In this episode of Brad & Lex, the creator dubbed "super long intro" gains attention as it builds swift pace keeping kicks uplifted by rapid strums and light cascading strings that pleasantly yet triumphantly bring forth the passionate voice of U2,s Bono....Lex invisions the tune used for those "unwinding" nights out and its reality time, then produces an uplifting "bop" before Brad presents his "break up" theory.
The previous album Unforgettable Fire ends on something similar to the intro of this song. Since it's the first song on Joshua Tree I always saw it as the band connecting the two albums together.
The switch from black and white to color when the intro of this song starts in the concert film "Rattle and Hum" gives me goosebumps :) so cool. th-cam.com/video/6yzojvZwzQo/w-d-xo.html
My brother once said of U2... "They don't play songs, they play anthems." Next must play "song" is: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For but I would recommend the Live version from their album Rattle and Hum.
I just said the same thing about Bruce Springsteen in a different reaction commentary. Too funny but I would agree. I would go with Bad, A Sort of Homecoming and Forty live next earlier the better with them.
U2 is from Ireland. In Ireland many cities are divided: rich/poor, Catholic/Protestant, etc. By knowing which street a person lives on you can tell their religion, wealth and beliefs: it's where the streets have no name.
I was thinking with all the strife and news reports of violence daily on the streets in the UK they wanted streets that weren't in the news for the violence occurring.
Yeah, that's it exactly. So where the streets have no name is a place where we are not separated by or defined by where we are born, where we grew up, what our religion is, what race we are, how much money we have, etc.
Agree it was their pinnacle achievement in music creativity imo, but I loved War, Unforgettable Fire too. The 80s was a great decade of music, it wasn’t all new wave or a certain sound people often refer to, maybe that sound is the sound of real instrumentals and no fake auto tune.
@@maverick2242 Not really in terms of music creativity. Joshua Tree was just a natural evolution of what they started with Unforgettable Fire. If you wanna talk their peak of creativity it is undoubtedly the Achtung Baby era. Never before had a mainstream(arguably biggest band in the world) change their entire sound, image, presentation and in a sense message so drastically and so abruptly and actually gain popularity and not alienate their already massive fanbase. Achtung Baby, Zooropa and the Zoo TV tour was the absolute peak of their creativity.
You gotta do the video, where they are on top of the liquor store in LA, in 1987.... I remember when this happened, and they showed the video, shortly after, on Mtv....the song "Where the Streets Have No Name", is an EPIC SONG!!!❤❤❤❤
What I don't like about that video is that it keeps muting the music in favor of the activities onscreen. If you actually want to hear the song in its entirety, then I say skip the video. (I'm in LA too, I remember when they revealed on KROQ that the video was going to be taped that afternoon, it was a madhouse! lol)
I am glad they didn't. everyone reacts to the video and drama and not the song. Wish they didn't use one that had "super long intro" to open the song with though.
The best version is the live show at Slane Castle in Dublin (it's on YT) - you really get to see what this song means to them, and to their fans. Goosebumps material.
As I heard said one time, they are a “Stranger in a Strange Land,” that claims “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” cuz they are in a town “Where The Streets Have No Names.”
Love it every time. Brad: So, whaddaya think so far? Lex: (Insert metaphor that makes complete sense despite the fact that nobody else would ever choose or even think of that metaphor).
This is probably the best song ever written to be played live. I mean, even if you're not a big fan, you're in a concert during this song and tears come out. The music takes you to another level.
Are they listening to the same song as us?! Brad & Lex not moved by this as much as i thought they would be. Spiritually uplifting, musically crafted and anthemic. Just me then! 😆
You guys must watch the video of U2 playing this song on the roof of a single storey building in LA for a video recording to promote their new album at the time “The joshua tree”. The police closed down the shoot as the band traffic to a standstill for miles around!!!
For those who don't know, and this may have been stated before. But the song Where The Streets Have No Name was written because the Lead Singer went on a mission trip to one of the third world countries. It was when he saw the famine, children roaming around streets that were just dirt and had no name, where they had no food, or water. It had sparked something in him and when he got home from his trip, he wrote the song and it was named what it is.
I heard Bono say he was in one of the poorest parts of Africa and he asked someone where he was , what street was he on and they said the street has no name , his thought was , This place is so poor even the streets have no name so whatever you’re going through I can take you to a place, high on a desert plain where it’s worse
The Joshua Tree, the album this song is on, is one of the true masterpieces of rock and roll/pop music. There's not a song on the album that is bad, and there are several songs that are phenomenal! My favorite wasn't released as a single, but "Red Hill Mining Town" is just a wonderful song! Speaking of "bad", though, I'd recommend to you U2's performance at Band Aid, when they did an absolutely amazing version of their song "Bad". It's bonkers crazy, and the band did a phenomenal job of reacting to the moment!
@@omicron2018 The Joshua Tree is a true album where you have to listen to it from start to finish. For mine though Achtung Baby is there stand out album. it's amazing how they went from The Joshua Tree to Achtung Baby in around 4 years, almost breaking up. Fabulous band. I think now they just overcook their records trying too hard almost to make the perfect record, single.
the guitars on this are so iconic and amazing sounding. and Bono's vocals are perfection. U2 gets a lot of crap these days but they are an amazing band.
@@Wrangzilla I mean I get your point. I don't like a lot of newer U2 stuff either. But a lot of great artists made crap music at some point (think how bad the 80s were for bob dylan, neil young, etc) and somehow they aren't punished for it like U2 has. It's just strange to me.
@@THEDEEPDIVE Yeah, you nailed it. I still enjoy their post Pop output and don't really give a shit what some nobody on TH-cam thinks. But they do get a harder time than most for sure.
@@PJBonoVox I'm tied up in other bands on my channel at the moment but I would love to do a top 20 U2 song series to remind the world just what that band was capable of and did during their prime. It was iconic, life affirming, carthatic, and amazing.
