It validates that music continues to thrive and flourish despite (or maybe because of) its age – hopefully just as I’m doing. It validated that the music has depth and meaning and importance. Primarily, it validated that U2’s music, and Joshua Tree in particular, didn’t resonate with me simply because of the time and place I was in when it was released, it resonated with me because it really was, and remains, just that good. If these songs don’t speak to the angst of working to figure life out as an insecure 19 or 20-year-old, trying to understand the big world around you, trying to figure out where you fit in and where the future might take you, then I don’t know what does.Ī couple weeks ago my son sent me a text, “You know the shame about Joshua Tree? The first few songs are so good that the bottom half don’t get the recognition they deserve.” While I don’t know if I should be looking to an 18-year-old for validation, his comment was, in fact, validating. In the howling wind comes a stinging rain Maybe there has been – but not right at the exact moment I needed it the most in 1987-88 as a sophomore and junior in college. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – is there a song that better captures the angst of trying to figure out where you fit into the world. And the album that owned that period of my life – Joshua Tree. Before I had my feet under me and prepared to move forward with my life. I had it figured out (to the extent we ever do) and I was comfortable.īut War through Rattle and Hum – that was before I had come even close to figuring it out. By that point I knew who I was and where I was going. By that time I was out of college and into graduate school, engaged, then married and then with a family.
I’m not saying Achtung Baby, Zooropa and albums after that weren’t as good – they were, especially All That You Can’t Leave Behind – they were just after that moment for me. These were the years when everything was laid out in front of me but at the same time seemed so far away and out of reach. These were the years that I questioned everything – first and foremost myself and where I fit into this great big world. These were my high school and college years.
In particular, it was U2 from War through The Unforgettable Fire, and of course Joshua Tree, culminating with Rattle and Hum.
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