The one song The Edge called “one of the most classic”
U2 have never exactly been known as the coolest band in the world throughout their career.
They have always been used to paving their own way in rock and roll, and while that can get more than a little bit annoying when Bono is going on his third of fourth political speech midway through a concert, it’s usually worth it to hear The Edge tear through a guitar solo by the end of the night. But even if they have a bunch of rock classics under their belt, the guitarist felt that the greatest songwriters existed outside of genre altogether.
Because when you think about it, not all of U2’s greatest tunes could really be classified as simple rock and roll. There are definitely good examples of being a classic rock act on ‘Vertigo’ or even their early tracks like ‘I Will Follow’, but once they got to making albums like The Joshua Tree, they seemed to transcend the genre labels in many ways. ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ is practically a gospel song, and there’s almost no clear reference for ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’, but there’s no doubt that the band meant every single word they were singing.
So when they dismantled everything even further on Achtung Baby, genres tended to get even more fluid. They wanted to go in the same direction that someone like David Bowie did back in the day, and while that did lead to a massive makeover when Bono turned into ‘The Fly’, it didn’t matter so long as they were making killer tunes like ‘Mysterious Ways’ and ‘One’. They wanted to embrace every genre under the sun, but easy listening wasn’t typically everyone’s first choice.
Since this was the dawn of grunge, not everyone was going to go out on a limb and say that the works of Frank Sinatra were suddenly cool again. But for Bono, it was never about being cool. He was a lover of great melodies at the end of the day, and his friendship with ‘Ol Blue Eyes’ throughout that decade was more about him paying respect to the geniuses of old than wanting to reinvent himself as a crooner.
But tucked away in the Achtung Baby vaults was the song ‘Night and Day’ by Cole Porter. It was about as far away from rock and roll as possible, but they somehow managed to make the whole thing sound seamless thanks to Daniel Lanois’s ear for production and Bono’s vocals. And for The Edge, it didn’t matter what genre they were working in so long as they came out with a good song.
He was more than happy to add his guitars to anything, and he felt that Porter’s music was too good to be put down, saying, “Cole Porter is one of those just giants of songwriting, and whether you’re a punk-rocker or a funker, or whatever you are, those tunes are undeniable. We had a lot of fun with the guitar parts and we came up with some really crazy sounds and hooks. Obviously, it’s one of the most classic songs ever written, so that’s largely why it’s so great.”
Despite the original versions being perfect just the way they are, the band do actually manage to invent the tune in a refreshing way. The sound of a four-on-the-floor club beat over one of the most well-known ballads of all time might not be the first thing that most grandmothers would prefer to listen to, but it’s shocking how well it works with the rest of the tune, especially with The Edge throwing in those guitar lines into the mix.
It’s not necessarily going to replace the old records in many a grandparent’s record collection, but making this kind of song wasn’t about trying to sell millions of copies. U2 were slowly chipping away at their sound, and while this does deserve some ridicule for going on to influence what happened on Pop, this was still the time where they were free to take whatever chances they could think of.
