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Cover of The Joshua Tree by U2
Cover: The Joshua Tree

Song · U2

“Bullet the Blue Sky” by U2

From the album The Joshua Tree (1987)

“Bullet the Blue Sky” by U2 appears on 59 radio countdowns from 19 stations between 1987 and 2023. It was first released in 1987 on the album The Joshua Tree. Its best result is #16 on the 99.1 PLR U2 20. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #28 alternative song of 1987, #623 alternative song of all time and #217 of the '80s.

59countdowns
19stations
#16best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
1987–2023years charted

Watch

Bullet The Blue Sky (Remastered 2007)

Video from YouTube (U2 - Topic). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Bullet the Blue Sky" sits fourth on The Joshua Tree, U2's 1987 album, and it's the record's storm cell. The Irish band's singer, Bono, came home from a trip to Nicaragua and El Salvador furious at what he'd seen American military intervention do to the peasants there, and he asked the Edge to put El Salvador through an amplifier. The Edge did exactly that: his guitar shrieks, dive-bombs and howls like sirens over the town.

Adam Clayton's bass and Larry Mullen Jr.'s drums and percussion stomp out a heavy, menacing march, and Bono delivers his lyric with pure fury, adding harmonica to the mix. Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois produced it, and they're all over the track too: Eno on keyboard, Lanois on tambourine, omnichord and extra guitar, both of them singing backup with the Edge. Flood recorded it, and Steve Lillywhite and Mark Wallis mixed it.

It's one of the most openly political songs U2 ever made, and on stage it has often become a platform for them to take aim at war and violence wherever they see it.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

Classic Rock

Hard Rock & Metal

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1987 42 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1987 107
1987 35 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1987 91
1987 35 WLIR / WDRE Long Island, NY WLIR Top 100 Songs of 1987 99

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1988 369 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988) 496
1989 167 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) 495
1991 702 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) 1002
1992 257 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992) 500
1994 221 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994) 497
1994 824 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1994) 1000
1995 639 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1995) 1000
1996 182 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996) 500
1996 683 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1996) 1000
1998 329 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998) 488
1998 783 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1998) 1000
1999 439 91X 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) 500
1999 380 WFNX WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999) 500
1999 1857 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
1999 401 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) 1002
1999 594 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1999) 998
2000 1857 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 1864 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2001 410 WBRU WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001) 500
2002 246 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2002) 500
2002 1850 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 340 KISW KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) 999
2002 293 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 206 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2003) 500
2003 1824 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2003 371 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) 2044
2004 1824 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2005 198 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2005) 500
2005 1818 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2005 658 99X 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) 1000
2005 74 96.5 The Buzz 96.5 The Buzz Top 96 of the 70s & 80s 96
2007 443 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2008 437 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 443 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2010 428 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2011 423 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2011 668 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1100 Countdown (2011) 1100
2012 685 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1200 Countdown (2012) 1200
2013 425 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2013 319 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Grand Jam 1000 (2013) 1000
2013 422 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Firecracker 500 (2013) 500
2014 429 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2014 514 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX 1K Countdown (2014) 1000
2014 354 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Firecracker 400 (2014) 400
2015 241 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Firecracker 500 (2015) 499
2015 281 102.9 The Whale 102.9 The Whale Hartford 500 (2015) 500
2015 318 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Classic Rock Countdown (2015) 1007
2015 16 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR U2 20 20
2016 262 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Countdown for 2016 1007
2020 1656 WXPN WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time 2020
2021 376 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s 909
2021 877 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2021) 1043
2022 212 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR Big 500 (2022) 500
2022 839 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2022) 1043
2023 591 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s 850
2023 783 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2023) 1043

Also listed as: Bullet The Blue Sky.

Charting alongside it in 1987

Best songs of 1987 →
  1. 1Girlfriend in a ComaThe Smiths
  2. 2With or Without YouU2
  3. 3Dear GodXTC
  4. 4Why Can't I Be You?The Cure
  5. 5StrangeloveDepeche Mode
  6. 6Lips Like SugarEcho and the Bunnymen

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