10 Perfect Albums That Changed Rock History

10. The Joshua Tree - U2

When you think of '80s music, you can pretty much paint a decent picture in your mind as to what it was like. Either you had the new wave rock on one side of the spectrum, and on the Sunset Strip there was the hair metal bands that were making an alpha male (and more than a little bit misogynistic) take on rock and roll. So out of that decade, how the hell did something like the Joshua Tree manage to shine above all the rest?

Looking at it these days, U2's masterpiece feels almost out of time, having none of the signature tropes that you would think of in the '80s. What it did have though was a ton of good ideas, with the Edge's guitar sound being copied for years on end, with some guitarists still trying to figure it out. As far as the lyrics go, this is also the moment where U2 became a band for the people, making songs that sound like they could be spiritual hymns depending on how you sing them.

The biggest strength though is for just how universal these songs are. Despite having some of the typical U2 tropes like the delayed guitar, this record is one of the few records that sound as modern today as it did back in 1987. It's not that we haven't come very far...it's just that these Irishmen were that forward-looking.