U2’s new album was inspired by krautrockers Neu!.
The ‘Vertigo’ hitmakers unleashed their new single ‘Invisible’ during the commercials for the Super Bowl at the weekend and guitarist The Edge has revealed the band listened to a lot of German electronica which inspired them when they first started jamming in the 1970s.
He told BBC Radio 2: "For us it’s been about turning to music that has inspired us in the first place, it’s raw and definitely guitar driven and we’ve been influenced by German music of that era, the krautrock Can and Neu!, the authentic and original electronica that kick-started so many great movements around the world, still resonating in club cultures around the time that we were coming through. It was an interesting time.
"All we knew at that moment was that we couldn’t repeat what had happened in the previous ten years, music had to really radically change. I guess we’re all feeling like we’re at that moment again. It’s time for something new to kick off and hopefully we can be part of that in some way."
The band, which also features frontman Bono, bassist Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr., are adding the finishing touches to their album which will be out in coming months and they are still reliving the excitement from the Super Bowl, although The Edge didn’t make it the game.
He said: "I actually went to New York, got very close to the Super Bowl but actually never made it, I ended up seeing it on TV and it was very exciting.
"To have one of the songs you’ve been working on for so long be out there.
"We’ve been working so long on this record you don’t get out much, now we’re out in the glare of public scrutiny and it’s kind of like ‘woah’."
U2 album inspired by krautrock
