On March 10th, 1987, Irish rock band U2 released their 5th studio album “The Joshua Tree”, which contained 11 songs in its 50-minute, 11-second run time. In the UK, the album went platinum in 48 hours and sold 235,000 copies in its first week, a record at the time. The critically acclaimed album’s first three songs, “Where The Streets Have No Name”, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, and “With or Without You” would end up becoming defining tracks of the ’80s, thus rocketing the band into new levels of stardom and success. And now over 30 years later and 25 million copies sold worldwide, it is still revered as legendary, and after listening to it multiple times in the past few years, it remains one of my favorite albums of all time.
I can still remember where I was when I first heard The Joshua Tree for the first time. It was almost 3 years ago, and it began to play on the radio in the car as my uncle, cousin, friends and I were driving back to our hotel room in Tahoe after a trail run. I had heard the most popular songs off the album before, but driving through the scenic mountains and beautiful wilderness amplified the beauty of the songs. We got back to the hotel, and my uncle played us the rest of the album, and I was hooked. Flash forward to the present, and I am still captivated by the pure beauty of this album. Remi’s Review from “Album of The Year” sums it up pretty well by saying it no doubt “Creates a stunning atmosphere.”
The album opens with its iconic hit “The Streets,” in which lead singer Bono’s soul-rattling voice intertwines in unmatched harmony with The Edge’s signature echoing electric guitar style.
“My favorite song is “Where the Streets Have No Name,” said my uncle Mikey Enriquez, who has been a big U2 fan since the 80s.
“It starts soft and builds, but you know it exactly when you hear it. The original music video where they performed on a rooftop in LA is great. I have seen U2 many times over the years and the show is never complete until they play that song.”
Following up this first track are two chart-topping singles “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “With or Without You”, with deep spiritual themes embedded in their mystic, cinematic-esque vibes. I feel I can relate to the lyrics of “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking” on a spiritual and very personal level, as I see it as you can accomplish the highest highs and fall to the lowest lows and still not know true meaning and purpose until you connect with God.
The 4th track “Bullet in the Blue Sky”, which speaks of the US military’s intervention in El Salvador and Nicaragua, cuts in with its pounding drum rhythm and screeching guitar. The pace is then slowed in the next song, “Running To Stand Still”, which really highlights Bono’s voice as he sings of the struggles of addiction. The singer’s stellar voice is again amplified in track 6, Red Hill Mining Town, a masterpiece of a song describing the unsuccessful UK mining strike of 1984. The band then paints a picture of America using desert imagery and incredible instrumentals with “In God’s Country”, a song I love very much.
Following this are “Trip Through Your Wires” (which isn’t one of my favorite songs on the album but still displays the ideas of deception and reality alongside a harmonica’s blare very well), and “One Tree Hill”, which conducts a smooth flow just like the river it speaks of, and is quite underrated in my opinion. Finally, the album closes out, first with the chilly and mysterious “Exit” and finally with “Mothers of The Disappeared”, a beautiful cinematic track with incredible reverb that I feel is very underrated and the perfect way to end the album.
To sum it all up, The Joshua Tree is great because it feels so special, so unique, there’s truly nothing like it. To this day I can’t even decide on my top 3 songs from it, which signals greatness to me. “Today I will say my favorite song (off the album) is Running to Stand Still, or Trip through your Wires, it’s hard to pick because I feel like they are meant to go together.”said my mom Maria Enriquez when I asked her what her favorite song or songs were. The spiritual themes, deep meanings, and incredible vocals and instrumentals make the album nearly unmatched in my book. I encourage you, reader, to give this legendary album a listen for yourselves, it really is simply fantastic.