It's bc they keep creating NEW MATERIAL unlike the Rolling Stones...plus their age is way up there & against being cool n hip etc...The #1 band still alive & kicking today!
One of their best renditions of this song was from the 2002 halftime show during Superbowl. They led into it with MLK. They had all the names of the victims of 9/11 on a giant screen behind them rising up to the heavens. America was in need of healing and they were the right band for that moment. You all should check out their Under A Blood Red Sky concert.
It's essentially U2s version of Lennon's "Imagine", being that it's about the hope that people wouldn't be bogged down by society over their stations and beliefs... something that was very near and dear to them with the conflicts in Northern Ireland especially during the band's rise to fame and as a recurring theme for much of their early career.
The mixing slowly bringing the guitar in in the intro is like the dusk breaking into a sunrise on a misty morning. I'd love to hear it for the first time again. Lex, you have a beautiful smile, btw.
One of my favorite U2 moments is the “Sunday Bloody Sunday” video from their movie “Rattle and Hum”. It’s a great version of a great song, but the rant leading up to it makes it incredible!
"The Irish in America..." my 9th-grade self was in awe. Their music is quite a bit more demystified for me since then, but I still go back to U2 when I just want some great chill music to listen to. Every one of their albums from "Boy" to "Zooropa" makes my road trip playlist. VERY few bands have an 8-album stretch that can match that.
The lyrics were inspired by a story that Bono heard about Belfast, Northern Ireland, where a person's religion and income were evident by the street on which they lived. He contrasted this with the anonymity he felt when visiting Ethiopia, saying: "the guy in the song recognizes this contrast and thinks about a world where there aren't such divisions, a place where the streets have no name." Bono wrote the lyrics while on a humanitarian visit to Ethiopia with his wife, Ali. The lyrics send a message of hope and a wish for a world that is not divided by class, wealth, race, or any other arbitrary criterion.
Oh my god! This song is epic! U2 is as close as music has for a living conscience. These guys are humanitarians on a massive scale and the greatest rock band in the world in my opinion! Just the best rabbit hole to go down. All songs are bangers!
One of the greatest bands of all time. Most Grammy awards ever. The only band/artists with a number one album in FOUR different decades (80's, 90's, 00's, 10's) and each album has its own distinct style. Check out their Super Bowl halftime performance after 9/11 (very emotional) and their collaboration with the band Green Day (song is The Saints Are Coming) live at the reopening of the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina. ALWAYS do live versions if possible. They epic live. Exit, One Tree Hill, Running To Stand Still, All I Want Is You, MOFO, Please, All Because Of You, Dirty Day, With Of Without You (live Boston) and k you just reacted to Streets but All I Want Is You/Where The Streets Have No Name live at Slane Castle is sooooo good. Bono (lead singer) buried his father the day of the concert if I remember correctly and Slane Castle is in Ireland where they are from. All the emotions of the loss colide with the excitement of being back home so to speak, create a special performance.
Old school stuff, we knew it by sharing cassettes and MTV videos. Was how we learned music back then. MTV was a heavy filter for our music. We learned these bands by video. Different introduction to music then. A different generation. I was born in 74. Young man with cable just starting. We had different information veins
The official video is awesome cause they were trying to do a live concert in downtown LA during a rush hour and the police shut them down after this song was done.
I loved Lex's comments at the end about the artist taking their time to paint each stroke. The Magic about this song in particular and a lot of U2 songs is that the live version is better and brings a whole other experience to the song.
This is one song that is better on album IMO. MOST of their songs are better live, but that carefully choreographed intro and outro on the album leave me smiling like an idiot every time I listen to the song, even 35 years later. Like this song, "Please" and maybe "Bad" are better as they were recorded in the studio, IMO. "One", "Bullet the Blue Sky" and a lot of others really are MUCH better live though.
This song, and the rest of the Joshua Tree album were written in the Las Vegas area. I lived there and was a substitute teacher there. The city was growing by 1,000 people per week. They were building houses so fast, they couldn’t name the streets fast enough. I actually would get a call to work at a new school and directions to go to the end of this street, turn left for three blocks, turn right in two blocks and you’ll see the school on the left.
This is the opening song from _The Joshua Tree_ album (1987), which was inspired by U2's simultaneous fascination with what they call the "mythical America" (where anything is possible) and their observations as Irish visitors on the "real America" (which they believe fell far short of the mythical place everyone in the rest of the world believed the USA to be). They had achieved some commercial success with earlier albums here in the United States, and this album captured a lot of their feelings, observations, and emotions regarding this country. This song was one of several on the album that have a very reflective and pensive tone. Very interestingly, even though the band has often said the USA inspired this album, several of the songs deal with topics outside the USA, such as political kidnappings or "disappearings" in Central and South America and political oppression in South Africa.
My favourite band. One of their most iconic songs. You should react to EVERY song on their biggest albums: 'The Joshua Tree' and 'Achtung Baby'. Seriously. Mythic stuff.
When we were 19 years old my best friend from childhood and I tore around San Francisco in his next door neighbor's 9/11 turbo that he told us to take out and have a good time in. That friend since passed away. This song will always take me back to catching air off the Hills in San Francisco
You really gotta watch a live version to see how anthemic and powerful this song is. As outstanding as they are on records, U2's known for being 1 of the greatest live bands ever and they're famous for having super creative set designs
Rick Beato agrees with your take at the end there, Lex. Bono is a very underrated singer. And U2 was specifically trying to create actual spaces for a person to inhabit for a few minutes back when they recorded this album. The Joshua Tree and the proceeding album, The Unforgettable Fire, really embraced this idea. As far as what the song is "about", it's just this imagining of a world where the place you are born doesn't matter. Especially in N. Ireland, the neighborhood where you live could be a dangerous piece of information. So the singer is basically just imagining this place where you can come in from the storm for a bit, where no one lives on a particular street, and you don't have to worry about the baggage that comes with all of it.
