He called it The Joshua Tree, after the desert plants named by Mormon settlers after the Old Testament prophet Joshua because their stretching branches appeared to be raised in prayer. Later, during the cover art shoot with photographer Anton Corbijn in the Mojave Desert, Bono decided to rename the record. Struck by the contrast between these competing visions of the most powerful nation on earth, the fantasy and the brutal reality, Bono sketched out ideas for the next U2 album, which he tentatively titled The Two Americas. The couple were shot at and watched with horror as villages were burned by US-backed rebel groups. The following year, frontman Bono and his wife Ali Hewson travelled to El Salvador and Nicaragua where they witnessed firsthand the devastation wrought by American foreign policy. They filled their hearts and minds with the myth of America. As they drove, they read the works of Southern Gothic author Flannery O’Connor and macho journalist Norman Mailer. They travelled in tour buses borrowed from country stars, complete with decorative cow horns. An extensive tour in support of their fourth album, The Unforgettable Fire, took them not just to landmark shows at major venues like New York’s Madison Square Garden but also to the towns and cities spread across the American heartland.
In the spring of 1985, U2 fell in love with America.
Desert storm: (from left) The Edge, Bono, Larry Mullen Jr and Adam Clayton in Death Valley, 1986 (Anton Corbijn)
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