The Joshua Tree album - the seventh U2 LP The Joshua Tree Album Joshua Tree album cover Track list: Where The Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, With Or Without You, Bullet The Blue Sky, Running To Stand Still, Red Hill Mining Town, In God's Country, Trip Through Your Wires, One Tree Hill, Exit, Mothers Of The Disappeared. In the Autumn of 1986 U2 began work on their seventh LP in Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin. Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois had been retained to produce this latest album, but Steve Lillywhite was brought in to mix a few tracks in January 1987 after the recording had been completed. Originally the LP was to be called 'The Enduring Chill', but the name 'The Joshua Tree' was chosen after the band took a trip to the Death Valley area of California where Joshua trees are common. The whole desert image was consciously chosen for its spiritual and mysterious qualities, which it was felt would complement the album perfectly. Bono actually compared the desert landscape to many European town centres which are becoming ghost-towns in the present day.

The photography that accompanied the album added to the already widely held impression that U2 were a humourless bunch of individuals who took themselves far too seriously. Stern facial expressions and barren desert landscapes served to reinforce this belief. However, as Bono is fond of pointing out, U2 don't take themselves seriously, but they do take their music seriously. The initial sessions for the LP took place in a large house on the outskirts of south Dublin. Some songs such as With or Without You were finished fairly quickly, but others such as Where The Streets Have No Name took an age to get right. The main problem with 'Streets' was that it was actually written for live performance, and it proved difficult to record a satisfactory version of it in the studio. At one point brian Eno even considered wiping the entire backing track in an effort to make the band start again from scratch. After the first month or so of working on the album, Bono traveled to El Salvador where he met the 'madres'. These were women whose children had been imprisoned or murdered by the military regime in the country, but who continued to campaign for information about them. Bono's experiences there provided the inspiration for Mothers Of The Disappeared and also Bullet The Blue Sky.

The music for 'Bullet' came from a jam session with Edge, Adam and Larry, and when Bono returned from his trip, the aggressive nature of the piece was exactly what he was looking for to go with his newly written lyrics about what he had seen.Since the Conspiracy of Hope tour in 1986, U2 had been strong supporters of Amnesty International who are heavily involved in working to free political prisoners. The Joshua Tree tour programme was the first to carry an article on the work of Amnesty, and an invitation from the band to join. The last three songs on the album form what Edge has called a 'suite about death'. One Tree Hill was written about Greg Carroll who had been a member of U2's tour crew for 2 years when he was killed in a motorcycle accident in Dublin in 1986. The band had first met him on a hill outside Auckland, New Zealand which was known as One Tree Hill. On its release, Bono actually dedicated The Joshua Tree to Greg's memory. Sadly the tree on this particular hill has since been the victim of several acts of vandalism. The second part of this 'suite' is Exit, which had a working title of The Executioner's Song.

A dark and intense piece, it was cited in the trial of John Robert Bardo who was accused of murdering a young TV actress named Rebecca Schaeffer in July 1989. He blamed the song (unsuccessfully) for driving him to commit the murder. Bono's reaction to this was to suggest that it sounded like a clever lawyer trying to create a novel defence. The 'suite' and the album finish with 'Mothers', a haunting piece about the madres Bono had met in El Salvador. The Joshua Tree was released on 9th March 1987. It was the fastest selling album in UK chart history. It would go on to hit number one in 22 countries, and by the end of 1987 it had sold over 12 million copies. On the day of its release, U2 made a surprise appearance at a record shop named Makin' Tracks in my hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The store had opened specially at midnight on Sunday night to sell the first copies in the early hours of Monday morning.

I had planned to go down for this opening myself, but changed my mind when a DJ on the radio announced (wrongly) that the release date had been put back a week, to March 16th. Thanks to that misinformation, I missed out on what will probably turn out to be my one and only chance to meet U2. Grrr! Go on to the Rattle and Hum page... Random U2 lyric: "In my dream I was drowning my sorrows but my sorrows, they learned to swim" - Until The End of The World Search this site: U2 - The Joshua Tree (Vinyl, LP, Album) at Discogs Released in a gatefold sleeve. Comes with a 4-pages lyrics/poster insert. Cat# on sleeve and label: 208 219 Cat# on insert: 208 219-7 On back cover, inside gatefold, on labels & insert: 08-031523-20 An identical version but without 08-031523-20 is found here: U2 - The Joshua Tree . Part of this album was recorded on Edge's Amek Mixing Console.

Recorded and mixed at Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin. To the memory of Greg Carroll 1960-1986. ℗ 1987 Ariola Eurodisc GmbH Distributed in Europe by RCA/Ariola-Ariola/RCA.

