One of the country of Ireland’s greatest exports ofmusicis unquestionably the internationally successful rock band U2. Fronted by lead singer Bono and accompanied by guitarist/keyboardist/backing vocalist the Edge, bassist Adam Clayton, and drummer Larry Mullen Jr., the quartet has sought to continually push and redefine the anthemic quality of their sound since debuting in 1980 with the albumBoy. While not all of U2’s ambitious ideashave proven to be successful over the years,their decades-long career hasn’t lacked for highlightswhen it comes to the group’s output of albums.
Whileranking U2’s list of records is subjectively easier said than done(and doesn’t lackhaving plenty of underrated moments), what is an undisputed fact is the success of the band’s 1987 albumThe Joshua Tree. The LP has sold millions of copies since its inception, scored multiple Grammy Award wins, andis highly acclaimed as one of the great albums, not only of U2’s career, but in the history of music. Embracing influences like American and Irish roots music, the portrait that emerges onThe Joshua Treeis as gloriously varied and heartfelt a tale as any engrossing novel.
11In God’s Country
An Atmospheric Folk-Rock Soundscape
With lyrics from the band meantto critique the political system in the United States at the time, “In God’s Country” has a cinematic and valiant sense of character often found in songs from U2’s musical catalog. That’s heavily buoyed by Bono’s vocals, which are in peak form throughoutThe Joshua Treeand give “In God’s Country” a trademark level of breakthrough sincerity. The song wouldn’t work nearly as well without that sense of spirit coursing through its metaphorical veins.
That isn’t meant to say that “In God’s Country” is a bad song, not by any means. It’s just an uptempo track that feels more copied and pasted from various parts of U2’s typically successful playbook of sound and style, in a waythat doesn’t function as well as stronger songsfrom their body of work. “In God’s Country” also just doesn’t quite carry the same level of gravity against so many other heavy-hitting tracks found onThe Joshua Tree.
10Trip Through Your Wires
A Blues Folk Americana Trip
U2 embarks on a bluesy trek through the difficult emotional land mines of a relationship gone in the wrong direction on “Trip Through Your Wires,” which shows how effective the band can be at expanding and changing the shape of their sound onThe Joshua Tree. For a band known for being stalwart members of the arena rock set, listening to Bonocome straight out with ripping harmonica linesis a thrilling show of versatility.
Like so much iconic blues music, lyrical complexity is shelvedin favor of a direct confessionalabout being taken in from the storm by someone the narrator thought they could trust. Instead, they find themselves deceived and caught up in this person’s “wires,” and they can’t decide if they’re dealing with a saving angel or a devil’s condemnation for their fate. If it wasn’t for the sheer strength of the tracks onThe Joshua Tree, “Trip Through Your Wires” would rank even higher.
9One Tree Hill
A Tribute To A Lost One
While U2 often play the role of exuberance in their persona as arena rockers, they have an insightful sense of haunting clarity within their work as well. Take the song “One Tree Hill,” for instance, which is about the band’s roadie, Greg Carroll, who had grown quite close to the group after first meeting them in 1984. Tragically,Carroll was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1986, and this is Bono writing in tribute to Carroll and Bono’s feelings about the loss.
It almost feels wrong to say that a band can be so good at writing from the perspective of sadness and being at the bottom of the well of feeling bad things. This is a great strength for U2, though, especially when it comes to how Bono’s voice sets the scene inside his emotional vocal tone. This occurswith greater and greater intensity throughoutThe Joshua Tree.
8Where The Streets Have No Name
Blurring The Lines Between Humanity
The first song fromThe Joshua Treeand the third single from the record issued by the band, “Where The Streets Have No Name,” was written in response to the idea that a person’s income level and religioncould be determined simply by what street they live on. The mountain-high bombastic nature of the track not only draws in the ear, but feels laced with the intention of bringing humanity together, not guiding them apart through vain, surface-level ideals like a street-based caste system.
There’s such an effervescent, spiritual tone to “Where The Streets Have No Name” that capitalizes on how big rock sounds can unite scores of people singing and feeling together (in an arena or otherwise) with the same ideals. U2sets up a rock and roll church on this song, and the sermon within sets the listener on the path of big feelings they’ll follow throughoutThe Joshua Tree.
