The #40 Guitarist of the Rock Era: Edge

Here are the 60 guitarists featured so far:


100. Mick Barr, Orthrelm
99. Jerry Cantrell, Alice in Chains
98. Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield Blues Band
97. Danny Kirwan, Fleetwood Mac
96. Daron Malakian, System of a Down

95. Sam Totman, Dragonforce
94. Kerry King, Slayer
93. Robbie Krieger, Doors
92. Ted Nugent
91. Jason Becker, David Lee Roth
90. John 5, David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson
89. Jake E. Lee, Ratt, Ozzy Osbourne
88. Michael Wilton, Queensryche
87. James Munky Shaffer, Korn
86. Uli Jon Roth, Scorpions
85. Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi
84. Rick Derringer, McCoys, Edgar Winter Group, solo
83. Dave Mason, Traffic, solo
82. Warren DeMartini, Ratt, Whitesnake
81. Synyster Gates, Avenged Sevenfold
80. Jack White, the White Stripes
79. Alex Lifeson, Rush
78. Chuck Schuldiner, Death
77. Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, solo
76. C.C. DeVille, Poison
75. Gary Rossington, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rossington-Collins Band
74. Peter Frampton, Humble Pie, solo
73. Neil Giraldo, Pat Benatar
72. Keith Richards, Rolling Stones
71. Michael Schenker, Scorpions, UFO, Michael Schenker Group
70. Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine
69. Neal Schon, Santana, Journey
68. Vivian Campbell, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Thin Lizzy
67. Dave Mustaine, Metallica, Megadeth
66. Danny Gatton
65. Timo Tolkki
64. Allen Holdsworth
63. Dave Murray, Iron Maiden
62. Nuno Bettencourt, Extreme
61. Ace Frehley, Kiss, solo
60. Reb Beach, 28 years
59. Allen Collins, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rossington Collins Band
58. Kurt Cobain, Nirvana
57. John Petrucci, Dream Theatre
56. Richie Kotzen
55. Michael Angelo Batio, Holland, the Michael Angelo Band, Nitro
54. Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley
53. Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick
52. Fast Eddie Clarke, Motorhead
51. Vinnie Moore, UFO
50. Joe Walsh, James Gang, solo, and Eagles
49. Roy Buchanan
48. Chuck Berry
47. Rory Gallagher, solo
46. Steve Lukather, Toto
45. Tommy Bolin, Deep Purple
44. Frank Zappa, Mothers of Invention, solo
43. Gary Moore, Thin Lizzy, solo
42. Stephen Stills, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills & Nash, solo
41. Mick Ronson, David Bowie, solo




At #40, a guy who isn't flashy, but provides the perfect guitar for his group and has a sound all his own:

#40:  Edge, U2

37 years as an active guitarist

David Howell Evans, who has acquired the nickname the Edge, was born in Essex, England.  He helped found the Irish group U2 and has played on all their albums.  The group really took hold with the release of The Joshua Tree album and since then, have been one of the Top Artists of the Rock Era*.  The Edge has blended several musical styles into his guitar playing in a sound that is distinctively U2.
 

Evans was born in England but his family moved to Ireland when David was an infant.  He took both piano and guitar lessons and performed with his brother Dik.  David received his first guitar, an acoustic, from his mother.  Both went to Mount Temple Comprehensive School, where they responded to an ad posted by Larry Mullen, Jr. at the school looking for musicians to form a group.  The band accepted both of them, going through several lineup changes, including the departure of Dik, before they became U2 in March of 1978.


Paul Hewson (Bono) was the group's lead singer, with the Edge on lead guitar, Mullen as the drummer and Adam Clayton on bass. The group won a talent contest in Limerick, Ireland on St. Patrick's Day, and thus received free studio time to record a demo that would be heard by CBS Ireland.  U2 recorded their first demo tape at Keystone Studios in Dublin in May.  The result was an EP available only in Ireland called Three.   The group received a strong following in Ireland as a result of the EP.  In December, U2 performed outside of their native country for the first time, doing a show in London. 
 

The group was beginning to gain attention and in March of 1980, U2 signed a recording contract with Island Records.  "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" was their first single, with their debut album, Boy, released in October.  U2 followed with their first tour of continental Europe and the United States.


