Today In Rock: March 9th, 1987 – U2’s Fifth Studio Album Drops
On this day… “The Joshua Tree” was released.
Inspired in part by American experiences, literature, and politics, U2 (Bono-vocals, The Edge-guitar, Adam Clayton-bass and Larry Mullen, Jr.-drums) chose America as a theme for the album.
“I love being there, I love America, I love the feeling of the wide-open spaces, I love the deserts, I love the mountain ranges, I even love the cities,” enthused Bono. “So having fallen in love with America over the years that we’ve been there on tour, I then had to ‘deal with’ America and the way it was affecting me, because America’s having such an effect on the world at the moment. On this record I had to deal with it on a political level for the first time, if in a subtle way.”
Bono realized there was also a disconnect. “I started to see two Americas, the mythic America and the real America,” which led to the album’s working title, “The Two Americas.”
Another influence came from Bono’s experiences including Live Aid and humanitarian visits to Central America and Africa.
“Spending time in Africa and seeing people in the pits of poverty, I still saw a very strong spirit in the people, a richness of spirit I didn’t see when I came home… I saw the spoiled child of the Western world. I started thinking, ‘They may have a physical desert, but we’ve got other kinds of deserts.’ And that’s what attracted me to the desert as a symbol of some sort.”
The album’s musical direction also represented a change from their previous album, “The Unforgettable Fire.”
“We felt, going into “The Joshua Tree,” that maybe options were not a good thing, that limitations might be positive,” stated The Edge. “And so we decided to work within the limitations of the song as a starting point. We thought: let’s actually write songs. We wanted the record to be less vague, open-ended, atmospheric and impressionistic. To make it more straightforward, focused and concise.”
They also felt disconnected from the dominant synthpop and New Wave music and wanted to continue making music that contrasted with those genres.
“The Joshua Tree” went to #1 in both the U.S. and U.K. selling more than 25-million copies worldwide. Two songs from the set topped the Billboard Hot 100: “With Or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”
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