Printed in Holland Rights Society: GEMA STEMRA BIEM Label Code: LC 0407 Other (Distribution Code): D: 630 Other (Distribution Code): F: RC270 Other: 08-031523-20 Matrix / Runout (A-side center label): 08-31523-20-|A| Matrix / Runout (B-side ): 08-31523-|B| Matrix / Runout (A-side ): DM 208219 A-7/10-88 II Matrix / Runout (B-side ): DM 208219 B-4/8-89 II U2 - The Joshua Tree | uDiscover Back to U2 album stories ‘JOSHUA’ TAKES U2 TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD It was the April 27, 1987 cover of Time magazine that sent the incontrovertible message.

Rarely at home to hyperbole, and more likely to focus its attention on matters of global political import, the venerable newsweekly ran a certain band name in flaming gold, embossed on a picture of four Irish lads who were in the process of rewriting the record book. “U2,” beamed the headline. “Rock’s Hottest Ticket.” The time since ‘The Unforgettable Fire’ three years earlier had been uniformly momentous, on stages that responded in size and scale to U2’s now global popularity. As Time made its weighty pronouncement, the band were sitting proudly atop the American album chart for the first time, in a nine-week reign for the artistic statement that went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, ‘The Joshua Tree.’ U2 were now masters of their domain both in the studio and on the road, and their adventures en route to this latest album landmark included some unforgettable encounters. In June 1985, they were at home in front of 55,000 fans in Dublin’s Croke Park, as the ‘Wide Awake In America’ EP became a new calling card in the United States.

A few weeks later, an audience calculated in the billions saw Jack Nicholson, via satellite from Philadelphia, introduce U2’s almost show-stealing contribution to Live Aid at Wembley Stadium. Readers of Rolling Stone voted it the best performance, and at this most glittering roll call of worldwide superstars, that was saying something. Bono’s voice was now being heard in a variety of settings, including as a guest on the all-star, anti-apartheid ‘Sun City’ single and, in early 1986, on Clannad’s plaintive hit single ‘In A Lifetime.’ In June that year, U2 joined Amnesty International’s caravan of impassioned campaigners on the Conspiracy of Hope tour of the US, with Sting, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel and Bryan Adams. But as the year progressed, the need and desire for a new studio statement was growing tangible. In the summer, after sessions in other locations, U2 reconvened in their trusty bolthole of Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin. Their confederates, again, were the production pairing that had helped them take ‘The Unforgettable Fire’ to such heights, Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.

Bono would later say that a lot of the ‘Joshua’ material was, essentially, recorded in Clayton’s living room, or Larry Mullen Jr’s spare bedroom, in sessions that were almost demo-like in their spontaneity. “It could have gone off in a number of different directions,” he remembers. “We wanted the idea of a one-piece record, not a side-one, side-two thing.” There was, indeed, an unforced and sometimes unadorned nature about the results, on which tints of folk music blended into the rock canvas, especially on the introspective, Dylanesque ‘Running To Stand Still.’ The flavours ran from the blues to the biblical, and even the celebrated ‘With Or Without You’ and ‘I Still Haven't Found What I’m Looking For,’ which became their first American No. 1 singles, burned slowly but surely. The recurring spiritual themes were a perfect fit for the album’s visual imagery, inspired by a photo shoot with Anton Corbijn in the Mojave desert amid the unyielding, aged trees of the title, named after the Old Testament prophet.

‘Joshua’ was also home to the more confrontational and outspoken ‘Bullet The Blue Sky’ and ebullient pieces such as ‘In God’s Country’ and another in their expanding catalogue of anthems, ‘Where The Streets Have No Name.’ There was sadness, too, in the album’s dedication to Greg Carroll, the group’s PA, killed in a motorcycle accident in Dublin as the album was being created in July, 1986. “In ‘The Joshua Tree,’ U2 fills in the sketches with sometimes breathtaking signs of growth,” wrote Robert Hilburn in the Los Angeles Times. “Bono Hewson's lyrics are also more consistently focused and eloquently designed than in past albums, and his singing underscores the band's expressions of disillusionment and hope with new-found power and passion.” Rolling Stone said that the album “could be the big one, and that’s precisely what it sounds like.” How right they were. On its March 1987 release, ‘The Joshua Tree’ went platinum in the UK in 48 hours and sold 235,000 copies in its first week, becoming Britain’s fastest-selling album ever to that point.

It topped the charts throughout Europe and positively tore through the platinum certifications in America, with four million shipments by the end of the year and the hallowed, rarely-bestowed diamond certification, for ten million, in 1995. Underpinning it all was the unstoppable force that was U2 on the road, now embracing stadia as well as arenas. 96 shows, 11 countries and three legs, starting, as the tree took root, in North America in April 1987: five nights at the Los Angeles Arena, the same number at Meadowlands in New Jersey, then on into Europe through the summer, incorporating two mighty nights at Wembley Stadium. Then back to the coliseums and stadia of North America for another two and a half months. No one could ever say U2 did not become the biggest band in the world without putting in the miles, or the meticulous devotion to spectacular rock events. Soon, MTV and BRIT Awards would precede their double Grammy honours for ‘The Joshua Tree,’ which also included Best Rock Performance. They were the first two Grammys in a collection that, to 2015, totals 22 trophies.