The album October was released in 1981 with spiritual themes.  Bono, the Edge and Mullen were in a Christian group in Dublin called the "Shalom Fellowship".  This experience caused the three to question the relationship between the Christian faith and rock and roll.  Both Bono and the Edge nearly quit over this conflict.  October received mixed reviews and low sales pressured the group to improve.


U2 began to turn the corner with their next album, War, in 1983.  They began to write songs from the heart about issues they were passionate about.  With War, U2 turned pacifism into a crusade.  The incredible song "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is some of their best early work, in which the events of Bloody Sunday (where British troops shot and killed unarmed civil rights protesters) were contrasted with Easter Sunday.  War debuted at number one in the U.K. and the single "New Year's Day" was the group's first hit outside of Ireland or the U.K.
 

U2 performed before sold-out crowds in both Europe and the United States.  They recorded the live album Under a Blood Red Sky as well as Live at Red Rocks during this tour.  Both received good exposure on radio and television and showed the great concert appeal of U2.  By 1984, U2 was able to sign a lucrative extension of their contract with Island Records.


For their next album, U2 changed direction, not wanting to be "just another arena-rock band".  The Edge, who admired the unique work of Brian Eno, who, along with engineer Daniel Lanois, agreed to produce the record.  The group sought to produce a more serious, artistic album, and they did this with The Unforgettable Fire.  The group's rhythm section now supported the songs rather than being dominant.  "Pride (In the Name of Love)" was released as the first single and U2 gained a reputation for writing songs about things that mattered.


U2 performed at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in London in 1985 to raise money for Ethiopian famine relief.  The group's performance in front of 82,000 fans is considered a pivotal point on U2's career for it showed how the group could connect with a live audience.


If U2 hadn't yet hit the mainstream by now, they would do so with their next album.  They wanted to expand their knowledge of music by getting into American and Irish roots. They explored blues, folk and gospel music.  In 1986, Bono travelled to San Salvador and Nicaragua and witnessed peasants bullied in internal conflicts that were subject to American political intervention.  This experience became a central influence on the new album, in which "dismantling the mythology of America" became the stated goal.
 

The Joshua Tree was released in March of 1987.  The album balanced the group's deep fascination with America, its open spaces, freedom and ideals with its spiritual vacancy and extreme violence and the antipathy that the rest of the world felt.  The Joshua Tree became the fastest-selling album in British history and was the #1 album in the United States for nine weeks.  The first two singles, "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" both reached #1.


The album launched U2 into superstardom.  They were just the fourth rock group to be featured on the cover of Time magazine, which declared the group "Rock's Hottest Ticket". U2 won two Grammy Awards for the album.  The documentary Rattle and Hum featured footage from The Joshua Tree


So again, U2 had to change.  On the eve of the reunification of Germany, the group began working on Achtung Baby at Hansas Studios in Berlin in 1990 with Lanois and Eno.  Both Bono and Edge sought to play off the European industrial and electronic dance music that had become popular.  U2 returned to Dublin in 1991 to complete the album.
 

In November, Achtung Baby was released, and produced five hit singles, including "Mysterious Ways" and "One".  The album represented the reinvention of U2 in much the same way as The Unforgettable Fire did.  While on tour in mid-1993, the group recorded Zooropa, with more dance influences and electronic effects.  Zooropa won U2 another Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.


In 1995, U2 released another experimental album called Original Soundtracks 1.  Eno, who had already produced three albums for the group, also wrote songs and performed on this album.  The group released the album under the name Passengers to distinguish it from more conventional albums the group had released.  


On the album Pop in 1997, there was more experimentation, tape loops, rhythm sequencing, etc. and the album was laden with heavy, funky dance rhythms.  The album debuted at #1 in 35 countries.  But it didn't have the depth of previous efforts and the group was generally disappointed with its results.
 

The subsequent PopMart tour poked fun at pop culture and sent a sarcastic message to those accusing U2 of commercialism.  The concert in Sarajevo was a highlight, where U2 were the first major group to perform there following the Bosnian War.


Following the relatively disappointing reaction to Pop, U2 declared that they were "reapplying for the job...(of) the best band in the world".  Since this time, the group has gone back to a more conventional rock sound mixed with their 1990's experiments.  All That You Can't Leave Behind was released in October, 2000, another highlight of the group's career.  The album debuted at #1 in 22 countries only this time, the album had staying power.  "Beautiful Day" earned three Grammy Awards (Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Performance by a Group with Vocals), All That You Can't Leave Behind won Album of the Year, "Elevation" won the Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Group with Vocals, "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" won Best Pop Performance by a Group with Vocals and "Walk On" won for Record of the Year in 2001.
 

