![]() ![]() Did you know?ĭesire won the 1988 Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal and was U2’s first UK No. He also added a frantic John Lee Hooker-on-speed solo and a middle section with a faux killswitch-style effect and some neck-bending modulation – all a far cry from the Starship Enterprise-style guitar effects he’d become associated with. The Edge, however, seemingly couldn’t resist subverting the simplistic formula by using one of rock ’n’ roll’s most lavish guitar creations – the Gretsch 6137 White Falcon – to deliver this burst of refreshingly unadorned, in-your-face rhythm. U2 followed the phenomenal success of 1987’s The Joshua Tree with what was pretty much the most back-to-basics statement possible: Desire, their first single from Rattle And Hum, began with a clattering open E chord before ripping into a raw and fiery interpretation of the Stooges’ 1969, itself based on the timeless Bo Diddley beat. The setup has given guitar tech Dallas Schoo several electric shocks. It was a kit based on a modified Squier Stratocaster with an inbuilt sustainer created from the feedback between an electromagnetic transducer and a Seymour Duncan pickup, paired with a dedicated rack-mounted unit. The prototype Infinite Guitar was created by Edge’s friend Michael Brook. The Edge believes the triumphal riff at the song’s ending is an encapsulation of his minimalist guitar approach, telling author Bill Flanagan in 1996: “The end of With Or Without You could have been so much bigger, so much more of a climax, but there’s this power to it which I think is even more potent because it’s held back.” Did you know? It’s another example of winning simplicity and it was the band’s first US No. It’s the first U2 song to feature Bono singing in a confessional lower register and Larry Mullen experimenting with an electronically enhanced drumkit but the key ingredient was once again The Edge, whose use of a prototype of the Infinite Guitar he’d just received in the studio added an EBow-like haunting quality that elevated its sound. The Edge began exploring the Gibson model catalogue beyond the Explorer and Les Paul in earnest during Achtung Baby and One also features The Edge’s 1959 Tobacco Sunburst ES-330, which can be seen in one of the song’s three videos.Īnother song, like One, that came together in the studio while the band were harbouring fears of creative drought, sonically speaking, With Or Without You was a great leap forward for U2. They achieved their goal, with The Edge wrapping the song in layers of Gibson-branded cotton wool for its intro before adding a layered, heartrending soundscape of lachrymose Les Paul bends from Daniel Lanois and a series of modulated licks, forever building to the song’s anthemic outro figure. ![]() One began life as a proposed middle section for a different song, but underwent further transformation when producer Brian Eno persuaded them to deconstruct it Daniel Lanois and Edge removed the acoustic parts and instead added more aggressive guitar to undermine the “too beautiful” overall sound. However, they got over it when a song descended on them in a jam session to uncover their old chemistry and reunite them. Bono and The Edge wanted to experiment with dance elements, while Clayton and Mullen wanted to return to the old sound, and they disagreed over the quality of their new material. Reconvening to record the follow-up to the bloated misstep Rattle And Hum at the Bowie-haunted Hansa Studios in Berlin in October 1990 (the month Germany officially reunited), the band found themselves stalked by the dreaded cliché – musical differences. By the end of their first all-conquering decade in music, U2 may have been the biggest band in the world, but all was not well.
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