Capturing the heart of their appeal, that historic Time cover story avowed: “Bono stalks a song as much as sings it, and the moment he takes the stage there is no doubt what his terms are: unconditional surrender. [Adam] Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr have found some solid musical grounding, and the lead guitarist, The Edge, can work a riff around to an epiphany.” If there was a sense of arrival, it was leavened with humility. “People respond to our naivete," said Clayton in the same article. "I think they see four guys from Ireland who don't want to let go of their dreams.” Paul Sexton U2 > Discography > Albums > The Joshua Tree Twitter The release of The Joshua Tree saw the band on the cover of Time Magazine billed as 'Rock's Hottest Ticket.' In Sweden, copies of The Joshua Tree were pressed in yellow, pink and red vinyl with sleeves similar to the UK. In Mexico, a limited edition CD was released as part of the Serie Millennium re-issues with a different picture sleeve.

In 1999, The Joshua Tree CD was re-issued with the clear band photo that appeared on the original vinyl LP rather than the blurred picture on the initial CD release. The Joshua Tree entered the US album charts at No.7 and reached No. 1 three weeks later. It was U2's first album to reach No.1 in the United States. In 1999, The Joshua Tree was awarded the RIAA's highest certification, Diamond, with 10 million units sold. The album also peaked at No.1 on the UK, Canadian, West German, Dutch and Australian charts. In Switzerland, the album reached No.1 on the charts and stayed there for a total of 33 weeks. The album and sleeve cover also placed No. 1 in Rolling Stone magazine's annual Music Awards chosen by readers. Critics at Rolling Stone made it No. 2 album of the year. U2 also won Best Rock Performance By A Group Or Duo at the Grammy Awards for The Joshua Tree.

Production Credits Produced and Engineered: Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno Additional Engineering: Dave Meegan with Pat McCarthy Studio: Windmill Lane, Dublin Ireland Mixed by: Steve Lillywhite Recorded by: Flood Release Date: U2 Release Details Of Joshua Tree 20th Anniversary Edition - Undercover.fm News U2 Release Details Of Joshua Tree 20th Anniversary Edition By Paul Cashmere Sun, 21 Oct 2007 02:35:27 +1000 To mark the 20th Anniversary of the release of 'The Joshua Tree', U2 will reissue their classic album in a number of formats. Fans will be able to choose the original album on CD with new photos from Anton Corbjin, a deluxe format with a bonus rarities CD, a three disc box with DVD and a double vinyl edition. 'The Joshua Tree' was U2''s 5th album and it was the album that took them from rock stars to superstars. In 1988, the album won 'Album of the Year' at the Grammy Awards. 'The Joshua Tree' was a new sound for U2.

They morphed from traditional rock band to encompass blues, country and gospel on the album, as was evident in the spiritual 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For'. 'The Joshua Tree' was originally released on March 9, 1987. The release date for the anniversary album will be November 20, 2007. The Joshua Tree 2007 In 2007 The Joshua Tree, remastered, arrives in four different formats including a bonus audio CD of b-sides and rarities, a live concert DVD shot in Paris in 1987 and booklets featuring liner notes from the band and unseen photography from Anton Corbijn. Here's all the detail. CD format: The CD format features remastered audio, liner notes by Bill Flanagan (author of "U2 At The End Of The World") and previously unseen Anton Corbijn photos.

Tracklist for The Joshua Tree: Where The Streets Have No Name / I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / With Or Without You / Bullet The Blue Sky / Running To Stand Still / Red Hill Mining Town / In God's Country / Trip Through Your Wires / One Tree Hill / Exit / Mothers Of The Disappeared Deluxe format: The deluxe package comprises The Joshua Tree CD (as above), and a Bonus Audio CD. The bonus audio CD features b-sides and rarities from the Joshua Tree sessions. The 2-CD format also includes a 36 page bound book, featuring liner notes by Bill Flanagan with a special essay by The Edge, previously unseen photos by Anton Corbijn and handwritten lyrics by Bono.