Brad, this is not a breakup song. He isn't speaking of love in the romantic sense, it's in the general, universal sense, like brotherly love. And more specifically, about the religious and economic divisions that existed in Northern Ireland. I recommend listening to the song again without trying to interpret the lyrics, because it's a fantastic arrangement. Listen closely to the layering of the multi-tracked guitar (I think there's 3), and how the drummer punctuates phrases with a cymbal. The band gave a magnificent performance of this song during halftime at the 2002 Super Bowl (the first one after 9/11).
I love this song, it’s so deep but that is U2! For me the song is more than about a simple breakup! The streets have no name refers to Heaven to me! I love Bono’s voice and the official video! That guitar is amazing too! U2 can do no wrong! Not a bad song ever!❤️❤️
More than a year before U2 were fussing and fighting in the studio, frontman Bono was inspired to begin writing the song’s lyrics on a trip to Ethiopia. After U2’s involvement in Live Aid, Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, traveled in 1985 to see the situation in person. He would become profoundly influenced by the experience, struggling to put his feeling into words. “All this stuff about deserts and the parchedness of the earth... I wrote those things on Air India sick bags and scraps of paper, sitting in a little tent in a town called Ajibar in northern Ethiopia,” Bono told Rolling Stone in 2005. “It’s a sort of odd, unfinished lyric, and outside of the context of Africa, it doesn’t make any sense. But it contains a very powerful idea. In the desert, we meet God. In parched times, in fire and flood, we discover who we are.” But “Where the Streets Have No Name” isn’t only rooted in Africa, but in U2’s uniquely Irish identity. The title, specifically, is rooted in Northern Ireland. “An interesting story that someone told me once is that in Belfast, by what street someone lives on you can tell not only their religion but tell how much money they’re making,” Bono said in 1987. “Literally by which side of the road they live on, because the further up the hill the more expensive the houses become.” As Bono sings in the song, “I wanna tear down the walls that hold me inside,” he sought to destroy barriers between human beings. The desert images of Africa connected to his ideas of America as a political desert, something that would be embodied in the album’s artwork and title. During a break for U2’s sessions for The Joshua Tree, guitarist the Edge was working independently on a demo. Tinkering with guitar, bass, keyboards and a drum machine, Edge became fascinated by this sketch - a tune led by twinkling, arpeggiated guitar lines that shifted time signatures, twice. The first day that recording for the next album resumed, the guitarist gleefully introduced the demo cassette. To his dismay, his bandmates weren’t quite as thrilled. “Edge had created ‘Streets’ on a four-track and he’d started with this, kind of, muso stuff,” bassist Adam Clayton recalled in Classic Albums. “I have to say, at the time, I didn’t appreciate probably the hours of thought that had gone into such an idea. It just seemed like a way of f---ing the band up.” Although the guitarist had figured out the glistening intro and outro portions of the song and crafted a part that would cross over from 3/4 time to 4/4 time, the middle portion was still pretty loose. With producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, U2 set to work (and work… and work) on creating a fully realized song from the idea. Lanois remembers playing music teacher and walking Edge, Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. through endless chord changes on a blackboard while Eno began to go a little crazy. The album sessions had come to revolve around a solitary song - one that the producer felt was going nowhere. A famous story involves Eno, at the end of his wits, about to erase weeks of work only to be stopped by a recording engineer. “There’s a misinterpretation in that story… That version [of ‘Streets’] had quite a lot of problems,” Eno said. “What we kept doing was spending hours, and days, and weeks - actually, probably half the time that the whole album took was spent on that song, trying to fix up this version on tape. It was a nightmare of ‘screwdriver’ work. And my feeling was that it would be much better to just start again. I’m sure we would get there quicker if we started again. It’s more frightening to start again, because there’s nothing. So my idea was to stage an accident, to erase the tape, so that we would have to start again.” Whether he stopped himself, or was prevented by a tea-toting engineer, Eno failed to go through with wiping the tape. Everyone persevered and eventually stitched together the final version that is heard on The Joshua Tree. In addition to the four members of U2, Eno can be heard playing the ambient synthesizers at the “Streets”’ beginning and Lanois contributed extra percussion. The creative team grew so fond of the track, that they soon agreed that “Where the Streets Have No Name” was the ideal lead-off song for the album. “A song like ‘Streets,’ which was such a difficult kind of birth, now is a real pleasure to perform,” Clayton said. “But at the time, we didn’t really know what it was. It was kind of the beginnings of techno.” Read More: U2 Gets Cinematic on 'Where the Streets Have No Name' - The Story Behind Every ' Joshua Tree' Song | diffuser.fm/u2-where-the-streets-have-no-name/?
I guess the song, as I recall them explaining about it, is based upon an experience of U2's lead singer helping people dealing with floods in Africa. He is also famous for his humanitarian work in the world. But the song is really open to all kinds of interpretations as a good piece of art and music is meant to be.
Wow, what memories!!!!! The LP "joshua tree" fom U2 came out and it was the first present I got from my first girlfriend. English speeking people have to know, that in Germany we might hear eglish lyrics more as a melody and later in words. With these songs, and specially "whre the streets have no name" and "with or without you" were songs full of emotions, the air was filled with this songs and with love in
U2 are one of the few artists that I would actually recommend listening to their live performances instead of studio, to get a real experience of what they are all about. Go check out the Rattle & Hum version of this song.
Usually. For songs like this, "Bad" and some others from the Unforgettable Fire through Achtung Baby, there is so much studio production baked into the sound that they just don't sound as good live. One slightly mis-timed chugga-chugga on Edge's guitar can ruin the next 2 bars. "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Bullet the Blue Sky" and a lot of others really shine live though.
Imagine singing along with 20,000+, word for word. The U2 show at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 2005 is still the greatest concert experience I've ever had.
U2 visited Central America before this album before this song was written. In most centeal american countries the streets literally have no names. Also, the song “Bullet the blue sky” was also inspired because of that visit.
They performed this at the halftime show in the Superbowl directly after 9/11 and to say it was emotional is an understatement... Recommend you have a look.
