How did you react?

[Badyouken]

Most of us became U2 fans after The Joshua Tree was released because we were just too young to enjoy it at the time. We knew WOWY, WTSHNN, ISHFWILF, Pride, SBS, etc. were U2 songs... But they all came together for us.

But for those who were fans during The Unforgettable Fire and before: you heard WOWY as the first single on the radio and you probably thought 'wow this is great'. So you bought JT when it came out, not really knowing what to expect.

Then, the first thing you heard is Where the Streets Have No Name. How did you react? How was it? I still think that Where the Streets Have No Name is their greatest (maybe second greatest after One) song and it's even better live.

How did you feel? What did you think of it?

Just wondering.

------------------
In the beginning, the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry, and been widely regarded as a bad move. --Douglas Adams (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe)

 

[BostonAnne]

I remember waiting impatiently for the new album to be released. I taped the single WOWY from the radio first day it was on and playing it over and over and over again before being able to get my hands on the album! It was quite awesome!

I can't remember my reaction to first listening to the rest of the album when I finally got it, including Streets, but Streets and Running are my fave songs from Joshua Tree and Joshua Tree has been my fave album until ATYCLB. Now they are tied.

 

[martha]

Unforgettable Fire was so different from the first three records that I didn't know what to do with it. (I'm changing my mind about it now.) I was waiting for a U2 album that I could play all the way through without skipping any songs, difficult to do with vinyl. None of their records were like that until JT. When I heard it, I was blown away! It was their Who's Next, their masterpiece. U2 was taking their place with the great bands of rock and roll. It was a perfect album; I spent that summer driving around with my best friend in the Mojave Desert, listening to it over and over again. We talked a lot about the two men we would eventually marry. I have very fond memories associated with JT. I still love it. It's my favorite album of all time, not just my favorite U2 record.

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...a highway with no one on it, a treasure just to look upon it...

 

[Hewson]

My first listen to The Joshua Tree (on vinyl no less, remember that kiddies?

), it was BTBS that really blew me away

 

[camiloj]

Oooh I have to remember but I know me and my best friend at the timne were U2 fans, had been since 83 and UF had been a departure from the first three and we were real curious what would happen next. Then the single for With or Withouth You came out on the radio and we were like, "yeah, everything is going to be ok!"

When I got the tape (I was a cassette guy) we were just blown away. It was so good. So intense. So powerful.

Oh yeah, and you asked about Streets. For the first year, EVERYTIME I heard it I got chills!!!

It was funny how Martha talked about a U2 record you could play all the way through without skipping a song. For me that was War and Boy.


At the time Joshua Tree came out I loved it. especially Streets, ISHFWILF, WOWY, One Tree Hill, Running, those were some of my fave U2 songs ever. BUt some of the other songs did not move me the same way. So for me JT was not one I could listen to all the way through. For me (and I think I am a rarity) it was not the perfect U2 album. It was an album that contained some of their best work ever, but every song was not awesome. And Trip Through Your Wires really concerned me. What was that damned harmonica? It was the 80s and I was mostly into new wave or modern rock so that hamrononoica and bluesy drone horrified me. I prayed that would not be their next step.

But can you understand how I loved U2 even more because of JT but I did not love every JT song?

The funnest thing about that time was seeing their popularity soar and finally seeing the acknowledgement that your little hobby, your little band that everyone said U-who? was now ALL OVER THE PLACE, Number One AND critics darlings.



[This message has been edited by U2LA (edited 12-15-2001).]

 

[UV2001]

Well I never rushed out to buy the JT either being only 2 years old at the time lol.

 

[elizabeth]

I remember I was in seventh grade and this girl in my class had the album and brought IT and a POSTER into school to show off to everyone.

I remember thinking, "I hate her and her dumb U2."

It was jealousy...and i regret ever saying it.

 

[Badyouken]

U2LA, I feel the same way.

I still don't like Trip Through Your Wires and I don't think JT is perfect.

But when I was watching the VHS of Elevation live from Boston and Streets came, I just thought: What did people think when they first heard that song?

