Wide Awake in America by U2

Wide Awake in America is a four-song stopgap from U2, released on Island on 20 May 1985 and meant only for North America and Japan, though British fans chased it down on import anyway. It pairs two live performances of songs from 1984's The Unforgettable Fire with two B-sides from the same period that had only been available in the UK, and "Love Comes Tumbling" and "The Three Sunrises" are both on it.

The heart of it is "Bad", a song about heroin addiction, in a version radio programmers often preferred to the studio original: the Edge's chiming guitar circles, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. hold steady underneath, and Bono pushes it until it aches. It became a fixture of their shows, especially after the long performance at Live Aid where Bono danced with a woman in the audience, and the EP even takes its name from the song's chorus. A wider international release followed in 1990.

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