He could have discovered the secrets of the universe
By Rhian Daly, NME
The Edge has recalled his first experience with magic mushrooms.
U2 joined Zane Lowe on Beats 1 earlier today to discuss their album 'The Joshua Tree', of which they are celebrating the 30th anniversary.
While Bono was reminiscing about the past, he described them as "high times". "There were no drugs," he quickly clarified, but his bandmates corrected him, mentioning magic mushrooms.
Asked by Lowe if any of the songs on the album were inspired by being on mushrooms, The Edge responded: "Well, this was a bit later, but I had one funny moment with the mushrooms. This was a metaphysical experiment, you understand? It was very spiritual."
He continued to explain he had been offered some mushrooms at a party at bassist Adam Clayton's house and had taken them because he'd never done them before. "I took a few, waited 40 minutes, nothing happened," he said. "So I doubled, trebled down. It's even worse because I actually went to bed.
"So I'm in the middle of a dark room watching firework displays that are happening in my imagination. The I started to understand the secrets of the universe. I had this moment of insight and I was thinking to myself 'I will never remember these tomorrow, I have to record these insights'. So I crawled across the floor, which took me about 25 minutes and got to my recording walkman, got back to my bed, hit play and then the red light came on so I spent another 25 minutes looking at the red light."
He said he recorded both sides of a C90 tape with "all of the important secrets of the universe" and forgot about it until the next evening. "I finally realised, 'Oh my god, I made a recording of the secrets of the universe. I better go listen to what that was'," he said. "So I went up and it was still on record and the batteries are all worn down. So I put new batteries in and turn the tape over and hit play.
"All I could hear was [muffled voice] cos I'd been talking into the battery compartment. Lost! Not a single audible word. Just think, the secrets of the universe were that close." You can watch the interview above. The relevant part starts around the 16 minute mark.
Meanwhile, Bono added that 'Where The Streets Have No Name' is "unfinished" to him. "It will always be not a great lyric," he told Lowe.
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Original article: http://www.nme.com/news/music/watch-u2s-edge-recall-first-experience-magic-mushrooms-2113656
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