Released in 1987, it made U2 one of the world’s biggest bands, thanks to anthems like With Or Without You and Where The Streets Have No Name.
Now, listeners to Radio 2’s Sounds of the 80s have chosen it as the decade’s best record, in a poll marking National Album Day on Saturday.
Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms came second, followed by The Stone Roses’ eponymous debut.
All but one of the top 20 are by male artists, with the exception being Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love – which lands at number 11.
Albums by Madonna, Janet Jackson, Tracy Chapman and Grace Jones feature further down the list.
Radio 2’s best albums of the 80s
| Artist | Title |
|---|---|
| 1) U2 | The Joshua Tree |
| 2) Dire Straits | Brothers In Arms |
| 3) The Stone Roses | The Stone Roses |
| 4) Michael Jackson | Thriller |
| 5) Guns N’ Roses | Appetite For Destruction |
| 6) The Human League | Dare |
| 7) The Smiths | The Queen Is Dead |
| 8) Paul Simon | Graceland |
| 9) ABC | Lexicon Of Love |
| 10) Prince | Purple Rain |
The Joshua Tree was almost called The Two Americas. Later, Desert Songs was another contender, before the band settled on The Joshua Tree – a title that perfectly captured the sacred/secular tension of U2’s landscaped songs and Biblical imagery.
Written against the backdrop of the Cold War, the album reflected two sides of the American dream, with the Irish band seduced by its glamour but repelled by what bassist Adam Clayton called “the bleakness and greed” of the Reagan era.