Tom Dunne: When U2 did their bit for Irish music by setting up the Mother label

Mother Records may not have been perfect but the label released music from some great Irish bands 

Mother Records was set up by U2 and released music by the likes of, from left, In Tua Nua, Engine Alley and the Golden Horde.

Mother Records, a label set up by U2 in the early 1980s to foster young Irish talent, today seems like an almost forgotten footnote in Irish music history. I’m not sure it’s even remembered fondly at this point, which is strange. It helped promote some amazing bands.

In the course of about ten years, it released debut singles from In Tua Nua, Cactus World News, Hot House Flowers, An Emotional Fish, Engine Alley, The Golden Horde, The Subterraneans and many more. It was mainly singles, but two of its album releases, Engine Alley’s A Sonic Holiday and The Golden Horde’s self-titled debut are classics.