Songoftheday 4/10/16 - Lover I'm on the street, gonna go where the bright lights and the big city meet...

"Desire" - U2
from the album Rattle and Hum (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's song of the day comes from the Irish rock band U2, whose fifth studio album The Joshua Tree converted them into worldwide superstars, scoring back to back #1 pop hits in America with "With Or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" in the process. The following tour supporting the album provided the material used for their documentary-style film/album project Rattle and Hum, which came out the following year. With interviews, concert footage, and special guests like B.B. King and Bob Dylan, the actual film didn't ignite the box office as much as hoped, the soundtrack accompanying it became their second #1 album, selling over five million copies in America. The first single from the set, "Desire", was a blues-rock stomper than harkened back to the period before rock fully took shape.

"Desire" became U2's third top ten hit in the U.S. in November of 1988. The record topped both the Mainstream and Modern Rock radio charts in Billboard magazine. The extended "Hollywood" remix also made it to #37 on their Dance Club Play list. Internationally, "Desire" went to #1 in Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, the UK, and their native Ireland. Back here, the song went on to win the Grammy for Rock Group/Duo Vocal performance the following year.

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Here's the band performing the song (along with random shots) in 1989 in Australia...

...and again with a more electrofied take in New York on 1992's ZooTV show...

...and lastly, back home at Slane Castle in Ireland in 2001...

Up tomorrrow: An ex-pat soulster asks a sibling to shimmy.