U2 kick off their Songs of Innocence album with this tribute to one of their earliest influences, the late Ramones vocalist Joey Ramone. "I found my voice through Joey Ramone," Bono told Rolling Stone, "because I wasn't the obvious punk-rock singer, or even rock singer. I sang like a girl - which I'm into now, but when I was 17 or 18, I wasn't sure. And I heard Joey Ramone, who sang like a girl, and that was my way in."
U2 surprised the music world on September 9, 2014 when it was announced at an Apple event that Songs of Innocence would be made available for free to anyone with an iTunes account until its physical release on October 13, 2014. "The most personal album we've written could be shared with half a billion people - by hitting send," Bono said. "If only songwriting was that easy." The surprise announcement was compared to Beyoncé, who dropped her self-titled album without warning on iTunes in December 2013. Other acts who have used unusual launch strategies for their albums include Radiohead who initially released In Rainbows in 2007 as a pay-what-you-want download, and Prince, who has allowed CDs to be given away with newspapers.
Joey's brother, Mickey Leigh, worked with Apple to gain approval for the use of the late Ramones singer's image without knowing exactly what it was being used for. He told MTV News, "It made me feel so good… [When I] finally found out what it was all about, my jaw dropped right away." Leigh first heard song at a friend's house. "I had to keep my heart going there, it's so beautiful," he recalled. "I loved it. It's Bono's interpretation and his spirit, but it also captures Joey's spirit. He described my brother's spirit well. I think he got just what Joey would have wanted out of it."
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