Ten Albums "Everybody" Owned -- Including Me: The Joshua Tree (#7)

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Putting is going well, thanks to therapy. I managed to tie for third place last night. The real test will be this weekend, with a two-day tournament. But for now, I'll relax and give you another mega-selling album that sold so many you think "everybody" owned it. Well, so did I! And here's today's entry. #7: The Joshua Tree - U2 Or, the 1980s version of Hotel California. The Eagles' album was a bleak picture of America, using California as a metaphor. Here the Irish rock band looked at America from the eyes of non-Americans, and saw things equally bleak ("sad eyes, crooked crosses in God's country"). They didn't leave themselves out, either: "Where the Streets Have No Names" is about a part of Belfast where streets aren't named (because the street a person lives on tells everyone whether they live in the "Catholic" or "Protestant" area). As with Hotel California, this album contains, for me, the best and worst of U2: I love "In God's Country," but "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" just annoys me. I'm not much on U2, mainly because of The Edge's monochord guitar playing (guess you could call that their "sound," but it irks me [hold that thought, you'll see that theme reappear in another album soon]). However, I did have this album, along with 25 million others. I saw them on this tour (with the BoDeans and Los Lobos opening!!). And, regardless of my opinion of Bono's stand on things or forcing U2's music down Apple owners' throats, I will readily agree with the critics and fans who hail this ss one of the singularly most important albums of the 1980s. The Joshua Tree Recorded by U2 Produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno Released in 1987 Here's another favorite song from this album: