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liz kershaw

Liz Kershaw looks back on hanging out with U2 and her memories of The Joshua Tree.







"U2.....didn't meet them until 1989 when they were touring and I was taken to see them in Amsterdam by Island records. Bono lost his voice and the crowd ended up singing all the big anthems from Joshua Tree for him. After the gig I ended up back at the bands hotel playing pool with them in their inner sanctum. Surreal!


My memory of Joshua Tree in 1987 was at my brother Andy's flat in North London. He and Billy Bragg had both just had their hearts broken by girls and they both sat crying into their beer with the album on over and over again......the angry young men of rock n roll as you've never seen them!"

video iconWatch Liz reminisce

What are your memories of 1987 and The Joshua Tree?:

Disclaimer:The BBC will put up as many of your comments as possible but we cannot guarantee that all e-mails will be published. The BBC reserves the right to edit comments that are published.

Comments so far

Alistair , Bangalore
This album was released before i was born , but since my brother bought the tape of u2 , it was the best thing that i've ever listened to..... "joshua tree" is the best u2 album .... brilliant vocals and absolutely reminiscing music .... Bono's influential lyrical ability is potrayed in this very album ..... cheers n rock on !

New fan, Chicago
Being 20, this album came out before I was born... however my story kind of shows how it is timeless. Ofcourse I had heard of U2 and heard the main singles and the newer songs, but I never really listened I guess you could say. A few weeks back, one of my friends was going to lose his boat at work and was taking it out for his last boat ride. On this ride he played Joshua Tree in its entirety and rode along the coast of Chicago. It was beautiful. Watching the skyline at night pass by, listening to every word of this cd, and watching him move on in a way and say goodbye. Every lyric fit the moment and since then I have not been able to stop listening to this album. I am a fan.

Nick , Plymouth Devon
well this was the album that I put on before sleeping in my bedsit in Taunton ..This is a positive (!) it was just one of them albums ..i still love it and have been in places where its played in the daytime ...

Jason Branch USA
Watching Bono dislocate his shoulder at RFK in DC. Great Show in the rain

giorgos,karditsa,greece
i saw them live in greece for the pop mart tour back in 1997,the songs from the joshua tree,live performed,were so fresh and so well played and with bono giving his life onstage that you thought..''oh my god are these new songs or what''u2... part of my life(very big one i'd say)as i grew up with their music and have connected many events of my life with them..Thank you guys...

Jacqui Wallace, Colbinabbin, Victoria, Australia
i was only 12 and my older brother who was eighteen had bought the cassette. he used to work away from home a lot so i pinched it from his bedroom and listened over and over again, so haunting and luminous. even after all these years, he came to the concert in melbourne with me november 2006 and said "you even had the joshua tree when you were about 12 didn't you?"; I had successfully claimed it as my own!

Maria Kalyvioti, Kalamata, Greece
I was 13 when i first listened to "with or without you". Immediately, i felt like i knew this song. Soon i got the album and those melodies became a "journey" for me ever since. One month ago (feb '07) i chose "with or without you" to be my wedding song.

Jimmy / Richmond
Saw U2 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis that year. They came out incognito prior to Los Lobos and played a couple of twangy country songs.

c
Saw U2 in Clonmel

Chris Maris- San Diego California USA
I bought Joshua Tree the day it came out. I couldn't wait! That album set the tone for the band and made me see how inspirational a rock band could be. The "non-hit" songs are some of my favorite U2 songs, which is saying something. But what really stands out for me was a 3 night stand in Los Angeles at the Sports Arena. I was fortunate enough to go all 3 nights. Watching Bono scale the bleachers in the loge section wa something I saw him do at the US Festival, but didn't think he would ever do it indoors. The best concerts I've seen, I think ever.

