All of the group’s previous albums re-entered the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart in 1987. On, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album double-platinum. The album spent a total of 120 weeks on the Billboard Top Pop Albums, 35 of them in the top ten. It remained at that position for nine consecutive weeks, the band’s longest number-one reign on the chart and the second-longest reign in the US that year. Three weeks later, it reached number one, becoming the group’s first album to top the charts in the US. On the US Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, the album debuted on 4 April 1987 at number seven, the highest debut for a studio album in the US in almost seven years. In total, it charted in the UK for 201 weeks, ranking it among the longest-charting albums in the nation’s history. The album spent two weeks atop the UK Albums Chart and spent its first 28 weeks within the top ten. It received a platinum certification in the UK within 48 hours of being released. The Joshua Tree debuted on the UK Albums Chart on 21 March 1987 at number one with 235,000 copies sold in its opening week, making it the fastest-selling album in UK history to that point. The riffs to “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “With or Without You” also prominently use delay, with Bono likening the guitar hook from the former track to “chrome bells”. For example, the riff in the introduction of the opening track “Where the Streets Have No Name” is a repeated six-note arpeggio, with delay used to repeat notes.
Much of this was achieved with a delay effect, contributing to a chiming, echo-laden sound.
The Edge views musical notes as “expensive”, preferring to play as few of them as possible and to instead focus on simpler parts that serve the moods of the songs. His minimalist style sharply contrasted with the emphasis placed on virtuosity and speed by heavy metal in the 1980s. The Edge’s guitar playing on The Joshua Tree is characteristic of what came to be his trademark sound. The slow piano-based ballad “Running to Stand Still” exhibits traits of folk music and acoustic blues in the track’s slide acoustic guitar and harmonica.”Trip Through Your Wires”, another song on which Bono plays harmonica, was described by Niall Stokes as a “bluesy romp”. “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” hits strong gospel influences, with Bono singing of spiritual doubt in an upper register and Eno, Lanois, and the Edge providing choir-like backing vocals. The album’s amazing sound are drawn from American and Irish roots music more than the group’s previous albums, following the influence of legends like Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Keith Richards. U2 is credited with composing all The Joshua Tree’s music. U2 began writing new material in mid-1985 following the Unforgettable Fire Tour. The group’s stature and the public’s anticipation for a new album grew following their 1984 record The Unforgettable Fire, their subsequent tour, and their participation in Live Aid in 1985. Prior to The Joshua Tree, U2 had released four studio albums and were an internationally successful band, particularly as a live act having toured every year in the 1980s. The album is influenced by American and Irish roots music, and through socio-politically conscious lyrics embellished with spiritual imagery, it contrasts the group’s antipathy for the “real America” with their fascination with the “mythical America”.
Released in 1987, The Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by Irish rock band U2.