"Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way" - U2

Promotional Release

Track Listing:

Background Information

“Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way” was the third song from the album Songs of Experience delivered to radio in North America. The song followed “You’re The Best Thing About Me“ and “Get Out of Your Own Way“ as promotional singles from the album in that market. An extensive promotional campaign was undertaken for this song, with an eye of getting the song on the dance charts, which worked, with the song reaching the #1 position on the Billboard Dance Club Songs on July 28, 2018. To do so a staggering amount of remixes were produced and sent to DJs to play in the clubs in the summer.

On radio, the first version delivered was the album version of the song. The song was delivered with the same artwork used for the “Get Out of Your Own Way“ promotional single, with the band on a beach looking off to one side. Digital delivery began on April 11, 2018 and continued for weeks. Initial delivery was to AAA stations (Adult Album Alternative) stations, with an impact date of April 23, 2018. The song was also pushed to Hot AC stations starting on May 21, 2018, also using the album mix of the song. All delivery to radio was done via digital services, and there were no physical promos produced that we have been able to identify as legitimate. At the end of June, a remix of the song called the U2 vs Cheat Codes version was distributed to Hot AC stations in th USA and to rhythm stations in both the UK and Canada.

A video for the song was shot by director David Mushegain, and released on April 27, 2018. The video for the song featured the LGBT+ community in Dublin, specifically the youth in the community. Multiple versions of the song were commercially released as well including:

  • May 4, 2018: Remixes
  • May 11, 2018: Acoustic Version
  • May 25, 2018: U2 vs Cheat Codes
  • June 1, 2018: Beck Remix
  • July 20, 2018: HP Hoeger Rusty Egan Remixes

In May, promotion of the song to club DJs started. A series of remixes were done for the song, and delivered to DJs worldwide for promotion of the song in clubs. We are told that close to 60 different DJs were approached in March 2018 to remix the song. Many were sent the stems for the song to develop remixes. Stems are isolated instruments and vocals used in the creation of the song, sometimes including alternate vocals and sounds. Some of the DJs sent the stems were just sent vocal tracks, while others received full vocals and instruments. Most of the remixes were carried out under the direction of Citrusonic, a Remix A&R and Music Marketing firm. Once a DJ completed a mix, it was reviewed by this firm, and then were sent to the band for review. The band either approved the mix, or sent the track back to the DJs for further work, often with suggestions from the band of things to try. A few of the mixes were rejected at this stage. It is known that Bono was very involved in the process of choosing which mixes were approved, and had direct input into some of the mixes. Bono was also involved in choosing the first three mixes that were released, and these were released for promotion as well as sold commercially.

Once mixes were approved by the band, they were sent back to Citrusonic for distribution to their network of DJs for club play. This distribution was done almost exclusively by digital distribution using a system called Inflyte. The songs were sent out in multiple formats, including uncompressed WAVEs or in 320kbps MP3 format. Digital images featuring the name of the DJ were sent out for the promotion of some of these files, however, the actual MP3 files contained the same “digital cover” that the commercial remixes single did. Remixes were delivered in sets, with other mixes of the song. Three promotional CDs of the remixes were also organized by Citrusonic, each containing four remixes in total. These were circulated with promotional posters, stickers and fans to Pride events at clubs around the country. The actual CDs are plain with black text on the disc, and were sent out in plain white sleeves. See our catalog information below for more information. The CDs featured the following tracks:

  • CD 01: Will Clarke Remix / Daybreakers Remix / David Alvarado Remix / Moodyboy Remix
  • CD 02: Offer Nissim Remix / DrewG. Remix / Dark Intensity Remix / Dinaire+Bissen Remix
  • CD 03: John “J-C” Carr Remix / VibePosse Dub / MINDSKAP Dub Rework / The Funk Hunters Remix

These three CDs are the only known legitimate physical releases of music for this single. A number of CDs from Spain, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan have all been confirmed to be bootleg CDs, and are not issued by the label.

To further promote the song in the USA market, a number of promotional nights were hosted at clubs around the USA. These were mainly held at LGBT+ clubs, and invited attendees to “Be proud and celebrate Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way” referring to the song as “U2’s Summer Anthem” and promoting the Remix EP. Each of these club nights had giveaways including promotional posters, stickers, fans, and the three promotional remix CDs. A list of these club nights is as follows:

  • June 22: Chicago IL – Sofo Tap; Houston TX – Numbers; San Francisco CA – Colossus
  • July 1: Fort Lauderdale FL – LeBoy Tonight
  • July 6: Anaheim CA – House of Blues; Miami Beach FL – Score; Sarasota FL – Oasis; Tampa FL – The Honey Pot
  • July 7: Largo FL – Quench Lounge; Las Vegas NV – Piranha Nightclub
  • July 8: Orlando FL – Parliament House
  • July 13: Sarasota FL – Old School Bar and Grill; New York NY – The Monster
  • July 14: Atlanta GA – Atlanta Eagle
  • July 22: Denver CO – Trade

DJs who had participated in remixing the track were involved in a number of these nights. Twisted Dee (Dee Martello) played the Colossus in San Francisco. Dark Intensity played the House of Blues in Anaheim, Craig C played Trade in Denver, and Drew G played The Honey Pot in Tampa on these U2 release party nights.

Although Citrusonic was the most prominant partner in the promotional campaign others were also involved including Peace Bisquit, Juicy Music, Hyperactive, and Music-Worx. All of these partners delivered remixes of the U2 song direct to DJs. Most of these remixes have never been commercially released. Due to this it has been difficult to identify some of these mixes, however, we are confident at this point we have been able to identify most of the information relating to these releases.

We are aware of some other mixes which we do not believe have been officially sent to promo.

  • Will Clarke Edit (03:48)
  • Dirty Pop Remix (Unknown Time)
  • Isak Salazar & Erick Ibiza Dubby Mix Edit (05:03)
  • Junior Sanchez Acid Weekend Remix (Unknown Time)
  • Offer Nissim Mix (Original Mix) (04:08)

The edited version of the Will Clarke version was used on a video shared via Facebook by the DJ. Both the Isak Salazar & Erick Ibiza Dubby Mix Edit, and the Original Offer Nissim Mix were posted by the DJs on their Soundcloud accounts. The Dirty Pop Remix has never leaked, nor been released that we are aware, but DJ DrewG discussed working on that mix in an interview with us. The Junior Sanchez Acid Weekend Remix was not sent out for promotion, but the producer sent the track himself to Christian Honan who aired it as part of the program “Twilight on Pulse.”

Liner Notes

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Catalog of Releases