Evelyn - Antwerp Belgium
1987 . I was 27 and just ending up a relation, with a lot of tears, anger and grieve. Changed my home country the Netherlands for the Spanish Costas. Some clothes and a few records, yes of course the Rattle and Hum U2 one. My Spanish neighbours didn’t loved me very much, because of the volume of In God’s Country and With or Without You. It helped me a lot and so many songs later they’re still my favourites. In 2005, it was the first time that I stand there in the Amsterdam Arena in front of them I hope it will not be the last time. It's a part of me.

Charam...Salt Lake City...USA
I was only seven years old and I remember my Mom had this album. We listened to it on road trips and when we were at home just hanging out around the house. It stuck to my soul and ever since I have always felt U2 was there as I grew up...like part of my family.

Javier Br. Lawrenceville GA.
hope they tour again, I wanna hear "The Fly" live

Darren, New Jersey
I was 13 years old when the first concert I ever attended was U2 on The Joshua Tree tour in Philadelphia, PA. I remember sitting in the upper level seats with my mom, both of us singing along as Bono shined a spotlight on the crowd. The excitement I felt!! I remember the stripped-down stage and Bono dancing around while singing. He got the crowd to sing along with him. I lost my voice and have seen them in concert 4 more times since.

Sancha C ,Sydney Australia
I have loved U2 since I was 14 when I first heard Pride,& so when I was 17 & heard that The Joshua Tree was being released I bought the album & took it to school everyday & used to sit up the back of my science lesson & listen to it on my portable CD player & also at every opportunity I could get.I even went as far as to name my son who was born in 1997(not 87) JOSHUA.

Stefanie, Boylston, MA USA
I remember... I was 12 years old when Joshua Tree came out. I didn't own a stereo or cassette player, but I remember hearing Where the Streets Have No Name on the car radio and falling in love with U2. I didn't know who this band was that I was listening to, I didn't know for a long time... (years actually) but I realized at the time that I was listening to something great. Bono's voice went straight to my gut, and his passion spoke volumes; I was overwhelmed by the sound. I remember hearing other Joshua Tree songs on the radio, and watching the videos on MTV, but still not realizing who this band was. I didn't get a copy of Joshua Tree until I was 19 years old and in college; I listened to the CD over and over and over. I have been a fan ever since that first song I heard on the radio... And I'm still in love with U2.

Holly Mourant Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
It was the first CD I bought. I didn't even have a CD player yet! I flew from Calgary to Vancouver to see the band in concert without even confirmation that my boyfriend had been able to get tickets for us. Luckily he got the tickets but I would have been content to sit outside the arena and listen to them. I vividly remember singing "40" down the ramp on the way out of the concert. Great feeling. I never liked Bullet the Blue Sky on the album. It changed after that concert. A great album that gave U2 the recognition they deserved.

paul hamilton ottawa ont canada
it is best cd evrer

Julie, Tecumseh, Michigan, United States
My cousin's young friend had just been killed in an auto accident at the age of 19- it seemed like everyone was tip-toeing around their emotions because it was too difficult to acknowledge what had really happened. I went into my room, cranked up The Joshua Tree and let the emotions of the album take me places I had been denied by the events of the day. By the time I got to "Running to Stand Still" it was nothing short of cathartic. I was finally able to cry and grieve - thank you U2 for the reality of your music.

Sanjay Prakash St. Albert Alberta Canada
Still my favorite travelling music. Fondest memory is driving into the Rocky Mountains in Alberta Canada to go skiing in 1987 and my friend James playing the harmonica along with "Trip Through Your Wires". Then the whole group of us singing belting out the chorus. Still my favorite album.

Mick - Glasgow
Without doubt, The Joshua Tree is part of me. Every time I think of music & what it should be doing to me, this exceptional piece of work answers all the questions, more so now than ever & in my soul never to be surpassed…

Erika from Gmunden, Austria
It was my first contact with U2 when a classmate gave me a copy of "Joshua Tree" as a reward for helping him with a learning problem. I played it on and on a million times until the cassette died two years ago - almost 20 years later. The whole album (now on CD of course) has got a healing impact on me, almost spiritual, as have most of the other albums of U2. Whenever I feel like being in a very dark, depressing valley, they mysteriously play "With or without you" on the radio - like someone in the great radio station up in heaven wants to tell me with this song "Cheer up. Whatever it is, it will pass."

