The Greatest Song

When I was a young man, I heard a song on the radio by a band with a funny name - U2. The song was "Where the Streets Have No Name" and I was hooked on their sound. It wasn't long before I had saved enough money to buy the album (cassette tape back then) "The Joshua Tree". When I heard the song "With or Without You" I thought it was the most powerful and emotional song I had ever heard. It touched me at a deeper level, maybe spiritual even. They had a sound that was unique (especially in the synth driven 80's). "The Joshua Tree" certainly wasn't their first album, but it was the first one I had listened to.

Next came the film "Rattle and Hum" which brought the band to the big screen. To me, they were bigger than life. I remember sitting in the theatre when the film transitioned from B&W to color (the Tempe, Arizona concert) and the bright red came up on the screen - it was the most glorious red I had ever seen, or so I thought. The images of those guys playing, especially Adam Clayton, the bassist, have stayed with me all this time. In fact, sometimes when I'm playing bass at church and it's a U2-style song, I imagine Adam in the shadows, playing that driving bass line with the cigarette hanging from his mouth and the smoke lingering above him. He was cool! I think I secretly wanted to be that persona.

At any rate, this video of "With or Without You" is fairly recent. It may not be the best performance Bono has ever given, but it still brings me back to those days in 1987, sitting in my bedroom with my headphones on, in all their stereophonic glory, being captured by the music, dreaming of one day being able to make music like that. Interestingly, near the end of this video, it becomes difficult to tell if it's a rock concert or a worship event. U2 has influenced the style of so many worship artists, that it's hard to not watch this and have a spiritual experience of sorts.

U2, the inventors of modern worship.