For the Elevation Tour, U2 returned to smaller arenas after a decade of stadium performances.  The group performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City in October, following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.  In early 2002, U2 performed at halftime of Super Bowl XXXVI, which SI.com ranked as the best halftime show in Super Bowl history.


U2 released How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb in 2004, a harder rock sound than previous efforts.  The album debuted at #1 in the United States, more than doubling sales for All That You Can't Leave Behind.  The first single, "Vertigo" was an international smash.  The resulting Vertigo Tour was a huge success. 


U2 won Grammy Awards in all eight categories in which they were nominated.  The group won for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Group with Vocal ("Vertigo") and Best Rock Album in 2004 and Song of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Group with Vocal ("Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own"), Album of the Year and Best Rock Song of 2005 ("City of Blinding Lights").
 

No Line, U2's 12th album, No Line on the Horizon, was released in 2009 and once again, debuted at #1 in 30 countries.  Sales, however, were low in comparison to previous albums and No Line on the Horizon did not contain a hit. 


With the success of the U2 360 Tour in 2009, in which a 360-degree audience configuration allowed fans to surround the stage on all sides, U2 finished the decade having played to more fans than any other act, including the Rolling Stones.  The group extended the 360-degree Tour into 2010 with shows in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.  The tour concluded in July, 2011 with a gross of $736 million and total attendance of 7,268,430, both Rock Era records for a single concert tour. 


The Edge, much like Scotty Moore, whom we heard from earlier in The Top 100*, adopts a minimalistic style.  He understands the importance of notes and doesn't just throw them around but chooses them carefully. Speed and melody are both important factors in deciding rankings of guitar players, but between the two, melody carries more weight. As Edge says, "I'm a guitar player, not a gunslinger."

The Edge has consistently used a rhythmic echo and a signature delay in his guitar playing.  Coupled with an Irish-influenced drone played against his melodies, this produces a well-defined ambient, chiming sound.  Edge has also played piano and keyboards on many of U2's songs.   

Edge has also recorded with Tina Turner, Johnny Cash, B.B. King, Rihanna, Ronnie Wood and Jay-Z.  David helped write the score to the movie Captive in 1986.  He also created the theme song for season one and two of The Batman and Edge and Bono wrote the lyrics to the theme of the James Bond movie Golden Eye in 1995.  Edge and Bono also collaborated on a musical adaptation of Spider-Man.


Edge will take as many as 45 guitars on the road and will use 17-19 in a concert.  He plays Gibson 2005 and 2006 "Music Rising"Les Pauls, a Gibson replica of a 1973 Les Paul Custom, 1976 Gibson Explorers, 1976 and 1979 Fender Telecasters, a Fender Jaguar, 1963 and 1968 Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman guitars, a Grestsch White Falcon, several Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters, a Gibson SJ-200 acoustic and Martin acoustics, among others. 


The Edge uses Vox AC-30 as his main amps, but also uses Fender Deluxe Tweeds, a Fender Blues Jr., a Roland JC120, Fender Harvard and Marshall 50 watt amp heads and cabinets. For effects, he employs the AMS SDMX Digital Delay, the Boss CS-3 Compressor Sustain pedal, the Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor, the Boss GE-7 EQ, several products from Custom Audio, including the Electronic Remote Wah, the Digitech Synth Wah Pedal, the Death by Audio Fuzz Gun, the Digitech WH1 Whammy pedal, the Drive Breaker Distortion, the Eventide H3000 Harmonizer, the KORG Rack A3 Multi Effects Unit, the Line 6 Pod Pro and the Skrydstrup Bufferooster pedal.

U2 cites the Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Who, the Clash and Van Morrison as influences.


U2 have sold more than 150 million records, and they rank among the best music artists of all-time no matter what factors you look at.  In addition to 22 Grammy Awards and 34 nominations, more than any other band, U2 has won seven BRIT Awards, 14 Meteor Awards in Ireland, one American Music Award, a Golden Globe, eleven Q Awards, two Juno Awards and three NME Awards.   In 2005, U2 was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The Edge has provided the solos for one of the world's top groups for over 30 years.  He ranks #40 for the Rock Era*...