U2 has released a 2023 remake of their 1987 chart-topper, “With Or Without You.” The song is one of 40 reimagined versions of the band's classics re-recorded for their new album, Songs Of Surrender, which drops on St. Patrick's Day — March 17th. The set is a companion piece to frontman Bono's memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.
Back in 2017, bassist Adam Clayton revealed he wasn't sure that the band's first chart-topper, “With Or Without You,” would be a hit 30 years later. Clayton, who was chatting with Rolling Stone about the band's then-upcoming 30th anniversary tour behind The Joshua Tree, was asked about the 1987 classic making a dent on the charts today, to which Clayton explained, “I think you could put it out. I think you'd have to Melodyne (autotune) the vocal. I think you'd have to squeeze and program the rhythm tracks. Eventually you'd get something that sounds familiar on the radio and it would research well, and you might get a bit of traction and it might be a hit. But I think if you put it out just as it is, it would get lost in the noise and bubble of that particular sound that's popular at the moment.”
A while back, guitarist The Edge told us the band is confident its audience will be receptive to whatever the band chooses to release: “I feel there's a certain trust there between the band and the, our audience that, in the end, we are concerned about communicating. It's not just a, a case of us being self-indulgent at the expense of the people buying the records.”