Lucy from Brighton
It was a hot summer's day, I was 11 years old. I came inside, put the TV on, and fell in love with U2 for the first time. I'll never forget Bono dancing with a girl from the audience, and dragged countless reluctant schoolfriends round for tea to watch the worn out video of it. Exhausted by my non-stop combination of nagging and bribery my mum and 2 older sisters gave in and let me come to my first ever gig, the Joshua Tree tour on 13 June 1987. I was 13 and never seen anything like it. We wandered out in a daze, singing 40. The band got me then and they've got me now, fighting for human rights, lobbying my MP to drop the debt, trotting all over the world to see them live. I really must grow out of it, I'm just too old to have a U2 calendar in my kitchen these days.

Wade, St. Petersburg, Fl.
A schoolmate told me there was this great band I hd to hear and he let me borrow a copy of the "War" album. I thought it showed potential and asked if the band had done anything else. Turns out they had. At the time I was dealing with issues surronding childhoos abuse that I had not really revealed to anyone. The "Joshua Tree",and its sense of searching for identity, struggle and somehow hope gave me something to hang on to.

Mark Ryan, edinburgh
couldn't wait for this album to come out, the first sound i heard was on a radio special a few days before it was to be released, where the streets was the first track played all my dreams had come true, pure class but sad in away because i knew this would be the album to fire them into space, i have followed u2 since 1980 and always thought of them as my band, all that wqas about to change god bless u2 and thanks for all the special moments u have given to me.

Kit, NY
Suzanne Vega's haunting Lukka and Crowded House's low key romantic songs etched a much bigger part in my consciousness. Remember seeing the video for streets and noticing friends on the crew. Loved the idea of pulling that off - great rebel stance. But we weren't really listening to U2 much then -- felt like they were still finding their way.

eddie arzooman new york city
i remember seein the band 10 times that year,gettin my girlfriend now my wife of 17 yrs hooked on u2. it was the good old days dudes. ive grown up with the boys thru the yrs. their my brothers, luv em.

Carolann/ Kitchener, Ontario
My love of my life and I made a lot of noise to this album much to the annoyance of his across the hall roommate. He was playing professional football in Ottawa, Canada at the time of the album release and I had just arrived to stay with him for the long hot summer. There was nothing like being in the zone with that powerful music as the third party. The Sweetest Thing.

dave barnsley south yorkshire
i remember janice long playing tracks exclusive on her evening show with my finger on the record button on my cassette player, i got goose pimples then and still do to this day when i listen to it but then i do when i hear anything by these gods of rock u2 is my religion.murrayfield, elland road leeds,i listened to bullet the blue sky wondering if life gets any better it simply doesnt thankyou U2

rob, peterborough
I went to see u2 in 1987 at cardiff arms park, mainly because my sexy english teacher was going and hoping (like only school boys do) i would meet her and so on, but as u2 started i was totaly blown away, never did i think a live gig could be so alive, 42000 thousand people singing with all there hearts made it a life changing experiance. I have now seen them 7 times take a rather good u2 record colletion. Oh and i did"nt meet teacher be after that gig i did"nt really care

Chris Dowie from Fleet, Hampshire
It was the undisputed 'where the streets have no name' that made me click with this band. Once I heard that beautiful echoing sound in that intro riff i was hooked, and therefore became an avid fan of one of the worlds biggest bands. You truly do have to see them live to understand they're music, and get where they're coming from. No U2 gig is a U2 gig without 'Where the Streets Have no name'. I play guitar myself and love practicing U2 songs, they have that definitive sound that belongs to them thanks to the edge. Listen well.