Tracklist for the Bonus Audio CD: Luminous Times (Hold On To Love) / Walk To The Water / Spanish Eyes / Silver And Gold / Sweetest Thing / Deep In The Heart / Race Against Time / Where The Streets Have No Name (Single edit) / Silver And Gold (Sun City) / Beautiful Ghost/Introduction to Songs of Experience / Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland) / Desert Of Our Love / Rise Up / Drunk Chicken/America Box Set format: The 3 disc box-set format contains The Joshua Tree CD, the bonus audio CD (both as above), and a Bonus DVD. This package also includes a 56 page hardback embossed book, featuring previously unseen Anton Corbijn photos, handwritten lyrics by Bono and liner notes by Bill Flanagan, Bono, Adam Clayton, Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Anton Corbijn, Steve Averill, David Batstone, Ren?? Castro and a special essay by The Edge. Content for the Bonus DVD: U2 Live from Paris - filmed at the Hippodrome de Vincennes in Paris, on July 4 1987, on the European leg of The Joshua Tree tour.

The tracklist is as follows: I Will Follow / Trip Through Your Wires / I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / MLK / The Unforgettable Fire / Sunday Bloody Sunday / Exit / In God's Country / Electric Co. / Bad / October / New Year's Day / Pride (In The Name Of Love) / Bullet The Blue Sky / Running To Stand Still / With Or Without You / Party Girl / 40 Outside It's America - a 40 minute documentary With Or Without You - music video, alternative version Red Hill Mining Town - music video directed by Neil Jordan. Double vinyl album: The double vinyl format of The Joshua Tree includes a 16 page booklet containing lyrics and liner notes by Bill Flanagan, as well as previously unseen Anton Corbijn photos.

Tracklist for The Joshua Tree double vinyl album: SIDE ONE Where The Streets Have No Name / I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / With Or Without You SIDE TWO Bullet The Blue Sky / Running To Stand Still SIDE THREE Red Hill Mining Town / In God's Country / Trip Through Your Wires SIDE FOUR One Tree Hill / Exit / Mothers Of The Disappeared U2 - With Or Without You (HQ) - YouTube U2 - With Or Without You (HQ) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Apr 6, 2015 "With or Without You" is a song by the Irish rock band U2. It is the third track from their fifth studio album, The Joshua Tree (1987), and was released as the album's lead single on March 21, 1987.

The song was the group's most successful single at the time, becoming their first #1 hit in both the United States and Canada by topping the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and the RPM national singles chart for one week. "With or Without You" features sustained guitar parts played by guitarist the Edge with a prototype of the Infinite Guitar, along with vocals by lead singer Bono and a bassline by bassist Adam Clayton. The song originated from a demo recorded in late 1985 that the group continued to work on throughout The Joshua Tree sessions. Ostensibly a troubled love song, the track's lyrics were inspired by Bono's conflicting feelings about the lives he led as a musician and domestic man. Critics praised the song upon its release. It is frequently performed on the band's tours, and it has appeared on many of their compilation albums and concert films. "With or Without You" is U2's second most frequently covered song. In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at #132 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Category U2, 'The Joshua Tree' | 100 Best Albums of the Eighties | Rolling Stone 100 Best Albums of the Eighties 20-1 100 Best Albums of the Eighties From synth pop and rap to metal and funk, 100 best albums of the Eighties selected by the editors of Rolling Stone 100 All Stories 3. U2, 'The Joshua Tree' Bono wanted to explore rock & roll's American roots; the Edge wanted to continue the expressionistic experimentalism of The Unforgettable Fire. The creative tensions between them resulted in U2 's best record, a multifaceted, musically mature work. "Two ideas were followed simultaneously," says the Edge. "They collided, and this record was born." The Joshua Tree is the rather esoterically titled album he's referring to — a title that even the typically solemn Bono could joke about.

As the U2 singer said to Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis at the time of its release, "You get record-industry people saying, 'As big as the Beatles — what's the name of the album?' 'The Joshua Tree.' 'Oh, yeah, oh, right.' It's not exactly Born in the Joshua Tree, or Dark Side of the Joshua Tree. It sounds like it would sell about three copies." In fact, the album sold about 12 million copies worldwide, and launched the already popular Irish quartet into the rock stratosphere. But more important than the mass appeal of the album was its message of spiritual and creative yearning, articulated in songs like "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "With You or Without You" and "Where the Streets Have No Name." Equally significant was the group's continued examination of political and social issues. In "Running to Stand Still," Bono describes the havoc that heroin use can cause, while "Bullet the Blue Sky" captures the horror and moral outrage that the singer felt about U.S. involvement in Central American politics. "I just think the album takes you somewhere," says bassist Adam Clayton. "It's like a journey.

You start in the desert, come swooping down in Central America. Running for your life. It takes me somewhere, and hopefully it does that for everyone else." The Joshua Tree is "an album of contrasts," says the Edge. "Bono had fairly strong ideas. He'd been taken with American literature and music. Lyrically, he wanted to follow the blues and get into America. I'd written off white blues in 1978. I was trying desperately to figure out ways to play without using white blues. I wanted to push the European atmospherics. But listening to Robert Johnson and other early blues, I could see what was there. I warmed to the idea." Both Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, who coproduced the album, made major contributions. "Brian strongly suggested that we do it all ourselves," says the Edge. "We felt inclined to bring people into the sessions — at times it would have been nice to have pedal steel or background vocals. But he always felt we could do it. There was a great wisdom in that decision." There was no attempt to make The Joshua Tree a commercial album. "If anyone had even breathed that idea ...," says Clayton. "We wanted to make music. The thing is to challenge radio.

