What Makes U2 Run?

U2 / Photograph by Takay

Metal Machine Music it's not, yet this is the least immediate or user-friendly U2 album in a decade. If 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind and 2004's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb deliberately (some might say too deliberately) shored up the base after the neither-here-nor-there clubland ditherings of the 1997 flop-by-U2-standards Pop (a mere 5.5 million units shifted), Horizon displays an eagerness to again show off the elasticity of the band as well as the brand. ("Moment of Surrender," a soulful ballad that has "One"-like ubiquity in its DNA, clocks in at nearly eight minutes but was still considered as the lead single.) The record is the sound of a band with nothing to lose -- or rather, with every opportunity to win back whatever it is they might lose if they've somehow misjudged. By now, even their missteps look like dance moves.

U2 started working with producer Rick Rubin in 2006, yielding a collaboration with Green Day (a cover of the Skids' "The Saints Are Coming") and a handful of songs in varying stages of completion. "Rick's great contribution was suggesting that we don't go near a recording studio until we have our songs figured out," says guitarist the Edge, 47 -- just "Edge" to his friends, thanks -- in his standard uniform of T-shirt, hoodie, black knit hat. "We didn't really get going with Rick, but those songs are still there." Starting from scratch, U2 then reconnected with longtime producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, but with a twist: This time, the two would come in as songwriting partners, collaborating from the outset in Dublin, Morocco, and France, creating a freewheeling atmosphere closer to the experimentation of 1991's Achtung Baby than the more back-to-basics recent outings. "The essence of the album was very spontaneous," Edge says. "You don't want it to sound all fussed-with to the point where it's impressive but ultimately doesn't stand the test of time."

Each band member gets excited when talking about these procedural distinctions, but what feels paradigm-shifting to them may register more subtly to someone who has not been in U2 for 30 years. They know, though, just how much they have to change their internal rules to keep the game interesting, and how much freedom is too much. To this end, Pop remains a watershed moment, a reminder that their machine does not run well in low gear. "The only time we ever took a year off was before that album," Edge says. "I don't regret the period, but there was a lesson to learn, that there's value in maintaining what you do and not taking too long a break."

"I'm happy we still don't know how to do it," says drummer Larry Mullen Jr., 47, sporting a black shirt, black jeans, black high-tops, and a face that barely seems to have aged since Live Aid. "The mistake is assuming you're always going to be liked and that you have some talent that's beyond the normal level. It's just not true."