U2 announced that they will release No Line on the Horizon - the band's latest studio effort on March 3, 2009. It's hard to believe that it has now been over four years since How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb came out! That disc remains in my cd player rotation and like most U2 records has been a great friend to me. I look forward to making room for the new one in the mix. However, Billboard reports that I'll have to choose between five different versions, including one priced at $96. Yikes! And, there is a reported contribution on the record from the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am. Potentially double yikes!

Beyond the multiple versions, another difference we may see for the new record is the lack of an iPod commercial like the one we seemingly endlessly saw featuring "Vertigo" from HTDAAB. That's because Bono may have picked a fight with Apple's Steve Jobs. Although Gawker via Valleywag is obviously trying to create a big fire from a little smoke, there may indeed be some discomfort at Apple over Bono's Elevation Partners firm sinking money into Palm, maker of a potential iPhone competitor. We'll just have to see how No Line on the Horizon does on the iTunes charts to see if U2 suffers any paybacks from Bono's financial dalliances.

Labels: Bono, U2