For today’s music video of the day, we break down the video that the New Musical Express named as being the 16th worst video of all time. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to get … Numb!
0:06 — Drip drip drip. Someone’s in for an unpleasant shock when they get the water bill.
0:30 — Numb is one of the few U2 songs to feature lead vocals from The Edge. The Edge’s real name is David Howell Evans.
0:35 — That’s U2’s bassist, Adam Clayton, blowing smoke in the Edge’s face. Clayton is the only member of U2 not to sing on this track but he still plays an important role in the video, as we’ll soon see.
0:50 — Who doesn’t love a good massage?
1:00 — The Edge is learning that singing lead has its advantages.
1:17 — “You’re not Bono!”
1:23 — Holding the rope in the background is, once again, Adam Clayton.
1:45 — As Clayton ties up The Edge, drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. makes an appearance. It was actually Mullen’s idea to start the band that would eventually become U2.
1:53 — However, Mullen has obviously been overshadowed by Bono.
2:11 — Oh no, they killed the Edge!
2:13 — Hello?
2:15 — Is anyone there?
2:20 — With the Edge apparently dead, now seems like a good time to tell you that Numb was the first single released off of U2’s 1993 album Zooropa, which many consider to be the moment that U2 went from being an energetic group of rockers to the most pretentious band on the planet. Numb, like the rest of the album, is about sensory overload.
2:23 — Numb was originally recorded for Achtung Baby and was called Down All The Days. No one in the band liked the song but they still reworked it for Zooropa.
2:27 — Edge, can you hear me?
2:33 — Larry Mullen, Jr. is the new Edge.
2:41 — Adam considers tying Larry up but realizes that he wasted all of his rope on The Edge.
3:00 — The Edge lives!
3:18 — But with those feet in his face, The Edge might wish that he was dead.
3:36 — The Edge catches the bouquet.
3:51 — That is Morleigh Steinberg dancing in front of the Edge. Nine years after the release of this video, the Edge and Steinberg got married.
4:12 — Just the fact that the fans are using cameras instead of phones proves this video was made in the early 90s.
4:17 — “Excuse me, Mr. Edge, but we have a wedding party coming in so if you and your friends could please vacate the room…”
4:25 — The Edge ain’t going nowhere.
Numb was originally release as a video single, so if you wanted to listen to it outside of Zoorupa, you had to buy it on VHS. Also included on the tape was a video for Love is Blindness.
Through the Shattered Lens 