10 Rock Music Songs That You Didn't Know Were About Drugs
6. Running to a Stand Still - U2
Songs about how much you're grappling with addiction isn't really something that fits within the realm of U2. Though they have mixed it up time and time again on almost every album, these Irish lads make songs that feel like you're able to take on the world instead of focusing on your inner self. Right in the middle of the Joshua Tree though, Bono took a bit of a dark turn on Running to a Stand Still.
Right off the bat, this is already a much darker feel than the rest of the record, opening with a quiet piano touch and Bono being more intimate in his vocal performance. Instead of the usual drug songs that we're used to though, Bono is looking at a friend who is fighting heroin addiction, and the problems that he's facing seeing them throw their life away.
From the way that the chorus rolls in, it almost sounds like a U2 version of a funeral dirge, as if Bono is sure that the story of his friend isn't going to have a happy ending. They may have been racing to work through their everyday struggles, but the needle just gave them a fast track to the end of their life. While we'll never run out of drug-fueled songs in rock and roll, this is the peek behind the curtain most of us need to hear. Because as hard as it is to spiral out due to drugs, it hurts the people you love just as much.