I feel freedom I this song. Its like cold mountain air, or a desert wind It's total escape from the quantified and prescribed world of humans It's a place so remote or so natural that the streets have no name I hear Bono asking us to come with him to a place where there are no borders, no neighbourhoods . . . Nothing, a pristine wilderness where the streets have no name.
“Super long Intro” LOL. They’re not kidding. I picked this song for karaoke once. I forgot how long the intro was. I went back to my seat and finished my drink while I was waiting. LOL 😂
But both the intro and outro are amazing. I smile every time those jingling guitars fade out with the keys at the end of the song. It's just satisfying from start to finish.
Really needed to see the video for this song, this was U2s coming to America album and the reaction they got when they filmed this song literally stopped a city, I think they got shut down for what they were doing but at what an era and a time to be creative.
Started listening to U2 back in the early 80s, and was a big fan!! Then I was invited to see them in Concert and was BLOWN AWAY!! I think it was probably the BEST Concert I've Ever been too!!(Not counting all the VH Concerts I've been too) AMAZING!!❤️❤️😁🎸🤘🔥💯 Edge on the Guitar Live is CRAZY Amazing!! Great Music with a Great Vibe!!! I'll Never Ever Forget that Concert and the Woman who took me there 🇨🇦!! ❤️❤️❤️🎸🔥💯🤘😁
Song is about where they grew up in Ireland. The name of the street a person live on literally reveals a person's circumstances (religion, economical status ect). He wants to live where everyone is equal vs being defined by the name of your street.
Absolute classic, one of my favourite bands. Had the pleasure of seeing them on Achtung Baby/Zoo TV tour in Glasgow at Celtic Park , over 50,000 attending. Cool reaction
It's so funny to see you react on long intros. This was so comon in the 70s and 80s. Nowadays everything has to be fast and comes to the point so quickly. Sometimes I think we lost a lot of musical poetry.
One of the most powerful moments in music for me was the 2002 Superbowl halftime show, where they played this song and had a huge list of the victims of 9/11 flying up toward the sky.
Think Live Aid in the 80's. Bono went there and was moved by the struggles they had the drought lack of food and help. That's where the lyrics come from. I've been a U2 Fan for over 40 years. I have seen them live 12 times. Thanks for the video.
In Belfast in Northern Ireland during the troubles, you could tell if a person was protestant or catholic by the name of the street they lived on. The song is imagining a world where these divisions don't exist.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 82 วันนี้!! คู่เอก | ยอดไอคิว vs อับดัลลาห์](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hSsyTl_9bqs/mqdefault.jpg)
In this episode of Brad & Lex, the creator dubbed "super long intro" gains attention as it builds swift pace keeping kicks uplifted by rapid strums and light cascading strings that pleasantly yet triumphantly bring forth the passionate voice of U2,s Bono....Lex invisions the tune used for those "unwinding" nights out and its reality time, then produces an uplifting "bop" before Brad presents his "break up" theory.
Hell yea 😎
Great recap
I love when they do this song live continuing on from Bad. It's worth the price of a ticket. This song needs to be heard live.
The previous album Unforgettable Fire ends on something similar to the intro of this song. Since it's the first song on Joshua Tree I always saw it as the band connecting the two albums together.
When listening to this song on the radio, most stations shorten the intro.
Must have heard this song over 1000 times in my life and it has never not once failed to give me goosebumps. It's epic.
The switch from black and white to color when the intro of this song starts in the concert film "Rattle and Hum" gives me goosebumps :) so cool.
th-cam.com/video/6yzojvZwzQo/w-d-xo.html
I'm smiling during the outro every time. I actually get mad when I hear it on radio, because they always cut the outro short lol.
The Vancouver Canucks used to come on the ice to the intro of this song, it always got the crowd going
It's not "epic." Whatever you think the word epic means, that's not it.
My brother once said of U2... "They don't play songs, they play anthems." Next must play "song" is: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For but I would recommend the Live version from their album Rattle and Hum.
Yes and if you have time for another track, all of Rattle and Hum :)
And When Love Comes to Town with BB King.
I just said the same thing about Bruce Springsteen in a different reaction commentary. Too funny but I would agree. I would go with Bad, A Sort of Homecoming and Forty live next earlier the better with them.
Your brother is a jabronie then
I wouldn't recommend the live version for that one. Listen to studio first.
U2 is from Ireland. In Ireland many cities are divided: rich/poor, Catholic/Protestant, etc. By knowing which street a person lives on you can tell their religion, wealth and beliefs: it's where the streets have no name.
I came here to say this - but they’re searching for a place where the streets have no name.
I was thinking with all the strife and news reports of violence daily on the streets in the UK they wanted streets that weren't in the news for the violence occurring.
100% nailed it
Yeah, that's it exactly. So where the streets have no name is a place where we are not separated by or defined by where we are born, where we grew up, what our religion is, what race we are, how much money we have, etc.
He's on about America where some streets have numbers instead of names. 5th Ave / 14th St and so on.
Man. I remember when this album dropped for the first time. People were just stunned. Epic.
I'm not a huge fan of U2, but The Joshua Tree album is a masterpiece.
Agree it was their pinnacle achievement in music creativity imo, but I loved War, Unforgettable Fire too.
The 80s was a great decade of music, it wasn’t all new wave or a certain sound people often refer to, maybe that sound is the sound of real instrumentals and no fake auto tune.
@@maverick2242 I like Achtung Baby too.
One could argue and many do that Achtung Baby is an even greater masterpiece.
@@maverick2242 Not really in terms of music creativity. Joshua Tree was just a natural evolution of what they started with Unforgettable Fire. If you wanna talk their peak of creativity it is undoubtedly the Achtung Baby era. Never before had a mainstream(arguably biggest band in the world) change their entire sound, image, presentation and in a sense message so drastically and so abruptly and actually gain popularity and not alienate their already massive fanbase. Achtung Baby, Zooropa and the Zoo TV tour was the absolute peak of their creativity.
@@Hallucination It is. Love both but Achtung Baby still sounds like it’s being beamed in from the future 30 years after it’s release.