Damian Lloyd, Neath S.Wales
After the brilliant unforgetable fire, it seemed an eternity until a new U2 record and one evening I was traveling home in my mates car and With or Without you came on the radio billed as U2's new single and I was blown away, if I remember right, The Josua Tree didn't come out until about 3-4 weeks after With or without you, that wait was a killer. Definatley one of the greatest albums of all time but I also think the latter Achtung Baby is just as good.

Abraham Azagury- Carcas, Venezuela
I remeber being pretty young at the time, but my cousins always sang "ooh oooh oooh" from with or without you, since then, I myself (now 27 years old) cover that song and it has marked me, not only in good times but in those heart breaker moments that with some beer just doesn't do, it will always be my favorite song. Thanks U2 for making a difference in so many people's lives.

Phil Wright, Sutton Coldfield
I remember I had a test at college the following day but how could I revise when U2 had just released an album that day?! It truly is a brilliant album - even 20 years on. Saw them on The Joshua Tree tour at Birmingham NEC - brilliant also! There's never been a Joshua Tree album since.

Tony, Richmond, Indiana, USA
Well, I still haven't stopped listening to it long enough to have to remember it. It's still in my most-played stack of CDs, though I'm on about my fourth copy...

Douglas D, Rochester, NY, USA
I remember vividly my first listening inspection. The opening of Streets is still among the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard. The soul of I Still Haven't Found, the opera of With or Without You and the combination of fury and hymn of Bullet The Blue Sky and Running to Stand Still were enough to make me never want to listen to anything else ever again (and this was Side One!). It's been said a million times, but this album was everything American, and as a young person growing up in the Northeastern part of America it opened my eyes to the other side of the country. I will say that it altered my musical landscape forever. The multiple late night listenings from start to end are one of my most cherished childhood memories. It is my favorite album of all time twenty years on.

Rob- Oban
Not my favourite U2 album, but my first. My uncle bought this for my 11th birthday (Hard to believe that it's twenty years ago!) Even after twenty years I never tire of hearing this record.

Brooke, Cornwall
A teenager, inexperienced, stoned, and giggling, lost on Martha's Vineyard in the US... We kept singing (in hysterics) "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"... But in general, I remember being quite disappointed with the record. It just didn't (and still doesn't) measure up to the Unforgettable Fire or War or any of the earlier stuff. It was the beginning of the end for them, as far as I'm concerned!

dj cookie, leicester
this album is a milestone - still remember it today as it was all those years ago......

Chris B, London
Going interrailing and having the Joshua Tree on almost continuously on our battered cassette player as we travelled through Europe. Eventually we lost the player on a train, but still kept hearing it wherever we went, playing at train stations, in cars and on steros all over the continent.

Joe, Baltimore, MD USA
Ah, what can I say ! Attending Uni back in the states, With or Without You, going back to London, and then moving stateside at the New Jersey beach listening to an album that slowly churned out one great song after another. It still holds up as I heard Where the Streets have no name last year on the radio which I haven't heard in years and thought "man, forgot how great of a song that is, and how it still holds up today"

David, London
I remember the longest day I ever had waiting for school to finish so I could go and buy my copy. This record actually shaped the course of my life - not through the music so much as the album artwork. Anton Corbjin's mesmerising images on that gatefold spoke to me so strongly and inspired me to first pick up a camera & become a photographer - which is how I earn a living to this day.

Russ W, Worcester
I remember going into work that morning (aged 17) with my newspaper, eagerly looking forward to lunch time when I could pop into town and buy the album. Whilst reading the paper I noticed an '0898' number which allowed you to listen to sneak previews of each track. I couldn't help myself. I phoned the number, and listened to very poor quality 5 seconds intro for each song ('Exit' was silence!). I got back to work after lunch, told my boss I felt ill, and went home that afternoon to lie in my bedroom listening to the album repeatedly until bed time. What will always stay with me is listening to the 'Streets' for the first time. The intro built up into Edge's unique guitar, and I knew I was listening to a classic. Wembley and Cardiff were superb. It was a shame that the enourmous success of the record turned U2 into caricatures, resulting in the embarrasingly self indulgent Rattle and Hum movie. But I will always remember 1987 as being U2 year.

