“Look at American music”: The one band Bono said was miles better than U2 will ever be
There are few bands in the entire world that can match the kind of track record that U2 had in their prime.
While Bono had a lot of hubris claiming to plant a flag in rock and roll history when the Irish legends first got started, you couldn’t say that he wasn’t good at calling his shots when they quickly turned into one of the most legendary bands to emerge from the 1980s. They were clearly on the right path to rock and roll Valhalla, but there were always going to be a few bands that managed to wipe the floor with them.
Then again, U2 are a band that almost belong in stadiums rather than a compact room. They had started in the era when punk rock brought music back into the clubs of the world, but when you listen to The Edge’s delayed guitar parts, none of them would have sounded as great when bouncing off the walls as they would in an open-air stadium whenever songs like ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ starts.
But even with all of that anger and energy, U2 didn’t think that would be enough for them. Bono loved the freedom that he had when shouting at the top of his range, but since a lot of their best songs were about the same political beliefs that The Clash instilled in them, they wanted to bring that kind of music across the sea. Not everyone manages to break America that quickly, but the reason why U2 crossed over was because of how much they were indebted to the US before they came over.
They had studied some of the greatest American acts of all time, and it wasn’t hard for Bono to see the genius in someone like Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley the same way that he saw the appeal of Van Morrison or Phil Lynott in his homeland. Everyone at the top seemed to be hungry enough to make music their life’s work, but it was quite an education when he began working with musicians when the band started making Rattle and Hum.
It’s not like the band wasn’t prepared, but their music was given a shot in the arm by the right people whenever they played live. ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ is still a great song regardless of who’s singing it, but for a tune that was meant to have a bit of a gospel flair to it, getting those seasoned gospel singers shouting the chorus alongside Bono is enough to give you chills. But if he really wanted to sing the blues, he was going to need to listen to BB King a lot more.
‘When Love Comes to Town’ was a fantastic blues romp for the film, but Bono said that he never wanted to find himself on the wrong end of the bandstand with King’s backing group, saying, “Though I think U2 are at the peak of their form in terms of our own music, when I look at American music, I mean the Memphis Horns and B.B. King, on that scale, we’re at the bottom of the ladder.”
It also didn’t help that King’s voice was still as strong as ever. Bono’s voice might do okay within the context of U2’s music and even when playing off of someone like Frank Sinatra, but since King sings with so much gusto from the minute he opens his mouth, hearing Bono’s feeble attempts to do the same thing can often come off as almost a parody of what King is doing naturally.
The rest of the band could measure up to what their American teachers were throwing at them, but when they left the country after Rattle and Hum, they were given more than just an education on how to play the blues. They realised that the true music comes from the heart, and it was no use for them trying to make music sounding like their favourites. They needed to make songs that were true to them, and Achtung Baby is a band finally figuring out how to exist within their own framework.