This is pretty much their signature song. Huge rabbit hole worth checking out.
"In the name of love" could be argued as thier signature song, or "Still haven't found what I am looking for"....the catalog is huge.
Running to Stand Still - Brad will love dissecting those lyrics. Or my personal favorite All I Want Is You. Sunday Bloody Sunday is also iconic.
Early U2. WAR.....BOY.....ALSO MASTERPIECES !!!!
There are so many.
To Many songs for them to have a signature song.
You gotta do the video, where they are on top of the liquor store in LA, in 1987.... I remember when this happened, and they showed the video, shortly after, on Mtv....the song "Where the Streets Have No Name", is an EPIC SONG!!!❤❤❤❤
Yeah, that was an epic video.
What I don't like about that video is that it keeps muting the music in favor of the activities onscreen. If you actually want to hear the song in its entirety, then I say skip the video. (I'm in LA too, I remember when they revealed on KROQ that the video was going to be taped that afternoon, it was a madhouse! lol)
I am glad they didn't. everyone reacts to the video and drama and not the song. Wish they didn't use one that had "super long intro" to open the song with though.
I would LOVE for them to see this performance. Hey Brad and Lex! Listen up from Seattle, WA!
The best version is the live show at Slane Castle in Dublin (it's on YT) - you really get to see what this song means to them, and to their fans. Goosebumps material.
U2 is a very talented group. My favorite song of theirs is I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. Please react to that one next.
The pinnacle of Irish Folk Rock ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪
Brad & Lex, their "Pride (In the Name of Love)", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Mysterious Ways" are next for you!!!
Yes please good request right here 👌🏻👆🏻
Yes, Pride is a must, so powerful, also love " Even Better Than The Real Thing", music builds beautifully.
Sunday bloody Sunday first
As I heard said one time, they are a “Stranger in a Strange Land,” that claims “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” cuz they are in a town “Where The Streets Have No Names.”
One is a great tune as well
Love it every time.
Brad: So, whaddaya think so far?
Lex: (Insert metaphor that makes complete sense despite the fact that nobody else would ever choose or even think of that metaphor).
This is probably the best song ever written to be played live. I mean, even if you're not a big fan, you're in a concert during this song and tears come out. The music takes you to another level.
This song is why started to watch them live for the last 34 years!!!
Are they listening to the same song as us?!
Brad & Lex not moved by this as much as i thought they would be.
Spiritually uplifting, musically crafted and anthemic.
Just me then! 😆
Brad isn't moved by much. He only really likes the most simplistic music.
Usually. Lex gets it better
I like U2 but it took years for that to happen.
I feel their songs have greater impact only once you understand some context.
U2 just rub some people the wrong way. They're an acquired taste, I think.
It ain't their fault, they grew up on modern commercial corporate-sponsored music...if Drake covered it they'd call it legendary.
You guys must watch the video of U2 playing this song on the roof of a single storey building in LA for a video recording to promote their new album at the time “The joshua tree”. The police closed down the shoot as the band traffic to a standstill for miles around!!!
I agree. I said it as the 1st comment on here.😀
I remember that day! A few kids from my HS went to see the shoot. Who knew!!!
For those who don't know, and this may have been stated before. But the song Where The Streets Have No Name was written because the Lead Singer went on a mission trip to one of the third world countries. It was when he saw the famine, children roaming around streets that were just dirt and had no name, where they had no food, or water. It had sparked something in him and when he got home from his trip, he wrote the song and it was named what it is.
I heard Bono say he was in one of the poorest parts of Africa and he asked someone where he was , what street was he on and they said the street has no name , his thought was , This place is so poor even the streets have no name so whatever you’re going through I can take you to a place, high on a desert plain where it’s worse
The Joshua Tree, the album this song is on, is one of the true masterpieces of rock and roll/pop music. There's not a song on the album that is bad, and there are several songs that are phenomenal! My favorite wasn't released as a single, but "Red Hill Mining Town" is just a wonderful song!
Speaking of "bad", though, I'd recommend to you U2's performance at Band Aid, when they did an absolutely amazing version of their song "Bad". It's bonkers crazy, and the band did a phenomenal job of reacting to the moment!
That whole period from Under A Blood Red Sky through to Zooropa was just exceptional.
I love this entire album, but "Running To Stand Still" and "Red Hill Mining Town" are the tracks I keep coming back to.
@@omicron2018 The Joshua Tree is a true album where you have to listen to it from start to finish. For mine though Achtung Baby is there stand out album. it's amazing how they went from The Joshua Tree to Achtung Baby in around 4 years, almost breaking up. Fabulous band. I think now they just overcook their records trying too hard almost to make the perfect record, single.
@@Alpha_7227 actung baby is probably my favourite album of all time.
@@kieranlillis7121 Revolver, then Achtung Baby. Yep.
the guitars on this are so iconic and amazing sounding. and Bono's vocals are perfection. U2 gets a lot of crap these days but they are an amazing band.
**were
@@Wrangzilla I mean I get your point. I don't like a lot of newer U2 stuff either. But a lot of great artists made crap music at some point (think how bad the 80s were for bob dylan, neil young, etc) and somehow they aren't punished for it like U2 has. It's just strange to me.
@@THEDEEPDIVE Yeah, you nailed it. I still enjoy their post Pop output and don't really give a shit what some nobody on TH-cam thinks. But they do get a harder time than most for sure.
@@PJBonoVox I'm tied up in other bands on my channel at the moment but I would love to do a top 20 U2 song series to remind the world just what that band was capable of and did during their prime. It was iconic, life affirming, carthatic, and amazing.
It's bc they keep creating NEW MATERIAL unlike the Rolling Stones...plus their age is way up there & against being cool n hip etc...The #1 band still alive & kicking today!
Pride, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet to blue sky... now that's some good U2.
The best part of the song are Dave Evans', aka The Edge, jangly guitars, it is instantly recognizable as U2.
