U2 - The Joshua Tree (1987)

I got a comment from my sister on my recent review of Californication saying The Red Hot Chili Peppers were her least favorite band. In her own words, "I'd rather listen to U2 (and that's saying a lot)." Now I don't really know a lot about U2, other than I generally don't like them or their music. But I don't really have a good reason why. I know I didn't really like the one album of their's I've heard so far. I also know they have a massive air of pretentiousness surrounding them, whether it's an applied attribute given them by a presupposing media, or their own fault by taking themselves uber-serious and using album names such as How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

Or maybe it's that their music just isn't all that good. Can that really be possible? This band has been around forever, and still has a fairly large influence and fanbase. Have they really been able to accomplish that in spite of their terrible music? I've decided to take a quick look at one of the remaining U2 albums on my list, and I've chosen what I've heard is their most compelling work, The Joshua Tree. If I'm wrong about that I apologize, but whatever.

The album opens with probably U2's most popular song "Where The Streets Have No Name," which even if you don't like U2 you need to admit is a pretty good tune. I've heard people say they hate the jangly guitar noise and I sorta agree it can be grating. At the very least it's a signature U2 sound that fits really well with the wistful organ drone and driving beat. I find it fascinating that until now I was always picturing this song as sung by Old Bono, the guy who patriotically sewed the american flag into his blazer for Superbowl XXXVI.

Nothing is more patriotic than a 42-year-old Irish singer with a flag in his armpit.

That performance always made me sorta hate this song for a while. But now I see the cover for The Joshua Tree and see Young Bono, Contemplative Bono, perhaps Mournful Bono, and my attitude changes. Seeing a more youthful image of a man I always assumed was so full of his own shit makes me view this song differently. It's disconnected from all that self-importance I felt from the modern U2 and now has a naive youthful exuberance to it that I find refreshing. And all I had to see was one picture of Bono without a stupid hat or sunglasses.

I don't really get the same sense from the next track, which I'm sure you also know, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." First of all it sounds too much like a slowed-down version of "Where The Streets Have No Name." It probably wouldn't sound that way if the songs were not back-to-back, but they are. There should have been a bigger gap between them on the album. Second of all, it's just a lamer track overall.

Bono does this "WHOOOOOO-HOOOOOO" thing in "Bullet The Blue Sky" that he also does in that song the Patriots use when they score a touchdown. It's not exactly the same mouth-noise, but it's similar. I mention it because I really feel like U2 runs out of ideas fast. Even within a song like this they hit on one guitar pattern and play it to death. Also this song features two spoken-word portions by Bono that feel like an awkward lecture. They might not be but since its Bono they do, and in this case it's worse that Young Bono is the one doing it.

Most of the rest of the album is made up of generic rock tracks played in the key of U2. Nothing really offensive, just kinda ordinary. I can't think of anything good or bad to write about it. It just kinda exists. I did kinda like the closing duo of "Exit" and "Mothers of the Disappeared" as they reminded me a bit of Dire Straits' more progressive numbers.

So The Joshua Tree turned out to be OK at best. It relied a bit too much on that hopeful/haunting organ drone that makes "Where The Streets Have No Name" a sorta-maybe epic, and the guitar noodling was also pretty omnipresent. But I came into this review trying to figure out why everyone hated U2 so much and came out with a bit more respect for the band. Maybe I shouldn't have started with their best work. Whatevs. 3 stars.