For the first and only time in both band’s careers a SHIP is used as the main theme of an album cover, and their long time producers George Martin (Beatles) and Brian Eno (U2) are given the freedom to create artistically in a greater degree than ever before.

Also around the release of Passengers, U2 started as an “animated comic” in the video for the Batman Forever theme “Hold me, Thrill me, Kiss me, Kill me” recalling The Beatles in The “Yellow Submarine” movie. Noticeable too, is the fact that the songs in Passengers are meant to be music for movies as was The Yellow Submarine Album.

It is important to remark that the Yellow Submarine travels submerging itself in water, while the Passengers ship travels through space, two opposing directions; one towards the inner mysteries of the sea, the other into vast unknown galaxies. This symbolizes the dual relation that exists between The Beatles and U2 in which an “inner (sea) - outer (space)” friction, struggles towards equilibrium. Achieving this equilibrium or balance is the most intense desire of the forces that activated this process.