He isn't like Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Tony Iomi. He creates soundscapes like the guitarist from Radiohead.
It's HEAVEN. No need for names for streets. It's a place that's immortal and unlimited. He wants to break free of earthly bonds.
One of their best renditions of this song was from the 2002 halftime show during Superbowl. They led into it with MLK. They had all the names of the victims of 9/11 on a giant screen behind them rising up to the heavens. America was in need of healing and they were the right band for that moment. You all should check out their Under A Blood Red Sky concert.
The right song for the that show despite Bono's voice being in rough shape after a long tour.
I thought that version was piss poor
They have many great songs and have been around since the 80's very talented group. ☘️🍀
"Bullet the Blue Sky" is one of my favorite songs of theirs. Very powerful!
It's essentially U2s version of Lennon's "Imagine", being that it's about the hope that people wouldn't be bogged down by society over their stations and beliefs... something that was very near and dear to them with the conflicts in Northern Ireland especially during the band's rise to fame and as a recurring theme for much of their early career.
Exactly
It's a song about East Africa
@@cahillgreg
Why do you say that?
The Song That Started It All,, U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Live From Red Rocks)
The mixing slowly bringing the guitar in in the intro is like the dusk breaking into a sunrise on a misty morning. I'd love to hear it for the first time again.
Lex, you have a beautiful smile, btw.
My absolute favorite U2 song of all f****** time!! It always puts me in a great mood and it just makes me want to dance around my living room.
One of my favorite U2 moments is the “Sunday Bloody Sunday” video from their movie “Rattle and Hum”. It’s a great version of a great song, but the rant leading up to it makes it incredible!
"The Irish in America..." my 9th-grade self was in awe. Their music is quite a bit more demystified for me since then, but I still go back to U2 when I just want some great chill music to listen to. Every one of their albums from "Boy" to "Zooropa" makes my road trip playlist. VERY few bands have an 8-album stretch that can match that.
The lyrics were inspired by a story that Bono heard about Belfast, Northern Ireland, where a person's religion and income were evident by the street on which they lived. He contrasted this with the anonymity he felt when visiting Ethiopia, saying: "the guy in the song recognizes this contrast and thinks about a world where there aren't such divisions, a place where the streets have no name." Bono wrote the lyrics while on a humanitarian visit to Ethiopia with his wife, Ali. The lyrics send a message of hope and a wish for a world that is not divided by class, wealth, race, or any other arbitrary criterion.
Correct!
Oh my god! This song is epic! U2 is as close as music has for a living conscience. These guys are humanitarians on a massive scale and the greatest rock band in the world in my opinion! Just the best rabbit hole to go down. All songs are bangers!
Watching the video for this song makes it so much better than just giving it a listen.
Not really. The video is distracting from the music.
They opened with this in concert during The Joshua Tree way back in the day in LA...timeless song, album, and concert!
U2's Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum are beautiful works of art.
..a thoughtful painting!!
... that's a good analogy!!
Might be one of the best songs of the 20th Century. Just iconic. Their concert in Boston from 2001 might be the greatest rock concert ever.
One of the greatest bands of all time. Most Grammy awards ever. The only band/artists with a number one album in FOUR different decades (80's, 90's, 00's, 10's) and each album has its own distinct style. Check out their Super Bowl halftime performance after 9/11 (very emotional) and their collaboration with the band Green Day (song is The Saints Are Coming) live at the reopening of the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina. ALWAYS do live versions if possible. They epic live. Exit, One Tree Hill, Running To Stand Still, All I Want Is You, MOFO, Please, All Because Of You, Dirty Day, With Of Without You (live Boston) and k you just reacted to Streets but All I Want Is You/Where The Streets Have No Name live at Slane Castle is sooooo good. Bono (lead singer) buried his father the day of the concert if I remember correctly and Slane Castle is in Ireland where they are from. All the emotions of the loss colide with the excitement of being back home so to speak, create a special performance.
This is not a superficial song,history book is required, you folks are cool...I'll share
Drumming imperfection!,timing is harder than it sounds ,so underrated
Running to stand still is the best IMHO
Old school stuff, we knew it by sharing cassettes and MTV videos. Was how we learned music back then. MTV was a heavy filter for our music. We learned these bands by video. Different introduction to music then. A different generation. I was born in 74. Young man with cable just starting. We had different information veins
The official video is awesome cause they were trying to do a live concert in downtown LA during a rush hour and the police shut them down after this song was done.
This is U2 at its most epic when experienced live in concert
I loved Lex's comments at the end about the artist taking their time to paint each stroke. The Magic about this song in particular and a lot of U2 songs is that the live version is better and brings a whole other experience to the song.
This is one song that is better on album IMO. MOST of their songs are better live, but that carefully choreographed intro and outro on the album leave me smiling like an idiot every time I listen to the song, even 35 years later. Like this song, "Please" and maybe "Bad" are better as they were recorded in the studio, IMO. "One", "Bullet the Blue Sky" and a lot of others really are MUCH better live though.
This song, and the rest of the Joshua Tree album were written in the Las Vegas area. I lived there and was a substitute teacher there. The city was growing by 1,000 people per week. They were building houses so fast, they couldn’t name the streets fast enough. I actually would get a call to work at a new school and directions to go to the end of this street, turn left for three blocks, turn right in two blocks and you’ll see the school on the left.
This is the opening song from _The Joshua Tree_ album (1987), which was inspired by U2's simultaneous fascination with what they call the "mythical America" (where anything is possible) and their observations as Irish visitors on the "real America" (which they believe fell far short of the mythical place everyone in the rest of the world believed the USA to be). They had achieved some commercial success with earlier albums here in the United States, and this album captured a lot of their feelings, observations, and emotions regarding this country. This song was one of several on the album that have a very reflective and pensive tone. Very interestingly, even though the band has often said the USA inspired this album, several of the songs deal with topics outside the USA, such as political kidnappings or "disappearings" in Central and South America and political oppression in South Africa.