To get 'With You or Without You' on the radio is pretty good. You don't expect to hear it on there — maybe in a church." Before recording began, the group spent time rehearsing at Clayton's house in Dublin, and the atmosphere was so comfortable that they decided to record there. "Just this big, high room," he says. "One of the biggest rooms I've ever seen in a house. With windows and natural light. Pretty much all of it was recorded at my house." The band spent about three months on the album, interrupting the sessions to headline Amnesty International's Conspiracy of Hope Tour in the U.S. Some recording was also done at Dublin's Windmill Lane Studios, at the Edge's house and at another Dublin studio, S.T.S. Approximately seventeen songs were worked on. Some of the material that didn't end up on the album — such as "The Sweetest Thing," "Spanish Eyes" and "Deep in the Heart" — became B sides of singles. Lanois credits Eno with sparking many of the music's more adventurous moments. "They had found the experimental side of working on The Unforgettable Fire tiring," says Lanois.

"But if you work with Brian, like it or not, he's gonna weird things up." Yet the sessions often had a relaxed, off-the-cuff feel. Of "Running to Stand Still," the Edge says it was "almost improvised to tape." And "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" originally had a different melody and was called "Under the Weather." One of the album's best tracks, "Where the Streets Have No Name," proved extremely difficult to record. At one point Eno became so disillusioned with it that he tried to destroy the tape; the engineer told the Edge, "I just had to stop Brian from erasing 'Streets.'" "It took forever to get that track," says Lanois. "We had this giant blackboard with the arrangement written on it. I felt like a science professor, conducting them. To get the rise and fall, the song's dynamic, took a long time." Does the band consider The Joshua Tree one of the best albums of the Eighties? "With Joshua Tree, we wanted to make a really great record, with really great songs," says the Edge. "We became interested in songs again. We put abstract ideas in a more focused form.

It's the first album where I really felt Bono was getting where he was aiming with the lyrics. Bono is more of a poet than a lyricist. With Joshua Tree, he managed, without sacrificing the depth of his words, to get what he wanted to say into a three- or four-minute song." "Important?" muses Clayton. "I don't know. It was important for us. Suddenly we could do so many different things musically. It gave us a great freedom. I think we were able to stretch and do things we didn't really understand before.

It captured a musicality for us that we'd never gotten on record before." U2 - The Joshua Tree (20th Anniversary Edition) (Box Set, Album) at Discogs Artwork [Packaging Design] – Shaughn McGrath Backing Vocals – Brian Eno (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11), Daniel Lanois (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11), The Edge (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11) Bass – Betty Dalton (tracks: 3-22 to 3-24) Cover, Design, Art Direction – Steve Averill Drums – Duke Dalton (tracks: 3-22 to 3-24) Engineer [Additional] – Dave Meegan (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11), Pat McCarthy (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11) Engineer [Mixing, Assistant] – Mary Kettle (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11) Engineer [Mixing] – Mark Wallis (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11) Engineer [Re-mastering]

 – Arnie Acosta (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11) Executive Producer – Paul McGuiness (tracks: 3-01 to 3-18) Film Director [Video Director] – Gavin Taylor (tracks: 3-01 to 3-18) Film Producer [Video Producer] – Malcom Gerrie (tracks: 3-01 to 3-18) Guitar – Luke Dalton (tracks: 3-22 to 3-24) Harmonica – Bono (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11) Mastered By – Arnie Acosta (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11, 3-01 to 3-18) Mastered By [Assistance], Engineer [Pro Tools] – Scott Sedillo (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11) Mastered By [Re-mastering Director] – The Edge (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11) Mixed By – Dave Meegan (tracks: 2-01 to 2-04), Richard Rainey (tracks: 3-01 to

 3-18), Steve Lillywhite (tracks: 1-01, 1-03, 1-04, 1-06, 2-08) Other [Album Production Manager] – Candida Bottaci (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11), Steve Matthews (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11) Other [Production Manager] – Tara Mullen (tracks: 3-01 to 3-18) Photography By – Anton Corbijn Producer – Brian Eno (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11, 2-01, 2-02, 2-06 to 2-08, 2-11 to 2-14), Daniel Lanois (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11, 2-01, 2-02, 2-06 to 2-08, 2-11 to 2-14), U2 (tracks: 2-01 to 2-07, 2-10) Producer [Re-mastering]

