It’s a Musical Journey?

(originally written Feb. 27, 2001; now updated and expanded)

U2 became the biggest rock band in the world in 1987. After years of critical success for their musical social commentary, Dublin’s fab four topped the Billboard charts thanks to The Joshua Tree and its hit singles ‘With or Without You’, ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’, and ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’. Both fans and critics alike ate the album up, it went on to be a big winner at the Grammys, and was just recently named the greatest rock album of all time.

While still on the heels of The Joshua Tree’s success, the band released their own theatrical rockumentary in 1988. Following U2 from the recording studios of Dublin, to the streets of Harlem, to Elvis’ home at Graceland, to their hugely successful stadium tour – Rattle and Hum gives a rare introspective look at one of the biggest rock bands of the modern era.

Releasing the film to theaters may not have been the wisest move (the movie bombed at the box office), and many may argue that it was simply the band exercising their massive egos. I personally don’t believe that’s the case but I would agree that the film does leave something to be desired. For all its artistic camera work, introspective interviews, and engrossing concert footage – it doesn’t have enough depth to it and has a running time of only 90 minutes.

What’s lacking? Well, for one, how did these men come to form the band? How did their classic songs come to be written? A back-story would definitely add some appeal to the film – at least to those who aren’t familiar with U2. Without including any history of the band (anything pre-1987), I don’t believe non-fans will find much reason to become fans simply by watching this film.

What’s good about the film? Plenty. It accurately depicts the draining and emotional on-stage performances of the band, includes the debut of many of their better songs from this era, shows that the band is constantly experimenting with new styles, and the directing and editing is fabulous for a film of this genre. The vast majority of the film is shot in black and white, giving off a very artistic feel.

Starting with an on-stage performance of the Beatles’ classic ‘Helter Skelter’, the film continues by catching the band in the studios in Dublin where they explain why this film was being made while at the same time making it clear that they don’t take themselves all that seriously.

The film continues as the band collaborates with a Harlem church choir on ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’. Although the version released on The Joshua Tree was much more pop than gospel, this version fuses the two styles together – Bono’s soulful voice leading the way for the choir and the rhythmic clapping.

U2 soon visits the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis to record ‘Angel of Harlem’. With portraits of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis behind them, two men that helped put Sun Studios on the map, the band performs a song vastly different from anything else they’ve previously done. Incorporating horns and a blues / Motown edge, the track combines the Memphis rock of the 50s and 60s with thoughtful pop rock lyrics of the late 80s.

One of the highlights of the film is the meeting and collaboration between the band and legendary blues singer B. B. King. The film includes their performance in Ft. Worth, TX of ‘When Love Comes to Town’, as well as a little conversation and jamming before that night’s show. Much like their other blues track ‘Angel of Harlem’, this song showed that the band is much more than a simple rock band. Bono’s ‘heavy lyrics’ (as B. B. referred to them as) sound like something King may have written himself.

Graceland serves as the next step in the band’s journey across America. With the somber ‘Heartland’ playing in the background, the foursome gets a tour of Elvis’ famous home. Larry Mullen Jr., the biggest Elvis fan of the four, gives his thoughts on relating to The King’s movie roles as a younger man as well as how he put Elvis on such a high pedestal in his mind.

The standout concert performance of the film takes place at Arizona State University’s Sun Devil Stadium on a mild December day in 1987 as a capacity crowd (more than 70,000) watches on in awe. Beginning with the marathon ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ and soon following with ‘With or Without You’, ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, and ‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’, the foursome holds the enormous crowd in the palm of their hands for the last half hour of the film while helicopters fly overhead to scan the size of the turnout. This is the first sign of color in the film and it really draws more importance and power to the performance. Being that I spent my first two years of college at ASU and Sun Devil Stadium was across the street from my dorm, my opinion may be biased but this is my favorite section of the film.

In addition to the footage listed above, the film includes a total of 25 performances in the recording studio and on stage, 11 of which are not available on the CD soundtrack.

1) Helter Skelter
2) Van Diemen’s Land
3) Desire
4) Exit
5) Gloria
6) I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
7) Freedom for My People
8) Silver and Gold
9) Angel of Harlem
10) All Along the Watchtower
11) In God’s Country
12) When Love Comes to Town
13) Heartland
14) Bad
15) Ruby Tuesday
16) Sympathy for the Devil
17) Where the Streets Have No Name
18) MLK
19) With or Without You
20) The Star-Spangled Banner
21) Bullet the Blue Sky
22) Running to Stand Still
23) Sunday Bloody Sunday
24) Pride (In the Name of Love)
25) All I Want is You

Overall: Is this worth watching? Definitely, but it’s hard to refer to the film as a documentary because the performances far outweigh the thought-provoking comments from the band about music, the film, or their experiences.

I would very much recommend this to U2 fans but I’m not sure if non-fans would be turned on to the band simply by watching this. I could be wrong, after all most U2 fans became interested in the band not from their political or personal views but for their music. And if it’s music you want, there is plenty to go around.

This was more or less a swan song to The Joshua Tree era of the band. Following Rattle and Hum U2 would not release another album until the later part of 1991. It would see the dawning of a new era as Achtung Baby would incorporate cutting edge electronica to the captivating song writing of Bono and The Edge. While the coming albums had more than a few highlights, they set the band on a course of style over substance that would continue for the rest of the 90s. It would not be until 2000’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind that the band stripped away the costumes, stage props, and elaborate stage shows and went back to the bare rock and roll that is seen on this film.