FEATURE:
The Lockdown Playlist
The Edge at Sixty: The Very Best of U2
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I want to put…
out a Lockdown Playlist for U2’s The Edge, as he turns sixty on 8th August. The lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist of the iconic Irish band, I am going to put together a selection if the best U2 songs - rather than just the best performance from The Edge. Before coming to that, here is some biography about the great man:
“Edge was born David Howell Evans in East London on 8th August 1961 to Garvin and Gwenda Evans. He has one sister, Jill, and one brother, Dik, who was also one of the founder members of U2's forerunner, The Hype, before leaving to join the Virgin Prunes. Having moved to Ireland while David was still at school, the Evans family settled in St. Mary Park Road, Malahide - an affluent area north of Dublin. His mother was friendly with Adam's mother, Jo, so he and Adam knew each other before the band was formed. It was while in Malahide that he attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School and met the rest of the band.
Many theories exist concerning how Edge came to get his unusual name. As teenagers, he and Bono were both members of a group called Lypton Village, where everyone was given a name that suited them (as opposed to the one they'd been born with). Some say that the name The Edge was chosen due to his 'edgy' style of guitar playing, while others say it was because he rarely became fully involved in things, preferring instead to remain 'on the edge'. Either way, the name stuck.
Edge learned guitar mainly by playing over records that the rest of the band supplied him with. Rory Gallagher and Tom Verlaine were early influences, although the fledgeling U2 covered anything from The Moody Blues to The Sex Pistols - in fact it was the realisation that they were not a good cover band that forced them to start writing their own material and become good. Edge developed a distinctive style that he described as "doing the work of two", as he liked to fill every spare moment with guitar. He has always seen himself as the opposite of the stereotypical guitar hero, preferring instead to think of himself as someone who communicates something meaningful through his music in a way that means something to the listener. While some detractors claim that Edge's style is simplistic, others have praised him for defining his own sound”.
To mark the upcoming fiftieth birthday of The Edge, here are some classic U2 tracks. Whilst Bono leads the band, I feel The Edge is one of the most important members; responsible for many of U2’s best and most memorable moments. Here are the U2 songs where The Edge is…
VITAL to their brilliance.