit

Charts edit

Release history edit

Release dates and formats for "Elevation"
Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref(s).
United States 10 April 2001
Interscope [54]
Australia 25 June 2001 CD Island [55][56]
Europe 2 July 2001 [55]
Canada 10 July 2001
Japan 11 July 2001 [55][57]
United Kingdom 16 July 2001
  • CD
  • DVD
 [58]

See also edit

References edit

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d McCormick (2006), p. 296
  2. ^ a b c Fox, Darrin (January 2001). "Basic Instincts: The Edge Brings the U2 Sound Full Circle". Guitar Player. Vol. 35, no. 1. pp. 100–108.
  3. ^ Stokes (2005), p. 150
  4. ^ a b "U2 RELEASE ELEVATION MUSIC DVD". Tombraiderchronicles.com. 16 June 2001. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  5. ^ "U2 - Elevation". Discogs. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  6. ^ Adam Sweeting (27 October 2000). "Time to get the leathers out". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  7. ^ Baillie, Russell (28 October 2000). "Oct 00, album review: All That You Can't Leave Behind". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  8. ^ "U2 : All That You Can't Leave Behind". NME. 30 October 2000. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  9. ^ Browne, David (3 November 2000). "All That You Can't Leave Behind (2013)". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  10. ^ DiCrescenzo, Brent (31 October 2000). "U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  11. ^ a b "U2 – Elevation". Discogs. 2 July 2001. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  12. ^ "U2 - Past Grammy Awards". Grammy.com. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  13. ^ "Bono - Managing Director". Elevation Partners. Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  14. ^ Lyons, Dan (28 January 2011). "A Nasty Battle Over Money Is Breaking Up Bono's Silicon Valley Private-Equity Firm, Elevation Partners". Business Insider. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  15. ^ EOHPoker (8 June 2012). "EVE Online - Clear Skies 1 (FULL LENGTH HQ)". Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  16. ^ a b c All That You Can't Leave Behind (CD). U2. PolyGram International Music Publishing B.V. 2000.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  17. ^ "U2 – Elevation". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  18. ^ "U2 – Elevation" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  19. ^ "U2 – Elevation" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  20. ^ "U2 – Elevation" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  21. ^ "U2: Charts and Awards". Allmusic. Archived from the original on 21 November 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
  22. ^ "Top Lista Hrvatskog Radija". Croatian Radiotelevision. Archived from the original on 22 August 2001. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  23. ^ "U2 – Elevation". Tracklisten. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  24. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 19, no. 32. 4 August 2001. p. 7. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  25. ^ "U2: Elevation" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  26. ^ "U2 – Elevation" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  27. ^ "U2 – Elevation" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  28. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Elevation". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  29. ^ "U2 – Elevation". Top Digital Download. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  30. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 32, 2001" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  31. ^ "U2 – Elevation" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  32. ^ "U2 – Elevation". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  33. ^ "U2 – Elevation". VG-lista. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  34. ^ "Top National Sellers" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 19, no. 43. 20 October 2001. p. 13. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  35. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  36. ^ "U2 – Elevation" Canciones Top 50.
  37. ^ "U2 – Elevation". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  38. ^ "U2 – Elevation". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  39. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  40. ^ "U2 Chart History (Adult Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  41. ^ "U2 Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  42. ^ "U2 Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  43. ^ "U2 Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard.
  44. ^ a b "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2001". Jam!. Archived from the original on 26 January 2003. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  45. ^ "BDS CHART : Top 100 of 2001". Jam!. Archived from the original on 26 July 2002. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  46. ^ "Ireland – Top Singles for 2001". Allcharts. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  47. ^ "Top 100–Jaaroverzicht van 2001". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  48. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 2001" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  49. ^ "Tabla 16. Lista de CD-Singles Más Vendidos en el Año 2001" [Table 16. List of Best-Selling CD Singles in 2001] (in Spanish). AFYVE. p. 253. Retrieved 11 November 2021. Click on Música grabada.
  50. ^ "The Official UK Singles Chart 2001" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  51. ^ "Most-Played Modern Rock Songs of 2001". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 9, no. 51. 21 December 2001. p. 40.
  52. ^ "America's Best: 2001 – Most-Played Triple-A Songs". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 9, no. 51. 21 December 2001. p. 45.
  53. ^ "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2002 (Part 2)". Jam!. 14 January 2003. Archived from the original on 6 September 2004.
  54. ^ "Going for Adds" (PDF). Radio & Records. No. 1396. 6 April 2001. pp. 89, 93, 101. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  55. ^ a b c Sams, Aaron; Kantas, Harry. "U2 – "Elevation" Single". U2songs.com. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  56. ^ "The ARIA Report: New Releases Singles – Week Commencing 25th June 2001" (PDF). ARIA. 25 June 2001. p. 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2002. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  57. ^ "新譜発売日一覧 7月分" [New Release Date List for July] (in Japanese). Universal Music Japan. Archived from the original on 11 August 2001. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  58. ^ "New Releases – For Week Starting July 16, 2001: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 14 July 2001. p. 23. Retrieved 14 August 2021.

Bibliography

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