“I didn’t feel the need”: The album that made The Edge stop playing guitar solos
I have always hated the double standard that everyone falls for when talking about U2 guitarist The Edge. On the one hand, the listening public talks about how guitar playing should “come from the soul” and that it’s not about how many notes you play; it’s about creating an unmistakable sound for yourself. Then The Edge comes along, uses pedals, delays, and meticulous studio crafting to do exactly that, and everyone loses their minds in rage.
Everyone suddenly becomes those tedious guitar shop gatekeepers. You know, the ones who roll their eyes at you for playing an Arctic Monkeys riff and sneer about what makes a “real” guitarist as if anyone who’s been on a date actually cares. The technical skill becomes all that matters to these tiresome chuds, guffawing over that old Bill Bailey “equipment failure at a U2 gig” bit.
Of course, when it’s Kevin Shields doing exactly the same thing, suddenly its visionary musicianship to them. Self-awareness is a lot to ask of someone these days. The point is that The Edge is a genuine, bona-fide guitar genius. I don’t use the Kevin Shields comparison lightly, I firmly believe that both of them take the same wide-screen, post-modern view of the guitar and what it’s capable of.
One that’s progressive without being prog. The man born Dave Evans merely uses it in a much more accessible way than the My Bloody Valentine wizard. In doing so, he created the signature guitar sound not just for one of the world’s biggest bands but also for generations of rock bands going forward.
How did The Edge develop that style?
Like any self-respecting post-punk band, U2 developed their sound from a strict diet of Joy Division and Public Image. The guitar work of Bernard Sumner and Keith Levine makes a deep impact on a young Edge in particular. Punk had already taught him that he could keep things simple yet effective, but their work showed that it didn’t necessarily have to mean playing barre chords solely.
Thus, The Edge’s style was born. Simple, effective, yet highly melodic ear-catching. It was still (broadly speaking) within the standard forms of rock guitar. Riff intro, chords during verse and chorus, solo, repeat. However, in an interview with Guitar World magazine, The Edge detailed the two albums that completely changed his playing forever. The first was 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire, which was the first time he went in deep with combining his guitar work with technology.
However, it was 1987 masterpiece The Joshua Tree where he found the happy medium between technological progression and good, old-fashioned guitar playing. In the interview, he said “I was doing strange things on Unforgettable Fire… I was fascinated with keyboards, the DX7, treatments, and it led to a new avenue for us. But now I’m kind of tired of options, and I kind of embrace limitations now.”
One of those limitations was to keep soloing to a minimum. On an album as influenced by American blues music as The Joshua Tree, it was a bold move, but one that they stood by. He said, “On this record, I think solos would only have been permitted had they worked within the context of the song itself; there are some, but I’ve been moving against solos because I didn’t feel the need to play any.”
There, you get the real nucleus of The Edge’s guitar playing. It’s about more than pedals and studio work. It’s about more than playing guitar, even. It’s about playing the song and nothing more. In the egotistical work of guitarists, maybe that’s what pisses so many people off. That, among the true guitar greats, is a player who isn’t interested in showing off or proving anything and just wants to help his band create the best music it can. An attitude we can all learn from, I’m sure.