Look at it now! When people hear the organ starting, they go nuts... It's nothing I have ever seen at any concert by any band.



------------------
In the beginning, the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry, and been widely regarded as a bad move. --Douglas Adams (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe)

 

[Trash Can]

I was.... 22 years old (oy veyyyy) when JT was released. About two weeks later, I was ohhh so fortunate to see U2 perform at the "Pan Am Center" at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico (and NOT "Las Cruces, Texas", as my concert program says).It was only their fourth stop at the very start of their world tour. It STILL is to this day, the BEST concert I've ever seen. It was new. It was fresh. It was honest. It was U2 at its idealistic peak. It was ..."church".
If Im not mistaken, I may have bought my tickets before the actual release. I waited in line overnight with my then buddy, Jack.
It was sooooo great! We were young... Full of ideals and hope... and we were going to see U2!!! Going to see that incredible Live Aid band. That incredible Amnesty International Concert band.
I remember hearing "...Streets..." first on the radio (KLAQ 95.5fm, El Paso). I was blown away.

Anyway..Memoriesssssssssssssss, like the.. something something of my minddddddddd.

Here's a great linky on the subject! http://homepages.tesco.net/~pstaylor/U2Albums/Joshua.htm
Peace

[This message has been edited by Trash Can (edited 12-15-2001).]

 

[Matthew_Page2000]

I was thirteen years old when Joshua Tree was released. I knew of u2 since 1983 because my older brother was a fan but only became obsessed after seeing Live Aid. I listened to Boy, October War, UABRS and UF over and over again.
To be honest, the first time I heard WOWY it was a bit of a let down. Did anyone else feel that way? No?
I expected something absolutely mind blowing and amazing. Something as huge and anthemic as Pride or SBS but with the emotional wallop of Bad. I was startled by WOWY. It was the first of many times that U2 pulled the rug out from under my expectations.
Then I heard Still Haven't Found and I was absolutely blown away. I bought the album and nearly died when I heard Streets. In that context I realized how wonderful a song WOWY was but I'm still a little confused by its popularity to this day. It's a great song but my choice for the best "quiet" track on JT was and is Running to Stand Still.

If you had told me at the time that U2 would be releasing an even better album only four years later I wouldn't have believed it. JT was amazing.

MAP

[This message has been edited by Matthew_Page2000 (edited 12-15-2001).]

 

[GypsyHeartgirl]

I was 26 when it came out and I loved it like everything else U2 had done up to that point. I considered them to be superstars anyway so I was not surprised by its success and I didn't consider it any type of breakthrough or anything. Some of you are just gonna love this- I remember when I saw the WOWY video for the first time I thought "oh no he cut off all his hair" and when he turned around and I saw that ponytail I was overjoyed!

Oh and I LOVED Streets!
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"I've been all over,
and it's been all over me!"

[This message has been edited by GypsyHeartgirl (edited 12-15-2001).]

 

[GypsyHeartgirl]

I have one more JT comment and it's kind of eerie. My grandma died in the summer of '86 when I was pregnant with my first kid (my son who goes to all the U2 shows with me!)
The day she was buried I stood in the rain at the graveyard crying and thinking sad things. I looked out into the distance and saw a beautiful, perfectly shaped hill with only 1 tree on it. So naturally when I heard the song One Tree Hill it reminded me of her funeral. I sure got the chills when I looked at the lyric sheet and saw that the song was about Greg Carroll's funeral and he had been buried the SAME DAY AND YEAR as my Grandma (considering the int'l date line)
Talk about a U2 connection.

------------------
"I've been all over,
and it's been all over me!"

 

[partygirl]

I was in college in Utah. The local radio station played the full record without interruption all the way through the night before it was released in the stores. I turned off all my lights and lay in bed listening to it in my earphones. I was completely blown away. I listened to it non-stop for like a month. I could not listen to anything else. I craved it. It's funny to me now, because I hardly listen to it at all anymore. Going from UF (which I loved in a novel sort of way) to Joshua Tree was just an amazing leap of musical genious. Since then I think they've written even better songs, but as a whole that record sounded like NOTHING else on the airwaves.