This was released during The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
"Where The Streets Have No Name" is one of the many guitar Masterpieces from "The Edge", Mr. Effect. For me, one of the best U2 songs.
Listening to this song on a Alpine Car Audio system back in the 1990's took the music to a different level.
LMAO, "the song you listen in an Uber to sober up". that is EPIC!!! Lex, don't ever change!
They grew in Ireland Dublin and it’s a place where the streets have no name and everyone just know where everyone lives.
I could live in the intro and outro alone, what a gorgeous and uplifting soundscape!
My favourite band. One of their most iconic songs. You should react to EVERY song on their biggest albums: 'The Joshua Tree' and 'Achtung Baby'. Seriously. Mythic stuff.
When we were 19 years old my best friend from childhood and I tore around San Francisco in his next door neighbor's 9/11 turbo that he told us to take out and have a good time in. That friend since passed away. This song will always take me back to catching air off the Hills in San Francisco
You really gotta watch a live version to see how anthemic and powerful this song is. As outstanding as they are on records, U2's known for being 1 of the greatest live bands ever and they're famous for having super creative set designs
U2 - A Sort of Homecoming (Live)
Wide Awake in America
This was a powerful song back in the 80's...
Yes! I'm glad SOMEONE in the comments mentioned that song! 'Homecoming' has always been my fave from them!
@@corkydukeII5898 the live version always gave me goosebumps.
@@michaelakkerman407 I can surely sympathize Michael....it certainly a great song by them! It's crazy that not alot of fans recognize that.
With or Without You - I could listen to that infinity guitar, bass, then drum kick in all day.
For fun , check out the official music video where U2 recreated the rooftop concert vibe as originally performed by the Beatles.
Iconic delayed guitar played by "The Edge"
Glorious song of a generation!
Rick Beato agrees with your take at the end there, Lex. Bono is a very underrated singer. And U2 was specifically trying to create actual spaces for a person to inhabit for a few minutes back when they recorded this album. The Joshua Tree and the proceeding album, The Unforgettable Fire, really embraced this idea. As far as what the song is "about", it's just this imagining of a world where the place you are born doesn't matter. Especially in N. Ireland, the neighborhood where you live could be a dangerous piece of information. So the singer is basically just imagining this place where you can come in from the storm for a bit, where no one lives on a particular street, and you don't have to worry about the baggage that comes with all of it.
Out in the Country, the Streets have no Names. This song is Best Listened to, in a Stadium with 80,000 other people. U2 is an Experience!
Brad, this is not a breakup song. He isn't speaking of love in the romantic sense, it's in the general, universal sense, like brotherly love. And more specifically, about the religious and economic divisions that existed in Northern Ireland. I recommend listening to the song again without trying to interpret the lyrics, because it's a fantastic arrangement. Listen closely to the layering of the multi-tracked guitar (I think there's 3), and how the drummer punctuates phrases with a cymbal. The band gave a magnificent performance of this song during halftime at the 2002 Super Bowl (the first one after 9/11).
49 and still a U2 fan since 1986
U2 🇲🇽
I could listen to that intro all day pure class
I love this song, it’s so deep but that is U2! For me the song is more than about a simple breakup! The streets have no name refers to Heaven to me! I love Bono’s voice and the official video! That guitar is amazing too! U2 can do no wrong! Not a bad song ever!❤️❤️
6:34 "Why don't they have names ?" Lol. How cute.
More than a year before U2 were fussing and fighting in the studio, frontman Bono was inspired to begin writing the song’s lyrics on a trip to Ethiopia. After U2’s involvement in Live Aid, Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, traveled in 1985 to see the situation in person. He would become profoundly influenced by the experience, struggling to put his feeling into words.
“All this stuff about deserts and the parchedness of the earth... I wrote those things on Air India sick bags and scraps of paper, sitting in a little tent in a town called Ajibar in northern Ethiopia,” Bono told Rolling Stone in 2005. “It’s a sort of odd, unfinished lyric, and outside of the context of Africa, it doesn’t make any sense. But it contains a very powerful idea. In the desert, we meet God. In parched times, in fire and flood, we discover who we are.”
But “Where the Streets Have No Name” isn’t only rooted in Africa, but in U2’s uniquely Irish identity. The title, specifically, is rooted in Northern Ireland.
“An interesting story that someone told me once is that in Belfast, by what street someone lives on you can tell not only their religion but tell how much money they’re making,” Bono said in 1987. “Literally by which side of the road they live on, because the further up the hill the more expensive the houses become.”
As Bono sings in the song, “I wanna tear down the walls that hold me inside,” he sought to destroy barriers between human beings. The desert images of Africa connected to his ideas of America as a political desert, something that would be embodied in the album’s artwork and title.
During a break for U2’s sessions for The Joshua Tree, guitarist the Edge was working independently on a demo. Tinkering with guitar, bass, keyboards and a drum machine, Edge became fascinated by this sketch - a tune led by twinkling, arpeggiated guitar lines that shifted time signatures, twice. The first day that recording for the next album resumed, the guitarist gleefully introduced the demo cassette. To his dismay, his bandmates weren’t quite as thrilled.
“Edge had created ‘Streets’ on a four-track and he’d started with this, kind of, muso stuff,” bassist Adam Clayton recalled in Classic Albums. “I have to say, at the time, I didn’t appreciate probably the hours of thought that had gone into such an idea. It just seemed like a way of f---ing the band up.”
Although the guitarist had figured out the glistening intro and outro portions of the song and crafted a part that would cross over from 3/4 time to 4/4 time, the middle portion was still pretty loose. With producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, U2 set to work (and work… and work) on creating a fully realized song from the idea.
Lanois remembers playing music teacher and walking Edge, Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. through endless chord changes on a blackboard while Eno began to go a little crazy. The album sessions had come to revolve around a solitary song - one that the producer felt was going nowhere. A famous story involves Eno, at the end of his wits, about to erase weeks of work only to be stopped by a recording engineer.