 – Cheryl Engels (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11) Programmed By [Dx7], Keyboards – Brian Eno (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11) Recorded By – Flood (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11, 2-01, 2-03, 2-07, 2-08, 2-11 to 2-14), Pat McCarthy (tracks: 2-06 to 2-08) Tambourine, Guitar [Additional Rhythm Guitar], Omnichord – Daniel Lanois (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11) Technician [Audio Consultant And Quality Control], Other [Research And Archive Analysis] – Cheryl Engels (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11, 3-01 to 3-18) Technician [Studio] – Des Broadbery (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11), Joe O'Herlihy (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11), Marc Coleman (tracks: 1-01 to 

1-11), Marion Smyth (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11), Mary Gough (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11), Tim Buckley (2) (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11), Tom Mullally (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11) Vocals, Guitar – Alton Dalton (tracks: 3-22 to 3-24) The Joshua Tree (Deluxe Twentieth Anniversary Edition) - Rolling Stone The Joshua Tree (Deluxe Twentieth Anniversary Edition) All Stories The Joshua Tree has been U2's most popular album since about ten minutes after it was released.

The 1987 smash was the culmination of their American phase, between their florid, young-European phase and their grizzled, mature-European phase. The album's huge commercial success whisked the lads from superstardom to megastardom, and they spent the next decade trying to recover from it — Bono once described the much more adventurous Achtung Baby as "trying to chop down The Joshua Tree." More News All Stories This deluxe twentieth-anniversary edition (the latest installment in what's becoming U2's annual holiday package) adds a disc of rarities and — if you buy the box set — a DVD. True, the only essential disc is the one you already have, but there are plenty of finds on the B-sides and rarities disc. "Luminous Times (Hold On to Love)" is a longtime goth-blues fan fave that can hold its own with anything on the actual album. "Spanish Eyes" is up there with Madonna's, while other obscurities include "Deep in the Heart" and "Walk to the Water." "Silver and Gold," from the Sun City anti-apartheid benefit album, is a somber yet failed attempt at country blues with Keith Richards and Ron Wood.

Wait — where the hell is "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" from the Very Special Christmas benefit album? The DVD has the Outside It's America documentary (for extremely serious fans only) and a 1987 Paris concert. As for the original album, you already know these songs by heart — U2 may have made better albums, more exciting albums and more emotional albums, but they never made a more universally beloved one. There's a lot more Bono than Edge, not to mention a lot more L.A. than Dublin. The songs are U2 at their most abstract, milking the metaphor of Bono's strain to reach the high notes. Yet the best moments connect on a physical level — the glistening bass groove of "With or Without You" and the Hendrix-worship guitar storm of "Bullet the Blue Sky." Don’t Miss a Story Sign up for our newsletter to receive breaking news directly in your inbox. We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners.

For more information please read our Privacy Policy How we use your email address Trending Ranked on a scale from 1 to 10, the trending score reflects the number of users reading a story in real time. What is this? U2 | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine Through a combination of zealous righteousness and post-punk experimentalism, U2 became one of the most popular rock & roll bands in the world -- equally known for their sweeping sound as for their grandiose statements about politics and religion. The Edge provided the group with a signature sound by creating sweeping sonic landscapes with his heavily processed, echoed guitars. Though the Edge's style wasn't conventional, the rhythm section of Larry Mullen, Jr. and Adam Clayton played the songs as driving hard rock, giving the band a forceful, powerful edge that was designed for arenas. And their lead singer, Bono , was a frontman with a knack of grand gestures that played better in stadiums than small clubs.

It's no accident that footage of Bono parading with a white flag with "Sunday Bloody Sunday" blaring in the background became the defining moment of U2 's early career -- there rarely was a band that believed so deeply in rock's potential for revolution as U2 , and there rarely was a band whose members didn't care if they appeared foolish in the process. During the course of the early '80s, the group quickly built up a dedicated following through constant touring and a string of acclaimed records. By 1987, U2 's following had grown large enough to propel them to the level of international superstardom with the release of The Joshua Tree . Unlike many of their contemporaries, they were able to sustain such popularity in the '90s by reinventing themselves as a postmodern, self-consciously ironic, dance-inflected pop/rock act, owing equally to the experimentalism of late-'70s Bowie and '90s electronic dance and techno. By performing such a successful reinvention, the band confirmed its status as one of the most popular bands in rock history, in addition to earning additional critical respect.

With its textured guitars, the band's sound was undeniably indebted to post-punk, so it's slightly ironic that U2 formed in 1976, before punk had even reached their hometown of Dublin, Ireland. Larry Mullen Jr. (born October 31, 1961; drums), posted a notice on a high-school bulletin board asking for fellow musicians to form a band. Bono (born Paul Hewson , May 10, 1960; vocals), the Edge (born David Evans , August 8, 1961; guitar, keyboards, vocals), Adam Clayton (born March 13, 1960; bass), and Dick Evans responded to the ad, and the teenagers banded together as a Beatles and Stones cover band called the Feedback. They then changed their name to the Hype in 1977. Shortly afterward, Dick Evans left the band to form the Virgin Prunes , and the group changed names once again, this time adopting the moniker of U2 . U2 's first big break arrived in 1978, during the members' final year of high school, when they won a talent contest sponsored by Guinness.