 

[killmorgscom]

How did I react?


Well I threw a huge party and invited the entire neighbourhood along. A hired a circus to perform for everyones entertainment and got myself fired out of a cannon into a big cream pie.
I had a herd of elephants parade round the block, each carrying a buffalo on its back. And upon those buffalos where chickens of course.

Hey wait a minute. I'm not old enough to remember when the Joshua Tree was released...

 

[Discoteque]

JT blew me away and nearly got me fired in the process (listening to the tape 'way back when' while at work, disguised as a dictation tape). UF was amazing from the start, as was Pop (since I only discovered that one just this year), but Zooropa and ATYCLB took the longest for me....it was months before I really warmed up to ATYCLB. After 9-11, I then gave the album another listen with fresh, but sorrowful, ears, and that's when I truly fell in love with it. The last 4 songs on the album mean so much more to me now....

 

[alreadygone]

I was just plain stunned. I listened to it over and over and over and over and (you get the idea, my parents were *really* annoyed, though they admitted it was a great album). It was worse than my 8th-grade addiction to Duran Duran.

I had not bought UF, but had Under a Blood Red Sky and Wide Awake in America. After JT came out, I bought rest of the catalog.

Visually, I wasn't as excited. I saw the WOWY video and was like, "Bono what the hell are you thinking?" with that ponytail and leather vest (ew, smelly!). But then R&H was released, and that's when the *real* addiction hit. WOWY is still not one of my favorite videos, but I do love the long hair, like in Streets. Wait, this isn't PLEBA....

--
Well you tell me things I know you're not supposed to
Then you leave me just out of reach

 

[forbonou2]

Well JT huh? My fave album with AB a close 2nd. I played the album constantly and all the way through. just like I do with Ab, ATYCLB, RNH and Pop. I love that video-and thought Bono in that leather vest,whew, this isn't Pleba is it? I love WOWY and Streets..wow! I got that song on two notes on that video song show! but my all time fave is Still..! What's wrong with Trip...I'd be glad to show Bono how to play that harmonica! Just kidding..:> )Rock on..

 

[sv]

Actually, I had come to love U2 as a really hard-rock band and Bono as an awesome screamer . . . so I was actually disappointed at first listen to the Joshua Tree. At the time, the idea that Bono might actually become a great SINGER was new, and the new direction was concerning.

In the same way, I had been looking forward to seeing the wild Bono in concert (stage-diving, balcony-climbing, yelling like bloody murder, etc.) - but during JT tour he was trying to sing more from the microphone - so that disappointed me a bit also. I think the Zoo TV (and beyond) live versions of the JT songs are truly awesome, but back in 1987 I didn't think the JT songs held up as well as the older stuff. The exceptions were Exit and Bullet, which clearly were live standouts.

But of course I think it's a great album now - I think their best collection of complete songs (though I think Achtung lets one "inside" the band's hearts a bit more, which is what I think makes it special).

 

[BostonAnne]

Originally posted by sv:
I had been looking forward to seeing the wild Bono in concert (stage-diving, balcony-climbing, yelling like bloody murder, etc.) -

You mean this Bono? (Taken at Providence Show Oct 30)

 

[Monkey79]

For a time reference, I was a senior in high school when JT was released. Actually, the first time I heard WOWY I wasn't really impressed. At the time I thought it was too slow with not much substance. The song gradually grew on me and now I think it's a quality song (although not necessarily one of my faves).

As far as the album is concerned, I thought the JT was an immediate classic. From the first listen I was instantly drawn to the "edgier" songs (no pun intended) like Trip Through Your Wires & Bullet. Running to Stand Still gave me chills the first time I heard it. What an unbelievable song! In fact, Trip & Running are still 2 of my all time faves to this day..... and I mean songs period -- not just U2 songs.

I was at a defining moment in my life when JT came out, and I'm glad I had a defining soundtrack to go along with it. Although I got caught up in the whole Glam Rock period, there were 2 albums carried me through my teen years: JT and Born in the USA......