"A lot of the songs were ones that were recorded in Larry’s spare bedroom or Adam’s living room. When the red light’s on we often don’t respond to it. When we’re just left to be, left to make music our own way, well some of the tracks are almost like demos. We had to fight to make them work and there were a lot of songs left over. It could have gone off in a number of different directions. We wanted the idea of a one-piece record, not a side-one, side-two thing." Bono, March 1987Two decades later, U2's Masterpiece The Joshua Tree is still important today as it was when it was first released. Technology has evolved, world leaders have changed, the Berlin Wall has fallen and the events of 9/11 are just some of what have occurred in the twenty year period this record has come out. Yet, the tone and message of this musical collection are still significant today as it was when the four lads from Dublin stepped into create what would become The Joshua Tree. It was U2's fifth record and the first that would skyrocket right to number one in multiple countries upon its release, it is much more than a rock an roll record, The Joshua Tree is a statement. The biggest band of the 80's were never ones to hold back emotion, politics and spirituality, yet with The Joshua Tree it all came full circle and so upfront not one listener, critic or fan was ever ready for it. For many U2's like myself, you remember the first time you herd this album, just from the four opening tracks alone the African anthem, "Where the Streets Have No Name," the spiritual guidance of "Still Haven't Found What I Am Looking For," the emotional and haunting, "With or Without You," and the aggressive "Bullet the Blue Sky" lent themselves to something no U2 record had ever been able to achieve and something many have never herd before. This LP would only act as a stepping stone to what the band would do next. Deeper cuts like "In God's Country," a song about war in the Middle East and "Mothers of the Disappeared" a track about children being kidnapped and sold for ransom in South America would provide importance today as they did 20 years ago. What The Joshua Tree is unlike most records is that it is a timeless album. The problems Bono writes and sings about then, are as pertinent today as they ever were before, the world that encompasses The Joshua Tree may have changed but the subject matter has not.
