When you are ‘The King of the Blues,’ there’s no competition with that, is there? From then on, every collaboration B.B. King did with other artists was destined to get compared to his playing and singing. Depending on where you look at this, musicians who teamed up with King either had open doors for criticism or were just outlandishly courageous to take on the challenge.
Well, U2 was ready to bear the opinions as the band did work together with B.B. King on 1989’s ‘When Love Comes To Town,’ and people had a lot to say, including Yngwie Malmsteen. Here’s what the guitarist had to put forward about the exciting collaboration.
If you’re unfamiliar with Malmsteen, his fans tend to want acoustic and blues records from the guitarist. They want him to sing more, but apparently, the musician knows his limits and how far he can take it, which is why he’s okay with having a single blues track in an album but not much more. When you try too much, it becomes not aligned with the sound you want to put out there.
So, in an interview with Steven Rosen in 1995, Malmsteen explained, “For instance, B.B. King has the ability to play one note, and that one note speaks volumes.” There are no if or buts about what the King brought to a track; however, the guitarist had strong opinions about the collaboration with U2.
He added, “U2 did one song where he came and guested ‘When Love Comes To Town,’ and when B.B. King started singing and then that first lick on the guitar, dude, U2 was way out of their league.” When you’re with the best of the best on stage and trying to get to the same scale, it’s not that simple—quite the opposite, as it’s more of a challenge.
The song came at a time when U2 was on the quest to learn about the roots of American music for their hybrid live/studio album and concert documentary ‘Rattle and Hum.’ Thus, the collaboration with B.B. King made perfect sense at the time of their venture. ‘When Love Comes To Town’ was released as the record’s third single.
Even though Malmsteen described U2’s take on the track as an attempt that was ‘way out of their league,’ it doesn’t necessarily mean it was a lousy job. The guitarist implied that being next to King was quite challenging when he was the genre itself. Everyone knew and respected him for being the best at what he did; sure, it was hard for U2 to live up to that standard.
