I opted for a packet of seeds which grew okay I have a small Joshua tree growing in my UK garden! Also the park stocks some nice souvenirs including patches, posters, postcards and the BBC television documentary 'Desert Song' which features U2's ‘The Joshua Tree’ music as it's soundtrack. The Joshua Tree National Park (where U2's Joshua tree isn't) was well worth a visit, nice friendly coyotes there. But take plenty of water with you or you'll end up seeing Jim Morrison and Bono walking over the dunes and end up as vulture snacks. You can reach the exact spot of the album cover, just over the wall of the viewing site.

The band picture on the rear sleeve of 'With or Without You' was also taken here, I believe the cover shot from 'With or Without You’, judging by the desert ground, looked like it was photographed near the famous tree.įrom there we visited Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, where ‘The Joshua Tree’ album cover was shot in 1986. This funky cactus got its name from the early settlers who thought it looked like the prophet Joshua pointing to the Promised Land.ĭuring our road trip we passed through Death Valley Junction where the imagery used on the U2 import singles 'In God’s Country' 'One Tree Hill' sleeve photograph of a crouching Bono was taken. ‘The Joshua Tree’ was released in March 1987 and the LP had two working titles: 'Desert Songs' and 'The Two Americas', however, U2 decided on the title ‘The Joshua Tree’ on introduction to the gnarled cactus by Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn. To see in the 21st Century we went on a musical journey of some of America’s heartland visiting some vintage U2 destinations immortalised during the eighties classic album ‘The Joshua Tree’. In 1987 when I first opened up ‘The Joshua Tree’ album, I was spell bound by Anton Corbijn's photos of the desert and particularly the tree and decided to visit there one day. I don't know if anyone will ever find that Joshua tree again - I hope that if people do find the Joshua tree they won't cut it down and take it home and stick it to the wall - or bring it to a gig!! ('Hey Baaano! I got yer tree!')' Bono 01/01/87 U2 World Service Propaganda magazine. We then drove off, and I don't know if we'll ever find that Joshua tree again. 'When we took the photographs, we thought it was a very powerful visual graphic image.

U2 the joshua tree lp no barcode 1987