It would have been easy to fill this list with only music, clip after clip of goose bump-inducing moments, but there's so much more to this man than his arsenal of guitars, amps, pedals, echo units and other toys.
His talent is not merely his ability to manipulate technology to his advantage, but in what he's able to coax out of these inanimate objects. In his hands, the guitar -- which can be purposely overbearing, loud, scratchy, annoying -- becomes an instrument of the heart, with a sound brimming with human emotion, like the melancholy of "One" or the angst of "Bullet The Blue Sky."
If Bono wears his heart on his sleeve, Edge wears his over six strings. He's the cool, measured yin to Bono's fiery, impulsive yang. It's part and parcel of what makes them such a dynamic duo, and why Adam and Larry often have their hands full.
In the electric-guitar documentary It Might Get Loud, he says, "I drive everyone crazy trying to get the sound that I can hear in my head to come out of the speakers. It's my voice. That is my voice." We've all heard the words used to describe his voice: "shimmery," "cinematic," "expansive." Great music expresses something that we can't explain with language, but in the way it makes us yearn and feel and hurt and love. He speaks to us with such eloquence and truth, we can't help but listen.
Always understated, often imitated, never duplicated, the Scientist, the Zen Master, even his mother calls him The Edge. In honor of our favorite guitar hero, please help us celebrate with this list that was compiled with the help of the @U2 staff: 50 Things To Love About The Edge On His 50th Birthday!
1. He admits that as a child, he had more than a striking resemblance to this kid.
2. He and his brother Dick (aka Dik of the Virgin Prunes) built their own guitar, long before Larry put up the notice looking for band mates.
3. He's not afraid to stand up to a friend. Bono recalls the story at U2's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
Second Kodak moment. It is 1982. New Haven, I believe. Things are not going very well. There's a punk band onstage trying to play Bach. A fight breaks out. It's between the band. It's very very messy. Now you look at this guitar genius, you look at this Zen-like master that is The Edge, and you hear those brittle icy notes and you might be forgiven for forgetting that you cannot play like that unless you have a rage inside you. In fact, I had forgotten that on that particular night, and he tried to break my nose. And I learned a great, great lesson that night. You do not pick a fight with someone who for a living lives off hand-eye coordination. Dangerous, dangerous man, The Edge.
4. Take it from Bono; you wouldn't want to see these metal rings coming toward your face.
5. Even in the early days, he was a cut-up. His answer to why he's called "The Edge" on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder.
6. He's superb at multi-tasking, as witnessed in this live performance of "New Year's Day" at the US Festival in 1983.
7. Quote: "I find it to be an ongoing challenge to keep the guitar from becoming too traditional."
8. The story of his muse, his beloved Explorer.
9. Man cannot live with one guitar alone.
10. Solo, anyone? One - two - three
11. Quote: "Edge acquired his echo unit and that changed everything. If you know the precision of his playing, this is an effect that he is going to master like Jimi Hendrix did wah wah. It was punk rock with a symphony -- suddenly you're in outer space instead of suburbia." -- Bono
12. His memories of Red Rocks before the start of the U2 360 tour.
13. Quote: "I want U2 to be a band that takes risks. I hate this idea of U2 as a nice safe band . . . The rock rebel thing is very phony."
14. He's not having it: The eye roll he gives Bono at the 3:08 mark in the official video for "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."
15. In the eyes of blues great B.B. King, Edge is the best rhythm guitarist around.
16. His weird and wonderful soundtrack for the movie Captive.
17. Brian Eno almost threw this into the trash ... and here, trying it out with a new band. Can you imagine your life without it?
18. His voice: U2's not-so-secret weapon.
19. Quote: "Edge's guitar solo in 'Love Is Blindness' is a more eloquent prayer than anything I could write." -- Bono
20. His badass bedazzled look circa Achtung Baby.
21. Quote: "If it was a simple, painless process then I don't think the records would have the same intensity or resonance. You have to gouge away and open the veins and find the s--t that really matters to you, and to do that you have to go to some dark places."
22. The skullcap, the beanie, call it what you will but he's been rocking it all these years. Swoon!
23. He's willing to subject himself to all manner of abuse for the sake of his art, most notably, in the video for "Numb."
24. Quote: "There's a lot of music you can't play when you've a guy who looks like Edge in your band." -- Larry
25. He's married to a belly dancer.
26. In case things don't work out with his current band, he's got a future in Las Vegas.
27. His response to the terrible tragedy of Hurricane Katrina was to start a foundation to help the musicians of New Orleans regain their instruments and their livelihoods.
28. His trademark Chuck Taylor sneakers. And this pair, which he donated to an auction to benefit Music Rising.
29. His contribution to the Johnny Cash tribute, "The Wah-wah-wah-wah-Wanderer."
30. You wish you had 'em, those "Mr. The Edge" cowboy boots.
31. He can rock it and roll it at the same time. He's always had groovy dance moves on stage, but he really got to show off in the video for "Discothèque."
32. His short stint as a disco cowboy.
33. According to U2 By U2, Bono's voice was shot while recording "Last Night On Earth," and Edge stepped up more than ably, matching Bono note for note in the chorus. Oh, and the mischievous smile at the 3:12 mark in the video.
34. A stark contrast to Bono's anger-fueled performance in Rattle And Hum, this is "Sunday, Bloody Sunday."
35. His Popmart-era sexy Fu Manchu porn 'stashe.
36. He's a good sport. Bono followed him around with a camera at all hours of the day and night for a video called "A Day In The Life Of The Edge."
37. His speech at the Grammy Awards, 2001.
38. Is it really only two notes??
39. He's a friend to superheroes: Batman on the big screen and on the small screen, and of course Spider-Man.
40. That's Dr. The Edge to you.
41. He's a scientist to the core, and seems to have a special relationship with MIT, seen here and here, and is even on the Board of Directors here.
42. His dedication to the Angiogenesis Foundation.
43. "Here we go." Cartoon Edge's response to one of cartoon Bono's diatribes on The Simpsons.
44. His warning became the title of the guitar documentary, It Might Get Loud, and the film where we see that he's one of us, just another star-struck fan.
45. Something we'd love to see more of: Edge's pictures posted on Twitter.
46. He's not afraid to stand up for his friend and his band in this letter-to-the-editor.
47. He rescued the splatter pants from the '80s and the flannel shirt from the '90s Seattle grunge scene and was able to make them his own.
48. His ad-lib on The Late Show With David Letterman.
49. Clearly, he still loves his job.
50. In his speech inducting U2 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Bruce Springsteen elegantly attests to how we feel:
The Edge. The Edge. The Edge. The Edge. (applause) He is a rare and true guitar original and one of the subtlest guitar heroes of all time. He's dedicated to ensemble playing and he subsumes his guitar ego in the group. But do not be fooled. Take Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Neil Young, Pete Townshend -- guitarists who defined the sound of their band and their times. If you play like them, you sound like them. If you are playing those rhythmic two-note sustained fourths, drenched in echo, you are going to sound like The Edge, my son. Go back to the drawing board and chances are you won't have much luck. There are only a handful of guitar stylists who can create a world with their instruments, and he's one of them. The Edge's guitar playing creates enormous space and vast landscapes. It is a thrilling and a heartbreaking sound that hangs over you like the unsettled sky. In the turf it stakes out, it is inherently spiritual. It is grace and it is a gift.
Happy 50th Birthday, Edge!
(c) @U2/Maione, 2011.