By the end of the year, the Stranglers ' manager, Paul McGuinness , had seen U2 play and offered to manage them. Even with a powerful manager in their corner, the band had trouble making much headway, and failed an audition with CBS Records at the end of the year. In the fall of 1979, U2 released their debut EP, U2 Three . The EP was available only in Ireland, where it topped the national charts. Shortly afterward, they began to play in England, but they failed to gain much attention away from home. U2 scored one more chart-topping single, "Another Day," in early 1980 before Island Records offered the group a contract. Later that year, the band's full-length debut, Boy , was released. Produced by Steve Lillywhite , the album's sweeping, atmospheric but edgy sound was unlike most recordings by U2 's post-punk contemporaries, and the band earned further attention for its public embrace of Christianity; only Clayton was not a practicing Christian. Through constant touring, including opening gigs for Talking Heads , U2 were able to take Boy into the American Top 70 in early 1981.

October , also produced by Lillywhite , followed in the fall, and it became their British breakthrough, reaching number 11 on the charts. By early 1983, Boy 's "I Will Follow" and October 's "Gloria" had become staples on MTV, which, along with their touring, gave U2 a formidable cult following in the U.S. Released in the spring of 1983, the Lillywhite -produced War became U2 's breakthrough release, entering the U.K. charts at number one and elevating them into arenas in the United States, where the album peaked at number 12. War had a stronger political message than its predecessors, as evidenced by the international hits "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day." During the supporting tour, the band filmed its concert at Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheater, releasing the show as an EP and video titled Under a Blood Red Sky . The EP entered in the U.K. charts at number two, becoming the most successful live recording in British history.

U2 had become one of the most popular bands in the world, and their righteous political stance soon became replicated by many other bands, providing the impetus for the Band Aid and Live Aid projects in 1984 and 1985, respectively. For the follow-up to War , U2 entered the studios with co-producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois , who helped give the resulting album an experimental, atmospheric tone. Released in the fall of 1984, The Unforgettable Fire replicated the chart status of War , entering the U.K. charts at number one and reaching number 12 in the U.S. The album also generated the group's first Top 40 hit in America with "(Pride) In the Name of Love," a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. U2 supported the album with a successful international tour, highlighted by a show-stealing performance at Live Aid. Following the tour, the band released the live EP Wide Awake in America in 1985. While U2 had become one of the most successful rock bands of the '80s, they didn't truly become superstars until the spring 1987 release of The Joshua Tree .

Greeted with enthusiastic reviews, many of which proclaimed the album a masterpiece, The Joshua Tree became U2 's first American number one hit and their third straight album to enter the U.K. charts at number one; in England, it set a record by going platinum within 28 hours. Generating the U.S. number one hits "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," The Joshua Tree and the group's supporting tour became the biggest success story of 1987, earning U2 the cover of respected publications like Time magazine. U2 decided to film a documentary about their American tour, recording new material along the way. The project became Rattle & Hum, a film that was supported by a double-album soundtrack that was divided between live tracks and new material. While the album Rattle & Hum was a hit, the record and film received the weakest reviews of U2 's career, with many critics taking issue with the group's fascination with American roots music like blues, soul, country, and folk. Following the release of Rattle & Hum , the band took an extended hiatus.

U2 reconvened in Berlin in 1990 to record a new album with Eno and Lanois . While the sessions for the album were difficult, the resulting record, Achtung Baby , represented a successful reinvention of the band's trademark sound. Where they had been inspired by post-punk in the early career and American music during their mid-career, U2 delved into electronic and dance music with Achtung Baby . Inspired equally by late-'70s Bowie and the Madchester scene in the U.K., Achtung Baby was sonically more eclectic and adventurous than U2 's earlier work, and it didn't alienate their core audience. The album debuted at number one throughout the world and spawned Top Ten hits with "Mysterious Ways" and "One." Early in 1992, the group launched an elaborate tour to support Achtung Baby . Dubbed Zoo TV , the tour was an innovative blend of multimedia electronics, featuring a stage filled with televisions, suspended cars, and cellular phones. Bono devised an alter ego called the Fly, which was a knowing send-up of rock stardom.

