Bad and the backing track

[onemoresolo]

Hi all,

This is something I've wondered for a very long time- why does the studio version of Bad not have the synth backing track that AFAIK is used in every live version?

Do live versions exist of Bad without the backing track? Conversely, does a studio version exist WITH a backing track?

I like the backing track as an intro to the song but I find it a bit distracting as the song goes on to be honest. I was just curious when it first came about.

 

[DevilsShoes]

Hi all,

This is something I've wondered for a very long time- why does the studio version of Bad not have the synth backing track that AFAIK is used in every live version?

Do live versions exist of Bad without the backing track? Conversely, does a studio version exist WITH a backing track?

I like the backing track as an intro to the song but I find it a bit distracting as the song goes on to be honest. I was just curious when it first came about.

The studio version does have the synth backing track it's just that it's buried deep in the mix. Listen closely after the first 'I'm not sleeping' section and you should be able it pick it up.

As far as I know, the only time the synth wasn't used in a live version was when it broke down. I'm pretty sure this happened in either 84/85 at the Milton Keynes gig. But I'm not 100%.

I think the band have used the synth since the very earliest performances, they were struggling to get a handle on it (as with so much of TUF material) and it helped them keep time throughout the song. Now it's become one of the tracks signatures. Bad without it wouldn't be Bad for me.

Hope this helps.

 

[gman]

I love the opening chimes of the loop at the start of the song. gives me goosebumps!

 

[An Cat Gav]

Hi all,

This is something I've wondered for a very long time- why does the studio version of Bad not have the synth backing track that AFAIK is used in every live version?

Do live versions exist of Bad without the backing track? Conversely, does a studio version exist WITH a backing track?

I like the backing track as an intro to the song but I find it a bit distracting as the song goes on to be honest. I was just curious when it first came about.

More importantly(to me), if only Egge's killer guitar part at the climax of the live song was on the studio cut....

 

[gman]

More importantly(to me), if only Egge's killer guitar part at the climax of the live song was on the studio cut....

I think it is there Gav....but like the Synth....its lost in the mix and not as prominent. You can hear it at the very end of the studio version.

 

[An Cat Gav]

I think it is there Gav....but like the Synth....its lost in the mix and not as prominent. You can hear it at the very end of the studio version.

I think you're right, God I love that part so much, definitely The Edge at his best.

 

[Galeongirl]

I hope we'll be able to hear this clearly on the UF remaster.

 

[65980]

I was wondering about this the other day -- why haven't they changed the backing track? I mean, don't get me wrong, the backing is great, but they've been playing the same track behind it for a quarter-century.

It would be good just to hear differently. Maybe the 4-instruments only; no backing track.

Sublime as the live incarnations were in the mid-to-late 80s, I still rank the original studio cut as the best. A very unique and powerful track. I think as soon as they laid down this track in 1984, U2 immediately and permanently elevated themselves above bands like Echo and the Bunnymen and Simple Minds, because there is no way their contemporaries could have handled a song like this -- and no other singers who could have nailed it like Bono back in 84 and 85.

 

[Chill Mike D]

I love the album version and consider the Wide Awake in America version the ultimate live version.

They're both very different but equal, and I like how different they are. I think they could keep the loop but still mess with the song quite a bit to reinvent it.