Ginger, Birmingham
Released the year I got married, the Joshua Tree was a favourite with me and my husband. I have fond memories of being up a ladder with a paintbrush, decorating the spare room and singing along to 'One Tree Hill.' Sadly now divorced and ex-husband got custody the album when we split up - but I still love the songs and they bring back memories of better days.

jason mcaleer , LEICESTER
I went to see them on their tour of 1987 in Cork, by accident. My mate was in love with them. And as we were staying at his parents holiday house near Youghal, thought it was the kind of thing 17yr olds do. Hitching various lifts a couple from England stopped and drove us to the stadium. Bought tickets from touts, and entered the enormous grey concrete stadium. A line up that Live Aid would have been proud of. Waterboys, The Dubliners UB40. And I dont think I've ever seen such a better gig anywhere. Whithin hours of the show finishing bootleg tape recordings were on offer. Needless to say he still has that tape to remind him of that once in a lifetime moment. Returning home, now there's another tale!

johnnie h. st.albans
I used to cycle to work then and went out to by it in my lunch break, cycled 6 miles to get it, 2 miles back to my flat to play it(bits!)4 miles back to work, late, sweaty but very happy. Just cant believe its 20 years!

saskia, amsterdam, holland
Hi! I visited the concert in Amsterdam Liz Kershaw is talking about too - I remember it very well. Felt so sorry for Bono as ge tried to sing and it didnot workout as he wanted... The crowd reacted great. A few months later the band returned to Holland to make things good; they played in a smaller stadium then, I had a good place and a marvellous view on the band, great sound, accompanied by BB King. The Joshua Tree concert in Rotterdam became one the best U2 concerts I have ever visited - and I have seen many. Still listening very often the tracks of this special album at my iPod with pleasure!

Andy in London
It was the first cd that I bought with my own money. I was 16 at the time and in my 3rd year of high school in the USA. I had been a fan of theirs since I was about 10 or 11 thanks to MTV, and had waited what seemed like ages for a new U2 record since Unforgettable Fire and Wide Awake in America. In those days before the internet and the intrusion of the media, there was still a bit of mystery left in the world, and just the way they all looked on that cd cover was enough to capture my imagination and take me some where else (which is what every teenager wants!) The music speaks for itself - an absolutely great record then and now!!!

Robin, Edinburgh
I remember buying it the day it came out, in Our Price in Aberdeen. I took it back to school to show it off, but the gatefold sleeve had come unstuck. I was straight back to the shop to get another, and was so proud when the sales assitant told me mine was the first copy to be returned!

Sean, London
I was buying up all those Rubble and See For Miles compilations of 60s psych together with secondhand copies of Beatles, Who, Stones, Kinks & obscure psych and Ska LPs (now worth a fortune). Why? Because the 1980s was such a dire, truly dire, decade for music......and football and film and fashion come to think of it! Having heard the turgid 'With Or Without You' on the radio the other day nothing has altered my view. And, anyway, wasn't it U2 around that time that did that alarmingly bad version of 'Helter Skelter'?! Have a nice day!

Worcester, UK
It was inescapable, everyone had it, so I guess I got bored of it and moved onto stranger bands in the next year or so. The production remains excellent, and I still like the darker songs like Exit, Running to Stand Still & Bullet the Blue Sky. I even get the 'big music' with In God's Country. By the time they got round to 'Rattle & Hum' U2 had become very irritating - has anyone seen that film? Their debt to the production of Scott Walker's Climate of Hunter on this album isn't stressed enough. Personally I dig their ZOO-TV era a lot more, and think of The Joshua Tree as the climax of that big anthemic music made by the Bunnymen, Big Country, Simple Minds & The Skids...John Peel fortunatly guided me elsewhere. The Fall and Butthole Surfers replaced The Joshua Tree...