Even under the ironic guise of the Fly and Zoo TV , it was evident that U2 were looser and more fun than ever before, even though they had not abandoned their trademark righteous political anger. Following the completion of the American Zoo TV tour in late 1992 and preceding the launch of the tour's European leg, U2 entered the studio to complete an EP of new material that soon became the full-length Zooropa . Released in the summer of 1993 to coincide with the tour of the same name, Zooropa demonstrated a heavier techno and dance influence than Achtung Baby and received strong reviews. Nevertheless, the album stalled at sales of two million and failed to generate a big hit single. During the subsequent Zooropa tour, the Fly metamorphosed into the demonic MacPhisto, which dominated the remainder of the tour. Upon the completion of the Zooropa tour in late 1993, the band took another extended break. During 1995, U2 re-emerged with "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me," a glam rock theme to Batman Forever that was produced by Nellee Hooper ( Björk , Soul II Soul ).

Later that year, they recorded the collaborative album Original Soundtracks, Vol. 1 with Brian Eno , releasing the record under the name the Passengers late in 1995. It was greeted with a muted reception, both critically and commercially. Many hardcore U2 fans (including drummer Larry Mullen Jr. ) were unhappy with the Passengers project, and U2 promised their next album, to be released in the fall of 1996, would be a rock & roll record. The album took longer to complete than usual, ultimately being pushed back to the spring of 1997. During its delay, a few tracks, including the forthcoming first single "Discotheque," were leaked, and it became clear that the new album was going to be heavily influenced by techno, dance, and electronic music. When it was finally released, Pop did indeed bear a heavier dance influence, but it was greeted with strong initial sales and a few positive reviews. Demand for the album lessened in the following months, however, and Pop ultimately became the band's least popular album in over a decade.

In late 1998, the group returned with Best of 1980-1990 , the first in a series of hits collections issued in conjunction with a reported 50 million dollar agreement with Polygram. Included in the comprehensive track list was a remixed version of "Sweetest Thing," originally released as B-side in 1987, which charted well in multiple countries. Three years after the mediocre response to Pop , U2 teamed up with Eno and Lanois once again to release All That You Can't Leave Behind in fall 2000. The album was heralded as a return to form, melding the band's classic sound with contemporary trends. It topped charts around the world, reached number three in America, earned Grammy Awards for the singles "Beautiful Day" and "Walk On," and became the band's biggest-selling record in years. (The Elevation tour that followed also brought U2 a hefty paycheck.) Steve Lillywhite , producer of the early-'80s landmarks Boy , October , and War , returned to the helm for U2 's next record, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb .

Released in November 2004, it hit the top of the Billboard charts and quickly gained platinum status. The album also garnered eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Rock Album of the Year, and Song of the Year (for "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own," which Bono had written for his father). U2 were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in early 2005 and launched an international tour soon after, selling out arena venues in the U.S. and outdoor stadium shows abroad. The Vertigo Tour became the highest-grossing tour of 2005; by the time the entire tour concluded in late 2006, its gross of $389 million had made it the second most successful tour ever. U2 returned to the drawing board in 2006 by partnering with veteran rock producer Rick Rubin . Two songs from those sessions appeared on the compilation U218 Singles , but the remaining material was ultimately scrapped. The band then turned to longtime friends Brian Eno , Daniel Lanois , and Steve Lillywhite , all of whom helped shape the sound of U2 's 12th studio effort.

Entitled No Line on the Horizon , the album was originally slated to appear in October 2008, although the release date was ultimately pushed back to March 2009. No Line on the Horizon was met with enthusiastic reviews but failed to yield a big radio single; even so, the band embarked on another lucrative tour that summer. A second leg, originally planned for 2010, was postponed when Bono suffered a slipped disc and underwent emergency back surgery. Touring resumed the following year, and the so-called 360 Tour was ultimately named the highest-grossing concert tour in history. Meanwhile, Bono and the Edge also worked on music for the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which opened in June 2011. Not long after completing the 360 Tour, U2 turned their attention to recording their 13th album, a process that turned out to be rather complicated. Initially, the group worked with such dance-oriented producers as will.i.am and David Guetta , but as the sessions progressed, the concept of the record changed, as did the producers, with the band trying out Ryan Tedder and Flood before eventually settling in for the long haul with Danger Mouse .

The first fruits of these sessions appeared in late 2013, when "Ordinary Love" was released as part of the soundtrack to the film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom ; the song was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe. The next song up was "Invisible," which appeared to be the opening salvo for a new album as it soundtracked a commercial for Super Bowl XLVIII and the group played it on the inaugural February 17 2014 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Commercial response to the single was lukewarm and the band retreated into the studio for several more months, unexpectedly emerging with a completed album called Songs of Innocence on September 9, 2014. Available in its first month-and-a-half as a free download, Songs of Innocence saw a physical release in October. Upon that release, it debuted at nine on the Billboard 200, selling 25,000 copies; in comparison, No Line on the Horizon sold 484,000 copies in its first week of release.

Question: Which European band released the album ‘The Joshua Tree’ in 1987?
Answer: U2