Special Effects...It Might Get Loud: The Edge

The Edge

My exposure to U2 and The Edge was a bit more extensive than that of The White Stripes and Jack White. In fact, of the three guitar players featured in "It Might Get Loud," The Edge is almost certainly the first I ever heard (or at least remember hearing).

As a kid in the 80s, the music I heard was limited almost exclusively to whatever my brothers listened to. Even that was often filtered through my parents' watchful eyes (probably for the best). Much to many of my friends' amusement over the years, that limited most of my early popular music memory to Elvis Presley, Huey Lewis and the News, The Cars, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Richard Marx, Sir Mix-a-Lot, and D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.

Occasionally, other hits would seep into my consciousness. Mostly through radio, I was vaguely familiar with other popular artists of the day (Prince, Madonna, Billy Joel, etc.). Through a few friends, I was aware of some 80s heavy metal and hair bands (Aerosmith, AC/DC, Metallica, Poison, Def Leppard, and eventually Guns N Roses). One-hit wonders and certain bands became synonymous with 80s music for me. In addition to whoever sang "867-5309" and "Jessie's Girl," INXS, U2, and The Talking Heads probably fit best into that category. Not one-hit wonders, but very 80s in my mind.

No amusing movie cameos that I'm aware of, but The Edge might have the coolest name in rock and roll. And he still dresses like he's 15.

I didn't think much about any of this music in the 90s and only revisited it when I realized one of my new favorite bands, Widespread Panic, was big into The Talking Heads. Around this time, I realized that other people still liked U2. Somewhat surprised, I grabbed a greatest hits CD and an album or two that seemed to be pretty big during and shortly after my college years in the early to mid 2000s. I specifically remembered my oldest brother having a cassette of "The Joshua Tree" when I was younger and I made it a point to buy that one as well.

Listening through that U2 greatest hits CD and "The Joshua Tree" flooded my mind with all sorts of nostalgia for the 80s, but surprisingly, it all stood the test of time. Almost all of it sounded like it could have been recorded in the last few months (though "It Might Get Loud" reminds you how long ago they were recorded when you witness The Edge dust off some ancient cassette demos and relive them for the camera in his modest kitchen). The new U2 stuff I heard at this time managed to maintain the sound for which they were known, but remained fresh.

The full extent of U2's lasting impact didn't hit me until my oldest brother attended a U2 concert a few years ago, showed me a live DVD from that tour, and gave me a live CD from around that time. I had no idea that these guys still sold out stadiums, ran around a massive stage, and had 50,000+ people singing along every night at outrageous ticket prices. I had apparently been missing out on yet another legendary rock and roll band.

I never gave much thought to the guitar work put forth by The Edge until I actually tried to play some of U2's songs myself. Make no mistake, I can't play much of anything accurately, but for such seemingly simple guitar licks, his stuff is nearly impossible to duplicate. This is where The Edge enters into completely uncharted waters for me. Jack White and Jimmy Page are firmly grounded in the blues and boast masterful technique in nimble, intricate solos. In contrast, The Edge is beautifully simplistic in his playing, but mind-boggling in the effects he employs through an entire network of peddles, wires, amps, knobs, buttons, and switches.

Uh...is this a U2 concert or an enormous Wal-Mart claw game? I wonder how many hot 40 and 50-year-old groupies that thing can scoop up for a quarter. Nonetheless, anyone that gets to play on this stage is doing something right.

The most telling portion of "It Might Get Loud" for me is when The Edge's guitar tech tries to explain the complexity of his equipment, peddles, amps, etc. Each song has very specific settings on various pieces of equipment, all of which are at least in part controlled by the peddles at The Edge's feet. For example, the intense, electronic guitar sound for much of "Elevation" is almost exclusively generated by the effects manipulated by his feet. At one point in the film, he reveals that all he is doing during this unique part is a single strum on two chords. Without the effects, its simplicity should make any guitar player kick himself.

Not being as big of a U2 fan as many are, I could be completely wrong in my understanding of The Edge, but I gather that he is not the technical wizard that Jimmy Page (or even Jack White) is. At times during the film, he seemed to be a little slower to catch on to what the other two were doing. That said, I think it is almost undeniable that he is a master of technology and effects. I have never heard anyone that sounded like The Edge. He has one of the most distinctive sounds of any guitar player I've ever heard. Even when it is a song you have never heard, it rarely takes long to recognize U2, thanks primarily to The Edge.

The Edge's echoes and effects defined great rock and roll for a generation that by and large lacked even decent rock and roll. For that, he was easily the most appropriate guitar player to bridge the gap from Jack White to Jimmy Page. Never mind that he is a key ingredient in arguably the biggest active rock and roll band in the world. "It Might Get Loud" only solidified my determination to catch a U2 show very soon.