Tiziana, London
Having been a huge fan of the U2 since 'Stories for Boys' I managed not to hear the songs for a week after the album came out in Italy, which wasn't easy, 'cause I was going to see the U2 live at the Flaminio Stadium (Rome) and wanted to listen to the songs live first. Needless to say it was an amazing experience and the next morning bought both the album and the cassette tape, so I could listen to it while stacked in the Roman traffic. That summer went to Tours (France) for a university intensive language course and wherever we were, being a shop or a bar or the hall of residence, 'The Joshua Tree' songs were always in the background showing that, despite all the problems we were having trying to communicate with the local population, good music is a true universal language.

Pete, London.
14 years old. We lived miles from any record shop. I had to rely on my mum to get me a copy of the album on her shopping trip to London that day. For whatever reasom, by the time she got home it meant both my younger brothers were in bed. Consequently the Joshua Tree was played for the first time in my bedroom through headphones. The opening bars of Where the Streets, you knew you were onto something special, something that you'd listen to for years to come.. a favourite album from a favourite band...

Dave Barton Cambridge
The music of the album is still as strong for me today. What stands out in my mind is the design of the cover, the black, the gold, the folds of the hills, and the 4 bloody tramps scowling!!! THe gatefold? Tuck yer vest in!!!!

Ben, London
Hi, I remember 'One tree Hill' being number one for weeks on end in New Zealand. I think is was only released as a single there and no where else. When 'the love comes to town' tour came to christchurch, NZ, I was too young to go, but it was at the local rugby/cricket stadium on a warm november (spring) night and you could hear the concert from miles away. 60,000 people out of a city of 300,000.......I think only the Dire Straits 'Brothers in Arms' concert 1986, outdid it (about 70,000)

Kate, Oxford
Amazing memories of travelling to Philadelphia on a 6th form exchange programme and listening to the Joshua Tree all the way. Always associate my happy memoreis of the trip with this album. Still have the tape - it's worn out.

Pauline F from Fareham, Hampshire
my dad was a taxi driver and someone had left a cassette tape of U2's Joshua Tree on the back seat of his cab - he brought it in and asked if I wanted it - I hadn't really heard of them but gave it a listen all the same - I was hooked from the first song and have been playing and enjoying it ever since.

Stephen Holloway
I bought the album the day it came out, i was 18 and it just blew me away, it talked to me on a grandiose scale, it made me think about things spiritually and musically, it was cinema widescreen music. i caught up with the joshua tree tour at cardiff arms park that july and it was awesome, it change my life that album, i took me out of being unemployed and living in liverpool at the time and give me a kick up the arse!

Michael W, Newport
First major gig I went to was U2 on the Joshua Tree tour, Wembley Stadium, age 17. I went with my mate and for some reason we both took our 15 year old sisters. So there we were, first big trip to London from the sticks... no idea... We were near the back of the queue at the door when for some reason the door next to us opened, rather than the one we we queuing at, so we ran in, first on the pitch at Wembley, and there we stayed, waiting for U2 - Wow! Anyway, I'd got the wrong end of the stick and was wearing super-80s style slip on shoes (and white socks!). Bad idea, especially at the front, where we were dragged about by the crowd - my feet didn't touch the ground after U2 came on and I lost my shoes after about 10 minutes... Miraculously I found them again 20 minutes later... Met my mate after the gig, and he lost... his little sister. We were on a coach, and the coach wouldn't wait, so he had to stay behind, and I had the joy of phoning his parents when we got home (50 miles away) to explain things... great memories!