“There’s a misinterpretation in that story… That version [of ‘Streets’] had quite a lot of problems,” Eno said. “What we kept doing was spending hours, and days, and weeks - actually, probably half the time that the whole album took was spent on that song, trying to fix up this version on tape. It was a nightmare of ‘screwdriver’ work. And my feeling was that it would be much better to just start again. I’m sure we would get there quicker if we started again. It’s more frightening to start again, because there’s nothing. So my idea was to stage an accident, to erase the tape, so that we would have to start again.”
Whether he stopped himself, or was prevented by a tea-toting engineer, Eno failed to go through with wiping the tape. Everyone persevered and eventually stitched together the final version that is heard on The Joshua Tree. In addition to the four members of U2, Eno can be heard playing the ambient synthesizers at the “Streets”’ beginning and Lanois contributed extra percussion. The creative team grew so fond of the track, that they soon agreed that “Where the Streets Have No Name” was the ideal lead-off song for the album.
“A song like ‘Streets,’ which was such a difficult kind of birth, now is a real pleasure to perform,” Clayton said. “But at the time, we didn’t really know what it was. It was kind of the beginnings of techno.”
Read More: U2 Gets Cinematic on 'Where the Streets Have No Name' - The Story Behind Every ' Joshua Tree' Song | diffuser.fm/u2-where-the-streets-have-no-name/?
Thanks for the info!
I guess the song, as I recall them explaining about it, is based upon an experience of U2's lead singer helping people dealing with floods in Africa. He is also famous for his humanitarian work in the world. But the song is really open to all kinds of interpretations as a good piece of art and music is meant to be.
Wow, what memories!!!!! The LP "joshua tree" fom U2 came out and it was the first present I got from my first girlfriend. English speeking people have to know, that in Germany we might hear eglish lyrics more as a melody and later in words. With these songs, and specially "whre the streets have no name" and "with or without you" were songs full of emotions, the air was filled with this songs and with love in
U2 are one of the few artists that I would actually recommend listening to their live performances instead of studio, to get a real experience of what they are all about. Go check out the Rattle & Hum version of this song.
Usually. For songs like this, "Bad" and some others from the Unforgettable Fire through Achtung Baby, there is so much studio production baked into the sound that they just don't sound as good live. One slightly mis-timed chugga-chugga on Edge's guitar can ruin the next 2 bars. "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Bullet the Blue Sky" and a lot of others really shine live though.
Imagine singing along with 20,000+, word for word. The U2 show at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 2005 is still the greatest concert experience I've ever had.
very prophetic band
One of the greatest rock songs off of a top 10 album of all time.
U2 visited Central America before this album before this song was written. In most centeal american countries the streets literally have no names.
Also, the song “Bullet the blue sky” was also inspired because of that visit.
Best live rock song perfomed by one of the best rock bands alive U2!!!
They performed this at the halftime show in the Superbowl directly after 9/11 and to say it was emotional is an understatement... Recommend you have a look.
I feel freedom I this song. Its like cold mountain air, or a desert wind
It's total escape from the quantified and prescribed world of humans
It's a place so remote or so natural that the streets have no name
I hear Bono asking us to come with him to a place where there are no borders, no neighbourhoods . . . Nothing, a pristine wilderness where the streets have no name.
Hello and happy Friday from Texas
One of the absolute best songs of the 80s!
Love this song!!
Lex again, with the in-depth, insightful & emotional comments on the music. Love it!
“Super long Intro” LOL. They’re not kidding. I picked this song for karaoke once. I forgot how long the intro was. I went back to my seat and finished my drink while I was waiting. LOL 😂
But both the intro and outro are amazing. I smile every time those jingling guitars fade out with the keys at the end of the song. It's just satisfying from start to finish.
I saw them in concert in Miami in 1998 (I think). What a show... Unforgettable. At the then Joe Robby stadium.
Really needed to see the video for this song, this was U2s coming to America album and the reaction they got when they filmed this song literally stopped a city, I think they got shut down for what they were doing but at what an era and a time to be creative.
Edge 's guitar the master of delay
Started listening to U2 back in the early 80s, and was a big fan!! Then I was invited to see them in Concert and was BLOWN AWAY!! I think it was probably the BEST Concert I've Ever been too!!(Not counting all the VH Concerts I've been too) AMAZING!!❤️❤️😁🎸🤘🔥💯 Edge on the Guitar Live is CRAZY Amazing!! Great Music with a Great Vibe!!! I'll Never Ever Forget that Concert and the Woman who took me there 🇨🇦!! ❤️❤️❤️🎸🔥💯🤘😁
Song is about where they grew up in Ireland. The name of the street a person live on literally reveals a person's circumstances (religion, economical status ect). He wants to live where everyone is equal vs being defined by the name of your street.
i love the way Lex's mind works. I think the same way so I definitely understand what she's saying
Brad is so perfect on the stops! ...uh! Big Brad, it's ok... we'll keep finding it and feeling it again. lol! Love you two! Thx again!
Absolute classic, one of my favourite bands. Had the pleasure of seeing them on Achtung Baby/Zoo TV tour in Glasgow at Celtic Park , over 50,000 attending. Cool reaction
U2 "Angel Of Harlem"
It's so funny to see you react on long intros. This was so comon in the 70s and 80s. Nowadays everything has to be fast and comes to the point so quickly. Sometimes I think we lost a lot of musical poetry.
80's songs = videos
Lex has THE best lines.
I think the songs intended meaning is one person taking shelter from the trappings of the modern world with the one they love.
One of the most powerful moments in music for me was the 2002 Superbowl halftime show, where they played this song and had a huge list of the victims of 9/11 flying up toward the sky.
this song must be seen live ... a special experience
Think Live Aid in the 80's. Bono went there and was moved by the struggles they had the drought lack of food and help. That's where the lyrics come from. I've been a U2 Fan for over 40 years. I have seen them live 12 times. Thanks for the video.
In Belfast in Northern Ireland during the troubles, you could tell if a person was protestant or catholic by the name of the street they lived on. The song is imagining a world where these divisions don't exist.