Outside Is America: 35 Years After U2’s ‘The Joshua Tree’
U2’s classic album The Joshua Tree offers insights into the power of art to challenge the stories we tell ourselves 35 years after its initial release.
u2
‘Pop’ at 25: Revisiting U2’s Dark Night of the Soul
U2’s Pop offered a challenge to the short-circuited cultural certainties and held possibilities of cultural critique and reassessment, of a broader landscape.
How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Fly: U2’s ‘Achtung Baby’ at 30
In 1991, U2 risked tearing down the structure they built in the 1980s with the release of Achtung Baby and made a phoenix-like return to rock god status.
U2’s Creative Fire from Inferno to Embers
U2 burned brightest from 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire to the ZooTv Tour’s end in 1993.
The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the ’90s: 20 – 1
The fifth and final part of the 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the ’90s, includes Portishead, Blur, Björk, R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails, and more.
The 100 Best Alternative Singles of the ’80s: 20 – 1
Songs of anxiety, paranoia, freak-outs, chilling verses, feverish desire, harrowing lyrics — they all make for damn good music.
20 Unsung Music Videos of the 1980s
From major artists like the Clash, David Bowie, and U2 to less famous brethren such as Haysi Fantayzee and Grandmaster Caz, these are the unsung videos from that decade that might have missed your attention the first time around.
The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s: 80-61
In this next segment of PopMatters' look back on the music of the 2000s, we examine works by British electronic pioneers, Americana legends, and Armenian metal provocateurs.
Featured: Top of Home Page/Features/Film/Lists/Love in the Time of Coronavirus/Music/SAVE/ IGNORE: popular/Television
How Aaron Sorkin and U2 Can Soothe the Pandemic Mind
Like Aaron Sorkin, the veteran rock band U2 has been making ambitious, iconic art for decades—art that can be soaring but occasionally self-important. Sorkin and U2's work draws parallels in comfort and struggle.
The 20 Most Memorable Songs of 1991
So much remarkable music was released in 1991 that it's difficult to choose just 20 memorable songs without a few omissions.
The 50 Best Songs of 2009
As part of PopMatters’ 20th anniversary, we are revisiting classic features. Travel back in time a decade ago to 2009, when indie rock was in its full ascendency,and hear the songs that soundtracked the era.