Bono believes The Edge could replace him in U2: “He sounds like a bunch of beautiful Black women”
It’s hard to think of U2 without thinking of Bono, both for better and for worse.
He is responsible for the greatest vocal heights that the 1980s have ever seen, but his ability to not shut his mouth for elongated periods of time is what usually gets the band into hot water with casual fans, especially when he starts talking about their charity endeavours. But if things had gone differently, the frontman knew that the group would be in safe hands had they decided to go in another direction.
But U2 is one of those few bands that feel more like The Beatles in many respects. They’re nowhere near as good as the Fab Four by any stretch, but when looking at their work together, it’s not like any of them are replaceable. Even when the band lost Larry Mullen Jr for a few shows due to health reasons, there were always going to be a few things missing from their arsenal.
After all, they were all brought up together, and the thought of them continuing on with someone new only felt awkward. Even for as many times as Bono went on his tirades and ended up going more than a little bit overboard, everyone understood it so long as it helped benefit what the band were all about. But if we want to use the same Beatles analogy here, The Edge is definitely the McCartney to Bono’s Lennon in many respects.
Whereas Bono might like the idea of moving in a thousand musical directions, The Edge is the one far more meticulous about what their music sounds like. He made sure that nothing they ever played would be half-arsed, and half the reason why the band takes so long for releases is because of the guitarist working on different ideas in the studio until a tune is as perfect as it’s going to be.
It’s easy to hear all that hard work when listening to ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’, but it’s a lot more complicated judging their deeper cuts. ‘Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own’ and ‘Love is Blindness’ are both spectacular works of musical art, but a lot of the great moments from those songs come from the subtleties that The Edge puts into everything.
And while Bono does admit that he brings a lot to the table as a frontman, he knew that the band could have easily been led by The Edge had he had more time behind the microphone, saying, “I think Edge is singing very well these days. Beautiful falsetto. He sounds like a bunch of beautiful Black women. Edge would lead the group to some extraordinary places without me, and they would have less pressure, but less fun.”
While The Edge’s vocals were certainly a great complement to Bono’s when they were playing tunes like ‘I Will Follow’ back in the day, there’s a good chance the band would have sounded hollow without their frontman. ‘Fun’ might not be the adjective that most people would use to describe Bono’s onstage tirades or his choice to take time out of the set to talk about apartheid, but even if The Edge’s acoustic version of ‘Love is Blindness’ is beautiful, their shows wouldn’t be the same with him standing there strumming away.
It’s almost like the next generation of a band like The Who in many respects. The Edge is as much of a musical mastermind as Pete Townshend is, but even if the Mod gods had worked as a trio, you need that bombastic frontman to help add the right swagger to every single tune.
