Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

I just saw on my Yahoo homepage that U2's The Joshua Tree turned 20 today. Sheesh, I feel old! I can't believe that it has been 2 decades since that album came out. I was younger than the number of years that have elapsed since it's release-to put it in perspective. And yes, you read right, I first got it on album, LP, you know the big vinyl disk that can be played on 33 1/3 speed on a phonograph (which can be characterized as antique). At least it wasn't 8 Track. I had experienced those, but mostly because my Dad was too lazy to return his rejects to Columbia House. That's how I acquired Kiss Alive II, I really don't think my Dad was too much of a fan of them. We had Rumors on 8 Track and my all time fave-Pure Power which was K-Tel compilation that included such gems as Dream Weaver, Hard Luck Woman, and the Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To?)

Anyway, I clearly remember when The Joshua Tree came out and buying it after school at the local record store and sitting in my room listening to it fresh out of the wrapper. All those interesting pictures of the desert and the Joshua Trees to peruse on the inside sleeve. The spinning, spinning, spinning of that disk that brought light and truth into my adolescent existence. It would be an understatement to say that I was a huge U2 fan back in the day. Ever since I saw them on Night Flight during a babysitting job singing Sunday, Bloody Sunday at Red Rocks I was won over and had to get my hands on every release, The Unforgettable Fire, Boy, October, War, the live Under a Blood Red Sky. These were my staples and I think I had most of these on cassette tape, except for the Unforgettable Fire which was in album form in my collection.

The culmination of my obsession with this Irish band was when the very first time I met my husband and we argued over who was better-U2 or The Beatles. You can guess what side of the argument I was on. (Disclaimer: I was so naive back then) Not that I'm denying my affection for U2, but I now realize U2 would not have been able to do what they did if not for what the Beatles did so many years before, which again to put into perspective the same amount of time had elapsed from when the Beatles put out The White Album and my husband and I engaged in our first argument as have elapsed since the Joshua Tree was released and now. It seemed like an eternity had passed when I thought about the artists from the late 1960's that I enjoyed during my college days. I wondered what it had been like to bring home a copy of Sgt. Peppers when first released and listening to it for the first time ever. Little did I know at that time that there would someday be people who thought the same thing about The Joshua Tree.

It reminds me of how time keeps marching on and the only way we can fathom the passing of time is by referencing the memories we hold onto. I have to remind myself when I think wistfully of what seems like a simpler time in my life that one day I'm going to look back on this time in my life and think the same thing. I guess I'm just looking for some way to help make the passage of time not so depressing and bearable. So after climbing every mountain and scaling each city wall, I can't say that I have found what I'm looking for either. But I think I'm getting closer....