Marc Martel - Bad (U2 Cover) 

I was quite late to the U2 game, as seems to be the trend in my history with the world’s greatest rock bands. It was the late nineties before I dove headlong into The Joshua Tree, the album by which I measure every other U2 album. Soon after that, they released All That You Can’t Leave Behind, forever sealing the deal for me as a U2 fanboy. Right around that time, my friend Jason Germain and I were forming a band of our own in Caronport, Saskatchewan, to take a bunch of songs we’d written and recorded, on the road. We really wanted to be a five-piece, so that someone could be the electric guitar expert, as neither Jason or I were great at it. Before we thought better of the idea, ultimately agreeing four members was plenty, I vividly remember auditioning one steely-eyed guitarist from our college, and being completely enamored with his ability to reproduce The Edge’s angelic sounds with his array of effects pedals. We were setting up for rehearsal when he started playing the riff from “Bad,” and I thought, “Wow, that’s amazing! This is our guy!” Turns out, he had other plans for his life than riding a fifteen-passenger into the perilous unknown with four other barely-adults. Either way, this one goes out to Ben Davidson, wherever you are. Hope you’re doing well, man.