7Exit
A Portrait Of A Haunted Mind’s Eye
“Exit” is a song that again shows U2’s ability to take their heavy rock backbone and divert the theme into new and unexpected places. Written withthe intention of being inside the mind of a serial killer, Bono got the idea after reading a Norman Mailer book entitledThe Executioner’s Songand other such works. The track is an eerie and unsettling landscape, with bursts of uptempo freakout that resemble a perfectly disturbed sense of disorientation.
“Exit” feels like just that, someone who disembarks from the world of logic and truthful reality after being shattered by what they can’t reason with. So much scenery inThe Joshua Treerevolves around the desert, and “Exit” feels like the desert at night. The stars shining above may be beautiful, but the infinite, heavenly perspectivecan just as easily tear a mind apart as dazzle it with lights.
6Bullet The Blue Sky
A Political Show Of Resistance
“Bullet The Blue Sky” is the most heavily muscled rock track onThe Joshua Tree, reflectingthe political subject matter of United States foreign policy and criticizing the uneasy results it had on Central America in the ’80s. The instrumentation feels like a war zone, with the terror of innocents at the forefront as they look to escape the machine of conflict, as Bono acts as the cynical narrator who looks around with distaste at what this scene has caused.
“Bullet The Blue Sky” has a thick darkness within it that feels likeit would act as an influence upon the future industrial alt-rock toneof groups like Nine Inch Nails or the Smashing Pumpkins. The song is a living, breathing apparatus of this real-life subject matter, and is a beautifully complicated love letter giving notice, gravity and clarity to this sadness and pain.
5Mothers Of The Disappeared
Another Rumination On Real World Events
The murmured, breathtaking finale ofThe Joshua Treeis “Mothers Of The Disappeared,” which (like “Bullet The Blue Sky”) lives withinthe realm of sadness caused by real-world events of the time. In this case, the Latin American victims who were kidnapped (AKA “disappeared”) or assassinated during American-supported “dirty wars” in the region in the ’80s.
Bono and U2 wrote the song to honor the groups who were seeking to find out what happened to these individuals, andthe haunting nature of the heaviness involved in that duty. The hope of finding out the hopeless, which feels so desperately bittersweet yet rife with importance. The cinematic journey ofThe Joshua Treecloses on a cavernous depth of a harsh space, but with a message in desperate need of transmission.
4I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
A Poetic Gospel Ode To Searching
U2’s second single fromThe Joshua Treewas “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” which isan airy gospel-tinged rocker that yearns and endeavors for something unknownthrough the Biblical-referencing lens of highs and lows. Once again, Bono’s vocals are the focal point that creates the robust emotional groundwork here that takes the listener up to the mountain top and back down the slopes with the greatest of ease.
Many years of consistent radio airplay have dulled the razor’s edge of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For"compared to some of the deeper, fibrous cuts onThe Joshua Tree, but it’s still a well-deserved staple of U2’s repertoire. The arena-rock tendencies of the song still know how to thrill even after all these years since it was released.
3Red Hill Mining Town
A Blue Collar Storyteller
A track inspired by the National Union of Mineworkers' strike in England in 1984, “Red Hill Mining Town” is a crossroads of U2’s typical rocking humthrough the filter of ’80s-era Bruce Springsteen blue-collar sensibility. Bono casts the perfect color of the desperation that comes from the fears and concerns of impending unemployment and staying afloat in small-town life, which brings “Red Hill Mining Town” further into reality.
In addition to how evocative Bono is at creating an emotional portrait purely from his vocals, guitarist the Edge has an equal knack atpainting in just as much shading into the sceneryof songs like “Red Hill Mining Town” with just six strings. He’s adding just as much urgency and character detail (along with Mullen Jr. and Clayton) to the backdrop, and that’s critical in bringing the wavelengths withinThe Joshua Treeto life.
2With Or Without You
The Troubled Sides Of Self
Another area of great specialty for U2 over the years has been their ability to write tracks of heartrending emotion that can hit right down at the molecular level of the soul. “With Or Without You” is one of these greats that feels like a love song with trouble coming on the rocks, but has roots in Bono’s conflict about his life as both a famous musician and a regular person,trying to find his identity that lies somewhere in between those personas.
“With Or Without You” has enough fluidity within its lyrics to make either scenario feel plausible, especially depending upon the perspective of the listener. The song serves as a reminder that even the most successful, famous individual can suffer through the same emotional minefields as a regular person living through life. The scenarios causing indecisiveness or worry might be worded differently, butthere are ghosts in every darkness.
