I’m sure they’ve been played at weddings somewhere, but I’m a bit skeptical at how common the stories make it out to be based on my experiences. Seriously, not a single wedding where it’s been played.
I don’t know if people straight-up don’t like “In God’s Country,” but it’s kind of a meh U2 song, almost paint-by-numbers-ish. I am surprised about “Bullet the Blue Sky,” though. I really haven’t met anyone who thought that was a throwaway track or a bad track or their least favorite track on the album. Apparently we do have someone in this thread. So perhaps I’m letting my personal feelings on the song get in the way, but I don’t have a recollection of people disliking it. It’s a solid song on a great album, and I love the intro with the distinctive drum rhythm and noisy guitar.
That’s interesting, because at the time I filed “Bullet The Blue Sky” under throwaway song compared to staples like “Where The Streets…” or “I Still…”. It only grew on me after the live version on Rattle And Hum (granted, an album I dismissed a bit before, but it has its merits, songs and moments), and I came to like it a lot. It’s a great atmospheric song, very evocative. Not much of a melody though. I agree with you on “In God’s Country”, it’s U2 by numbers, but ok. My favorite song of *Joshua Tree *probably always was “Running To Stand Still” (oh, yes, it still is, I’m listening to it right now after many years ;)).
I’m not necessarily saying it’s one of the best tracks on an album full of great tracks (although I might argue it is), but rather that it’s certainly not the worst track, or even a throwaway.
Although honestly, as someone who is only a slightly-more-than-casual fan of U2, I listen to their ‘best of’ album U2: 18 Singles a lot. It’s got most of my favorite U2 songs on it (except 40).
So far I’m the only one who picked How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. I was a U2 fan from the beginning and owned all their albums from Boy to Achtung Baby. I picked HtDaAB because of Sometimes You Can’t Make it on Your Own, City of Blinding Lights and Vertigo.
Joshua Tree is my second favorite. I love Trip Through Your Wires and found Bullet the Blue Sky too bombastic. I hate when Bono gets bombastic.
I love “In God’s Country”, as that and “Heartland” (off Rattle and Hum) really form the centerpiece of what Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum are actually about - the “two Americas” idea.
That one took a while to grow on me when I first encountered U2 in middle/high school (JT was the first album I bought), but now I find it incredibly powerful, especially how the monologue is performed differently during tours over the years. It was originally about American involvement in wars in Central America, but during the Songs of Innocence tour Bono turned it back on himself and it turned into his younger self looking at the current Bono (the social justice warrior who goes to Davos/hangs out at the White House/hobnobs with the global elite) and sneering. It was really something.
During this latest tour (which I just caught) it wasn’t linked to Trump explicitly at all, but it didn’t really need to be. (“Exit” was, and “the hands that build can also pull down/the hands of love” line was put in context of the border wall, which was a pretty amazing way to flip that lyric on its head.)
I can’t really not put Joshua Tree at the top of my list (because it was so formative and shaped my adolescence/perspective on my own country so much), but No Line on the Horizon is WAAAY up there. That album was spectacular.