Going back to my youth in the 80s, there was always a pre-internet (Compuserve/Prodigy/Zine magazines) controversy about Adam Clayton being unimportant member of his band.
It was Adam and Sting that gave me a love of the instrument in my youth that I’m just now after a few lifetimes trying to tackle. I remember hearing Boy, October, War, Joshua Tree, Ghost in the Machine, and Synchronicity as a young child/teen and being blown away. It was mostly the bass lines., although I didn’t know it at the time.
As simple as “With or Without You” is, there is a subtly that I struggle so hard with – the plucking hand. It’s hard to have that level of simplistic melodic and rhythmic perfection.
I’ve seen plenty of cover bands doing U2 and the bass lines usually seem the most off to me.
In my humble opinion, Clayton and Sting are not in the same league. Sure, Clayton is in (arguably) one of the biggest bands in the world and his playing serves the songs, but the sophistication of Stings playing, combined with his ability to play syncopated lines while singing, plus the fact that he’s a master songwriter, puts him on another level.
That said, Clayton inspired you and that’s fantastic!!!
As you point out, holding down a four note chugging baseline can be hard as you’ve got to stay absolutely in the pocket, any deviation is very audible. But this is true for most bass lines, we are part of the rhythm section, our job is the groove…
I’ve not done any U2 covers, or had the confidence to have a tilt at the Police. Maybe I should…
I remember hearing “I Will Follow” through the headphones of my walkman in the early '80s. I just listened to it again. Adam Clayton’s bass on this is fantastic.
I am a huge Adam Clayton fan. For me, he is the essential, traditional bass player: his playing lays the foundation of the song. I always found him to be a master of the (relatively) simple, but effective bass line. Don’t underestimate him though. He will play complex bass lines as well, if the song calls for it.
I agree with you. Clayton has evolved with the sound of the band (I loved U2): first album like Boy, War, October, The Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree have simple line, solid; after Rattle and Hum they have become more interesting but always solid, for example Some Days Are Better Than Other in Pop (in truth all the album has super bass lines).
For me my fave U2 song was Red Hill Mining Town from Joshua Tree… both for Bono’s piercing vocals on the track, and the bass-line holding the song together.
I think that tune didn’t get the attention it deserved.
As for Adam being unimportant … take the bass line OUT of With Or Without You or Where The Streets Have No Name … we see how important he really is
Cover bands sometimes ‘overcomplicate’ songs they deem to be simplistic … and honestly … all they have to do, is play the song. Those songs are hits for a reason!
Boy and War are great albums. Never really got in to October but I assume it’s good too. But after that I kind of got off the U2 train when Bono started becoming, well, Full Bono.
Clayton’s basslines on those first albums were perfect for the songs though, IMO.
I do agree Sting is more sophisticated, one could argue he is one of the most sophisticated people all around.
The two bands had a big influence on me in my pre and early teen years. The bass lines are just so critical to both bands. There is something amazing about the pairings of Copeland/Sting and Mullen/Clayton
I was on my way home from work when Invisible Sun came up on Spotify. I replayed it a couple times, turned around and headed to the music store to buy my bass at that moment.
Amazing song! That along with Exit and Mothers of the Disappeared were my favorites on that album.
Clayton needed to hold a solid rhythm and melodic foundation so The Edge could be The Edge.
As far as cover bands go, when I’ve heard U2 covered, it’s the bass lines that sound off to me. It might just be where my ear is keyed in but IDK. It’s in a way that I’ve never heard any guitar player once play Comfortably Numb anywhere that comes close to Gilmore. It’s like some kind of subtle gentleness of touch.
Which is it’s primary purpose. It’s the ingredient in the rhythmic stew that holds the rest together. I’ve always said no one is exactly sure what the bass does until I stop playing mid song. Then everyone gets it. We all need to be more proud of our role.
So there was this mid-2000s reality show about trashy 20-somethings from Jersey called “Jersey Shore”. One of the dudes on it called himself The Situation. Like, that was unironically his name.
I haven’t been able to think about The Edge the same way since.
IMO Adam Clayton has always been a solid bass player, his early playing on War, Boy, The Unforgettable Fire , Joshua Tree was always right in the pocket, he has matured as the band has aged.
I never get tired of listening to stuff like “the crystal ballroom” , “dancing barefoot “ , “the three sunrises” , 11 O’clock tick tock
All really cool bass lines👍
Big fan of early U2 here, right from the very beginning. Saw them twice in smallish venues and then once in an arena. Kind of lost interest after the first 3 albums after they got really massively popular, but there are several songs since then that rekindled my interest. Unique situation in that like a few other successful bands, they started really young and were all friends and school mates. Larry was only 16 and actually put out the notice to start a band. (And he looks that young in the clip below) I think Adam was 17 or 18 and according to some biography accounts, Bono thought he looked “the part” even though he was just learning bass and not that talented. I’ve also read that the band was very patient with him through those first records and there was never any need to find anyone else that could do more. His minimal style really fit what the edge started developing into and that actually became their sound. I did read recently where Adam spent several months in NY at some point (maybe 20 years ago?) taking lessons from a renowned bass guy (but can’t remember who he was) just in order to get better, more polished and structurally sound since he was self taught up to that point, despite becoming successful and financially set beyond imagination.
