I watched a DVD of U2's career-making 1987 album Joshua Tree in the classic album series over the weekend. I more or less have seen the arena rock band as the social conscience of rock music; one that became a mediocre arena-rock band. If they are emblematic figures of the corporate rock of the 90’s; then they are one that did amalgam music, personality and message.

I'm largely unaware of their flirtation with dance clubs, techno and postmodernism in the 1990s that began with Achtung Baby's experimenting and reinvention of their style and and sound.

Joshua Tree, produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, gave the band the status as "rock's most important band", and is seen as one of the most important albums of the 80s, thereby sealing their place in rock history. The songs ' Where The Streets Have No Name", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", and "With Or Without You", are well known from airplay.

The main way we're exposed to new songs is via commercial radio, and commercial radio has only gotten progressively worse over the past two decades. These songs highlight that music sales are down because the music that is seriously marketed by major labels, or played on commercial radio or the handful of music television outlets is pretty low quality.

The black-and-white photo is of the band at Death Valley National Park in the desert of California whilst the title refers to the Joshua Tree of the Mojave Desert. The band talk about their idea of America and what it means--it recalled the 30’s moods and themes (from Frank Capra to Ernest Hemmingway) of America rather than Reagan's America.

The band also talked in detail with producer Brian Eno about the idea of music as cinematic - that music can evoke a location in the listener's mind. However, it wasn't clear to me from the DVD that the musical explorations on this album are to be located in America's desert southwest. Maybe it is the "ambience", the textured or sonic soundscapes, or the musical journey.

But where does that journey go? Starting at the top and slip-sliding down to the bottom?

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