10 Legendary Songs That Almost Weren't Released

10. Where the Streets Have No Name - U2

Ever since breaking onto the rock scene with Boy back in the early '80s, U2 seemed to be inching closer and closer to the Joshua Tree. Across just one album, every single aspect of the band was firing on all cylinders, from Bono's voice reaching peak form to the Edge dialing in the perfect delay effects to make every song come alive. When it comes to making a first impression though, Where the Streets Have No Name was nearly disregarded entirely.

Working on the project with famed producer Brian Eno, most of the production hit a wall when no one could figure out how to start the opening arpeggio figure. After trying it with different drum accents that never saw the light of day, the Edge found it incredibly hard to keep time in between the massive amount of overlapping notes.

It eventually got to the point where Eno had every single part of the arrangement written on a chalkboard in the studio, which he came very close to erasing entirely out of pure frustration for not getting it right. Once they hit upon the regular 6/4 rhythm of the tune though, everything started to fall into place. Seeing how much love and care was put into this one song alone, it's no wonder that U2 wanted it as the definitive statement to open up their magnum opus.