south austin pretty much nailed it. bono truly is insufferable in his need to make it seem like everything he says 100% of the time in every setting and every context is somehow profound and transcendent. it's performative and exhausting as he seemingly has no chill. i genuinely would have no interest in spending any time with him in any setting because my eyes would get exhausted rolling into the back of my head. it is a testament to the other three guys' patience and tolerance that they endured and held it together so long.
i disagree with g650 obviously...edge is undoubtedly an inferior "player" to knopfler, gilmour, etc... but his sonic experimentation with what he can do with the guitar and constantly reinventing it from unforgettable fire through all that you can't leave behind - which while it all seems inevitable now - was amazing. i honestly think of him more as a producer than a guitarist. unlike bono, i would happily spend weeks in a studio with edge messing around with sounds.
moving on from u2...
some other classic intros that i haven't seen or overlooked in here - "voodoo child," "little wing," and "purple haze," "let's go crazy" and the drums on "take me with u," "angel" (massive attack), "carmina burana" (orff), "california love" (very few songs can make you immediately move like that one), "under pressure," "rhythm of the heat" (peter gabriel), "don giovanni" (mozart), "whiter shade of pale," "levee" and "going to california," "upper hand" (pearl jam), "mayonaise" (pumpkins), "block rockin beats" (chemical bros), "play that funky music," "come together," "welcome to the jungle," the underutilized bass only start to "lovely day" (withers), probably doesn't count as an intro since the motif is the whole song but the beginning of "every breath you take" can't be denied, "throw it up" (lil jon), "also sprach zarathustra" (strauss) "let's stay together" (al green), outshined (soundgarden), half the shit by metallica, "crazy train," also s
winner of best intro under three seconds long: "let's get it on" by marvin.