AIDS. Africa. Pop. iPod. Ireland. U2. Which of these words does not belong? For anyone who knows that U2 began their lives and their musical careers in Ireland, it may seem that all of these words belong together. In the year 2008, however, there remains little evidence, if any, that U2 is an Irish band. From a purely musical perspective, U2 has never displayed noticeably “Irish” qualities—whatever those qualities might be—, and although the band has written songs such as “Sunday Bloody Sunday” about the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, the majority of their work has been dominated by vague spirituality as opposed to Irish political or musical references (see Rolston 2001 for discussion of the Troubles and Irish music). Aside from U2’s musical qualities, the stage names of the lead singer, Paul “Bono Vox” Hewson, and the lead guitarist, David “The Edge” Evans, do more than mystify audiences as to the true identity of these most prominent band members: they help to obscure the band’s Irish nationality through the concealment of their ancestral names. In a similar way, the name “U2” itself remains ambiguous and un-Irish in that it could refer to either one or both of the following: the American U-2 spy plane; a play on words expressing the band’s inclusionary nature (“you, too”). Arguably, the band members’ Irish accents constitute the only lingering piece of the band’s observable Irish identity. Therefore, it is most probable that, in answering the above question, many people would be inclined to say “Ireland.”