On March 9, 1987, U2 released The Joshua Tree. The album quickly topped the charts in more than 20 countries and won the Grammy Award for album of the year. Rolling Stone proclaimed The Joshua Tree transformed the band “from heroes to superstars.”1
U2 sold more than 25 million copies of The Joshua Tree and the band is now known as one of the world’s best-selling music artists of all time. What did U2 get right that other bands didn’t? And what can we learn from U2’s success?
- U2 was in the right place at the right time. In 1978 U2 won a talent show in Limerick, which included the opportunity to record a demo tape for CBS Ireland -- their first big break. Luck of the Irish? Not exactly. Their success was preceded by two years of practice and late-night performances.
- U2 started with raw talent, honed their skills over time, and crafted a message that was meaningful and deeply personal. U2’s initial live performances were “unpolished,” their messages “unfocused,” their voice “ambient and abstract.”2 With The Joshua Tree the band had a clear vision and purpose: to draw parallels between the vast desert wasteland of the Western United States and “those on the fringes of the promised land, cut off from the American dream.”3 The band’s lead singer, Bono, also sought to contrast the “richness of spirit” he saw among poor Ethiopians with the “spoiled child of the Western world.” He remarked that “[The Ethiopians] may have a physical desert, but we’ve got other kinds of deserts”4 and explained, “I felt the time had come to write words that meant something, out of my experience.”5, 6
- U2 built a unique brand. U2’s brand is multi-dimensional: the artful combination of a distinctive sound, message and visual identify that work together to create a unique and engaging experience. U2’s album War, released in 1983, included the photography of Anton Corbijn, which greatly influenced and contributed to the band’s vision and public image.7
- They were willing to reinvent themselves. After the success of The Joshua Tree, U2 made a bold (and not entirely popular) shift in direction with the album Achtung Baby, in 1991. Their bet paid off that time. Later, in 1997, they made a similar bet with Pop—and lost. After failing to win over fans, U2 announced they were “reapplying for the job…[of] the best band in the world.”8 Bono explained, “It’s not enough to write a great lyric; it’s not enough to have a good idea or a great hook, lots of things have to come together and then you have to have the ability to discipline and screen.”9
What can we learn from the world’s best band? Quite a lot, I think.
- Success has little to do with serendipity. Being in the right place at the right time often means putting yourself there. Nurturing relationships can lead to a “big break” that can lead to your next big win.
- Talent is an important prerequisite to success, but it’s seldom enough to achieve a breakthrough performance. A clear message and the skill to deliver it are key. And when you draw on your personal experiences and insights, and actively seek opportunities to enhance your knowledge and world view, you can enrich the dialogue and value you deliver to your organization, your employees and your customers.
- Artful copy and design are powerful in their own right, but when you combine them, you unleash the true potential of the craft—the power to engage, educate, persuade and drive change.
When talking about the album The Unforgettable Fire, Bono said “We knew the world was ready to receive the heirs to The Who. All we had to do was keep doing what we were doing and we would become the biggest band since Led Zeppelin, without a doubt. But something just didn’t feel right. We felt we had more dimension than just the next big anything, we had something unique to offer.”10
You have something unique to offer, too. Get out there and make your mark.
Sources:
- Wikipedia: The Joshua Tree.
- Wikipedia: The Joshua Tree.
- Stokes (2005), p. 76.
- Rolling Stone (1994), pp. 68-69.
- Stokes, Niall: Graham, Bill (26 March 1987). “The World About Us.” Hot Press 11 (5).
- Here’s another great quote: “The wild beauty, cultural richness, spiritual vacancy and ferocious violence of America are explored to compelling effect in virtually every aspect of The Joshua Tree in the title and cover art, the blues and country borrowings evident in the music…Indeed, Bono says that ‘dismantling the mythology of America’ is an important part of The Joshua Tree’s artistic objective.” (Anthony DeCurtis as quoted in Rolling Stone (1994), pp. 68-69.
- Corbijn is also a lead photographer for Depeche Mode, another of my favorite bands.
- Tyrangiel, Josh (23 February 2002). “Bono’s Mission.” Time.
- Bono, commenting on the album Pop (McCormick (2006), p. 269.)
- McCormick (2006), p. 147.
