Legendary music producer Steve Lillywhite joined Dave Fanning on The Ryan Tubridy Show for a look back at some of the extraordinary highlights of a life spent shaping rock ‘n roll.
First stop on the musical journey was U2 in 2004. Steve recalled working on a song that was, at the time, called Native Son and Bono had provisionally put the line "Hello, hello" into the chorus after much hemming and hawing in studio. "We went, meh, that’s alright, we went home to bed, came back the next morning… We still didn’t think this was it, but then the cleaning lady was going, ooh that sounds nice" and so it stuck!
Native Son became Vertigo and a hit was born. Steve admits that there are very few 'eureka' moments with U2, rather that the things they think nothing of at the time tend to become the biggest successes ultimately.
At the very beginning of his career, Steve started out as a tape operator with Ultravox, where he worked with producer Brian Eno. The pair would go on to sculpt the sound of U2.
"Brian Eno’s job is to destroy U2, because by destroying U2, you will then replace it with something else that will become the next U2… His first thing would be to get rid of the drums, then he would get rid of the guitars and put on some synthesizers and stuff like that - which were great if you were the Pet Shop Boys, but this is U2 so my job would be to sort of take anything from Brian’s that I thought would fit. As a producer, my favourite thing is when there’s loads of ideas… I’m not a good producer when someone just says, do whatever you want, Steve."
Steve spoke about his time with The Rolling Stones when recording sessions would start at 1am and finish at 7 that morning. He was producing them around the time of Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood’s ill-fated performance with Bob Dylan for Live Aid in 1985.
"We were to meet at Ronnie Wood’s house at 11 in the morning for a rehearsal, and then the limos were to take us to Philadelphia. We got there, Dylan arrived, Keith and Ronnie were there, the three of them in this beautiful wooden living room that Ronnie had on the Upper West Side, it just sounded fantastic… What happened was we then got in the limos, we went to Philly, still no sleep, it all got a little bit messy. By the time Bob Dylan, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood went out on stage, it all had fallen apart, and you know what, if it was now, we’d all have our cell phone of choice and I would be able to prove to you right now… It was absolutely fantastic!"
Steve also talked about his late ex-wife Kirsty MacColl, and the emotional impact of hearing her duet with Shane MacGowan, Fairytale of New York, which he produced, every year.
"We can’t bring Kirsty back, but we can celebrate her wonderful voice, as well as her albums. What you try to do when you make art is to try to make timeless art - and Fairytale is one of the few records I’ve done that really does touch that nerve."
