{"id":539644,"date":"2026-03-23T02:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T02:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/539644\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T02:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T02:21:09","slug":"this-major-u2-hit-was-almost-abandoned-bandmates-called-the-earliest-version-of-the-song-difficult","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/539644\/","title":{"rendered":"This Major U2 Hit Was Almost Abandoned, Bandmates Called the Earliest Version of the Song \u201cDifficult\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most difficult parts of making a record is knowing how to identify diamonds in the rough. Picking out a diamond in the rough that will also be a breakthrough hit? That can feel next to impossible. Fortunately for Irish rockers U2, they were able to save their first major hit from the cutting room floor during their sessions for The Joshua Tree<\/a>.<\/p>\n

U2 had released two albums before The Joshua Tree, but they hadn\u2019t had a true breakout hit in the U.S. That changed in early 1987 after they released the lead single from that album, \u201cWith Or Without You\u201d<\/a>. The song was the band\u2019s first No. 1 hit in the U.S. and Canada. Even today, it is among the best-known tracks in U2\u2019s catalog.<\/p>\n

But for a brief moment in time earlier that year, \u201cWith Or Without You\u201d almost saw its journey end in the garbage. \u201cProgress was difficult,\u201d guitarist Edge said about this period of the band\u2019s career, per U2 By U2<\/a>. \u201cIt was really bits and pieces where you just get a glimpse of what might be and slowly piece it together. Each time we felt like we had run out of road, there would be a breakthrough. Some were total accidents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of all these serendipitous studio moments, Edge cited \u201cWith Or Without You\u201d as one of the most important.<\/p>\n

How a New Piece of Gear Helped Save \u201cWith or Without You\u201d<\/p>\n

U2 bassist Adam Clayton described the bare bones of U2\u2019s song, \u201cWith Or Without You\u201d, as \u201cvery traditional\u201d in the band\u2019s biography. \u201cThe chords just went round and round and round. It was hard to find a different take on it or a new way into it. It was just a promise of a song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around the same time they were woodshedding their future breakthrough hit, Edge<\/a> was also experimenting with a new piece of gear. A newfangled \u201cinfinite guitar\u201d gave Edge endless sustain as he played. It was a tricky piece of equipment, the wiring of which often led to Edge\u2019s guitar tech getting a nasty bite while he serviced the instrument.<\/p>\n

However, when that infinite guitar combined with Clayton\u2019s bass and Larry Mullen Jr.\u2019s drums, it gave \u201cWith Or Without You\u201d the oomph it had been missing. \u201cWe were really at an impasse in search of the right arrangement,\u201d Edge recalled. When they heard the wall of sound that was accumulating in the playback, they said, \u2018That\u2019s it! But what the f*** is it?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Bono\u2019s friend and collaborator, Gavin Friday<\/a>, managed to answer that question. \u201cHe personally rescued \u2018With Or Without You\u2019,\u201d Bono later said. \u201cHe pulled it out of the wastepaper bin, organized it, structured it, and was the one who believed it could be a big hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friday, of course, was right. And U2 was right to listen to him.<\/p>\n

Photo by Frederic GARCIA\/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the most difficult parts of making a record is knowing how to identify diamonds in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216,2156,24687],"class_list":["post-539644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-rock-music","tag-u2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}