When Donald Trump was elected on November 8 in the U.S., the world changed for many including U2.
The Edge talked to Rolling Stone in a brand new interview where the origins of their new The Joshua Tree tour. While the 30th anniversary of such an important album would seem reason enough, it also seems it was an excuse for pushing off the release of their new album, Songs of Experience.
According to the guitarist, they went directly into the studio after completing their last tour and recorded what was to become Songs of Experience.
And then the election [happened] and suddenly the world changed. We just went, “Hold on a second – we’ve got to give ourselves a moment to think about this record and about how it relates to what’s going on in the world.” That’s because it was written mostly, I mean, 80 percent of it was started before 2016, but most of it was written in the early part of 2016, and now, as I think you’d agree, the world is a different place.
He went on to say how The Joshua Tree is much more a record for the times as it was originally conceived and recorded during the Reagan-Thatcher era. He also said that the time for the tour will let them reevaluate their new music. “So we said look, “Look, let’s do both. We can really celebrate this album, which is really born again in this context, and we can also really get a chance to think about these songs and make sure they’re really what we want to put out.”
