U2 are a great band!
The Peter Rowan pics on U2's 'Boy' an 'War' albums way back in the early 80s made quite an impression on me. No one really seemed to mind much in those days... somehow I think the reaction would be much more negative now if similiar pics were used by one of today's up and coming bands.
I've tried to think of a way to justify having a Peter Rowan Gallery on the database but unfortunately I can't think of a genuinely objective reason.
more:
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)story of the Boy cover. (repost)
There is an interview around the time of the Joshua Tree tour where Bono talks about this. The boy was a kid who lived across the street in front of Bono's house in Dublin. Quote: "He was a smart guy, know-it-all, he's probably taller than me now."
The name of the boy is Peter Rowan. Peter Rowan is the brother of Derek "Guggi" Rowan, and Strongman - both of which were in the Virgin Prunes. Peter later became skate-board champion of Ireland, works in a skate-board shop and has also had various acting parts, notably in 'The Commitments" and "The Snapper".
Bono declared that the picture of the child on the cover was a very important image. It was taken by a photographer named Hugo McGuinness and the eventual sleeve was designed by Steve Averill, a friend of Adam's who was in the graphic design business at the time. (Steve would go on to work on many more U2 album covers). It signified the beginning of something new for the band, while also symbolising the childlike innocence and trust that U2 seemed to display.
Unfortunately the cover photo had to be changed to a band picture for the American market, where it was feared that some would interpret the image as a symbol of paedophilia. They had "a vague worry that there might be a homosexual impression left from the boy's waist-up nakedness." So, Warner in the USA decided to change the cover of Boy for fear of paedophilia claims.
Despite this, some unaltered copies entered the US on import, and led to U2 finding a largely gay audience in the beginning. The original cover was eventually restored.
U2 Boy Has Finally Found What He Is Looking For
From the Daily Mirror, November 3, 1998
by Neil Michael
PETER Rowan, the boy who U2 made famous on the cover of an album is seeking his fortune at the other end of the camera. But now the "boy" the band plastered over early albums has grown up to map out a career of his own. "I'm working as a general commercial photographer at the moment, but I want to do more Rolling Stone magazine kind of stuff," he said last night. Peter shot to fame on album covers in 1980 and 1983. Then his brother Guggi was the lead singer of The Virgin Prunes and a close pal of U2 singer Bono. Bono suggested the cute, innocent-looking six-year-old child would make a good picture for an album cover and the rest, as they say, is history. Peter featured naked from the waist with his arms behind his neck on the front cover of Boy and was also pictured on the band's first single Three. When he was nine, he was photographed with the famous American army helmet for the band's third album War, which is also being used on the front cover of the band's Greatest Hits album. "It feels good to see my picture staring out at me from shop windows," said Peter. "I never really thought about it that much before, but now it's kind of hard to escape from it." And he added: "It's fairly true to say that I am more famous for those U2 pictures than anything I have done since. "But I hope to change that soon enough. It would be good to work for U2, but this time at the other side of the lens." Their new album is expected to be sold out by the end of the week. "It was better than anything we have had for a U2 album, and certainly better than when Titanic went on sale," said a Virgin spokesman
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