Willie, Glasgow
I went into hmv for it. The anticipation surrounding its release was incredible. It was now total departure from the war, boy, october albums, but in a good way.This album made them the supergroup they now are. Bono did say at the time, it sounds like an album that would only sell 3 copies. A typical "Bono" thing to say. It was the most exciting time i can remember being a U2 fan. The upcoming world tour followed and you could apply for priority tickets through the bands fanclub. To tell your mates that you could get guaranteed tickets for concerts was kind of cool. Great album! Great memories! Well worth remembering! Nowadays, not a U2 fan anymore.

stuart p, hitchin, uk
i too am one of those who went into my local indie store (not there any more!) on day of release to pick it up. it was a special day. myself & a group of 16yr olds had waited expectantly since '84 for the next proper u2 album & each of us got the vinyl then sloped off home to listen to the thing in our bedrooms. hate to say it, but the joshua tree is the album on which u2 ditched the 'raw' sounds that had gone with the 4 studio albums beforehand & was a bit of an anti-climax ;-( for me. needless to say it is still a great album & certainly worthy of celebrating 20yrs later, so well done 6 music!

Simon Waller, Reading
On release day I sneaked out of my crap job in Slough (shades of Wernham Hogg especially the prat for a boss) and drove into the town centre in my horrid company Montego, to spend my hard-earned on the cassette. Sitting on the top floor of a Slough multi-storey, even through a base model Montego's paltry cassette, the opening bars of Streets fair bought tears to my eyes, and still can after 20 years. As an aside, a good friend was a lighting technician on the Joshua Tree tour - he invited me and 3 friends to see them at Cardiff Arms Park, supported by the Pretenders and the Silencers. Anyhow, the place was rammed, and anticipating the first band on. My mate had invited us stage right (where I nicked one of Edge's plectrums - still got it!) and suddenly in a flurry of activity we had to get off the stage.....but the only way off was across the middle. Hence 4 ambling mulleted-up scruffs were mistaken for the Silencers by a crowd of 40000 plus roaring their approval......my 15 secs of fame I guess!

John Paul Kleiner, Toronto
I remember my anticipation for this album was extreme. My girlfriend was away studying at university at the time and she still has the letters I wrote her which included a countdown to the release date. In those days, it wasn't uncommon for there to be a lag between the release date and an album's appearance in the record stores of my smallish western Canadian hometown of Saskatoon, but that day I recall being chauffered around by a friend with a driver's license from shop to shop until we found one with the coveted disc. For a whopping $14.98 - a huge price at the time. I didn't bat an eye and didn't regret it for a minute once we got it home on the turntable - a place it has frequently returned to over the years.

Allen McLaughlin, Paisley.
Having pre-ordered my copy, I went into school late so that I could pick it up from my local record store at 9am on release day. I then spent the rest of the day posing round school with it and trying to impress a girl in art class. Sadly she was more into Duran Duran than U2, or me for that matter, sigh...

Philip Tallentire - Barnard Castle
I remember rushing to Woolies in my lunch break to buy the album on a sunny, cold day. Then, that night, sitting on the sofa with the headphones on nursing the record on my lap I listened to the opening notes of Streets while greedily examining the luscious artwork and digesting the lyrics. The consistency of the songs was stunning - it was obvious that the band had risen to new heights.

Mathew, Cardiff
Egos and politics have overtaken their music in the last 15 years for me, but The Joshua Tree has to go down as one of the best albums ever. I remember listening to this album over and over again on my personal casette player as a kid. When I hear it now, it sounds just as great. Brilliant vocals, sound, songs and album. Can't believe its 20 years ago. It doesn't sound it.

Alan R Price - Wellingborough
I first heard the Joshua Tree on a skiing holiday to Crans Montana with a great mate, Dave Smith,in March-April 1987. He had just bought the tape and we played it to death in our apartment. I now always associate skiing with U2 and vice-versa - the two things I love most!

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