I went to El Salvador, trying to understand the conflict there.
Inskeep: One song that really sticks in my head from hearing it years ago is "Bullet the Blue Sky." What is happening in that song? Is there a real event back behind it somewhere?īono: As well as Live Aid and a trip to Ethiopia, to try to figure out how poverty can exist in a world of plenty. We think America is an idea that belongs to people who need it most. Rather arrogantly, we don't think you own it. If the Declaration of Independence is like the liner notes of America, we're like annoying fans that follow politicians into the bathroom and say, "But it says here, 'We pledge our sacred honor.' What's that about?" And people suffer us talking about America because we love it so much. America's a sort of promised land for Irish people - and then, a sort of potentially broken promised land. There's two Americas: There's the mythic America and the real America. Steve Inskeep: Is it true that this album was going to be called The Two Americas at one point?īono: Yeah, it was. Hear the radio version at the audio link, and read more of their conversation below. "īono and The Edge spoke with NPR's Steve Inskeep, who asked the singer and guitarist to explain the mood The Joshua Tree was made to capture.
#U2 live bullet the blue sky first time in years full#
"I think we all realized that things had almost come full circle - like the environment in which that album was written is more similar to the political environment we are in today than it has been since. The miner's strike was a big issue in Britain, a lot of unrest," The Edge says. "Ronald Reagan was in power, and Maggie Thatcher in Britain. On it, these Irish musicians were writing about the America of the moment: A time of social change at home and the climax of the Cold War abroad. The Joshua Tree appeared in stores in 1987 and sold more than 20 million copies, making it one of the major pop culture events of that decade. The hairstyles of that era of U2 may be dated the music, they feel, is not. "Plus, I don't like the sound of the singer very much, especially the one with the mullet in the 80's." "Usually Edge, when we have a greatest hits collection coming out, has to struggle to get me to listen to it, because it feels dead to me," Bono says. Paul Hewson and David Evans, known to the world as Bono and The Edge, will be the first to tell you their band isn't normally fond of looking back. The members of U2 are preparing a new tour to play some old songs - 30 years old, to be exact. Larry Mullen Jr, Adam Clayton, The Edge and Bono will take U2's The Joshua Tree on the road this summer for the album's 30th anniversary.
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