135. U2, "The Joshua Tree"

 

Ironically, my wife, who's Irish (like grew up in Ireland Irish, not "my grandfather from Boston emigrated from Dublin" Irish) can't stand U2.  She thinks they're bombastic and self-important and I guess they became that way, and it's easy to forget they started out in what would be "alternative rock" in the 80's, gradually becoming more and more mainstream.  This album might be the one that catapulted them into full-on superstar status.

This is also I think the last U2 album I either bought or paid attention to.  But man, I have to hand it to them; this is a pretty great album.  I mean, it starts off with "Where the Streets Have No Name," a magnificent, soaring song that I think will always be the ur-U2 song to me; it's got the Edge's chiming, ringing guitars, the big booming singalong chorus, the lyrics that seem important but that you can really read anything into.  There's also the iconic video, obviously inspired by the Beatles' rooftop concert from "Let It Be."

A couple of things about this video: damn, they were so young then; the liquor store they were on the roof of is right next to the Hotel Cecil, which has its own complicated history; on the day of the shoot, the band played eight songs, including this song four times, so the whole thing about the police busting them is a little misleading and in fact was part of the plan (although it really did happen as shown in the video).

And that's just the first song!  There are so many big hits on this record: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "With or Without You" but my very favorite songs on here, besides "Streets," are two lesser-known ones.  First, "Running to Stand Still," about a heroin-addicted couple in a Dublin housing project, an achingly beautiful song, unlike the big, loud rock that characterizes the album (and the band in general):

Sweet the sin, bitter the taste in my mouth
I see seven towers, but I only see one way out
You gotta cry without weeping, talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice
You know I took the poison, from the poison stream
Then I floated out of here, singing

The other one is "One Tree Hill," which has one of my favorite guitar riff/chord progression combos in rock.  It's also indescribably sad; even if you don't know that it's about a friend of the band's who was killed in a motorcycle accident, you can just sense the weight and the pain in the song.  Just a gorgeous, evocative, powerful song.  (The TV show of the same name was named after the song, as it happens.)

Speaking of guitar, I have always been entranced by the Edge's guitar tones, especially on this album.  He sometimes uses two delays to produce that instantly recognizable sound, and it's pretty amazing.  I kept thinking it's like chimes, but there's a ringing aspect too.  

This remains U2's best-selling album and, for me, their last interesting one, although I'm sure we will see at least one more.  It's the sound of a band transitioning from the hard-edged sweaty club sound of Boy and War to the big time.  Maybe they should have stayed.

Is this album in my personal Top 500? Yeah.