"It is really striking how much of the U2 sound frequently credited to Edge alone depends on Adam and Larry. Adam often plays with the swollen, vibrating bottom sound of a Jamaican dub bassist, covering the most sonic space with the smallest number of notes. Larry, who taught himself to drum and consequently got some things technically wrong, plays with a martial rigidity but uses his kit in a way a properly trained drummer would not. He has tom-toms on either side of him, and has a habit of coming off the snare onto them that is contrary to how most percussionists use those drums. We're not talking about huge technical innovations here; we're talking about personal idiosyncraises that have over fifteen years solidified into a big part of what makes U2 always sound like U2, no matter what style of music they are playing.
It is also why bands that imitate U2 never get it right, and why all guitarists who try to play like Edge end up sounding so lame; their rhythm section never sounds like Adam and Larry. The great joke is that Adam's and Larry's playing so perfectly reflects their personalities. Larry is right on top of the beat, a bit ahead--as you'd expect from a man who's so ordered and punctual in his life. Adam plays a little behind the beat, waiting till the last moment to slip in, which fits with Adam's casual, don't-sweat-it personality. The great bassists and composer Charles Mingus said that musicians should not think of the beat as a dot that has to be landed on precisely, but as a circle in which one has to land somewhere. Adam and Larry, who have learned their instruments together since they were schoolboys, are working illustrations of Mingus' point. They've played together so long that they seem to spread the beat out between them. And they create a blanket on which Edge's chord layers rest."
--Bill Flanagan in
Until the End of the World (1995) (Someone who has sat in on U2's recording sessions. )
Flanagan also wrote a forward to a book of U2 sheet music I saw at a bookstore, and he wrote that he has seen Adam pick up a guitar and play a guitar part for Edge to try out.
Larry plays bass on the intro to "Zooropa," the song.
LemonMacPhisto said:
Well one way to prove this point or disprove is listen to the Sydney boot when that Bass tech took Adam's spot for the night.
And compare to the Live From Sydney tape or boot, I think that would work.
I don't think that would work to prove or disprove this point, because the bass lines he was playing, were already composed/ made up, by Adam.
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Adam also did a lot of groundwork early on in U2's career as their first manager. Booked gigs, set up meetings with people, he also talked to people, sought out the advice of others who were already in bands/music industry.
Larry's involved with other things too, he's in charge of the merchandise, make sure it's not from sweat shops, things like that.