Name	The Joshua Tree
Type	studio
Artist	U2
Cover	The Joshua Tree.png
Alt	A landscape monochrome photograph of U2 in the desert sits in the center of a black background. U2 are standing on the left half of the photograph, with a mountain range on the right half. Tiny gold text reading "THE JOSHUA TREE U2" is stretched across the top of the black background.
Released
Recorded	January 1986 – January 1987 in Ireland
Genre	Rock
Length
Label	Island
Producer	Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno
Last album	The Unforgettable Fire(1984)
This album	The Joshua Tree(1987)
Next album	Rattle and Hum(1988)
Name	The Joshua Tree
Type	studio
Single 1	With or Without You
Single 1 date	March 1987
Single 2	I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Single 2 date	May 1987
Single 3	Where the Streets Have No Name
Single 3 date	August 1987
Single 4	In God's Country
Single 4 date	November 1987 (North America only)
Single 5	One Tree Hill
Single 5 date	March 1988 (Australia and New Zealand only)

}} The Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release The Unforgettable Fire, U2 aimed for a harder-hitting sound on The Joshua Tree that used the limitation of strict song structures. The album incorporates influences from American and Irish roots music into the band's sound. Thematically, it depicts their love-hate relationship with the United States, with socially- and politically-conscious lyrics embellished with spiritual imagery.

Inspired by American tour experiences, literature, and politics, U2 settled on America as a theme for the record. Recording began in January 1986 in Ireland, and to foster a relaxed, creative atmosphere, the group recorded in two houses, in addition to two professional studios. Several events during the sessions helped shape the conscious tone of the album, including the band's participation in A Conspiracy of Hope tour, the death of roadie Greg Carroll, and lead vocalist Bono's travels to Central America. Recording was completed in November and additional production continued into January 1987. Throughout the sessions, U2 sought a "cinematic" quality for the record that would evoke a sense of location, in particular, the open spaces of America. They represented this in the sleeve's photographs depicting them in American desert landscapes and with a lone Yucca brevifolia plant ("Joshua tree").

The album received critical acclaim, topped the charts in over 20 countries, and sold in record-breaking numbers. According to Rolling Stone, the album increased the band's stature "from heroes to superstars". It produced the hit singles "With or Without You", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", and "Where the Streets Have No Name". The album won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1988. The group supported the record with the successful Joshua Tree Tour. Frequently cited as one of the greatest albums in rock history, The Joshua Tree is one of the world's all-time best-selling albums, with over 25 million copies sold. In 2007, U2 released a 20th anniversary remastered edition of the record.

Background

Before The Joshua Tree, U2 had released four studio albums and were an internationally successful band, particularly as a live act having toured every year in the 1980s. The group's stature and the public's anticipation for a new album grew following their 1984 record, The Unforgettable Fire, their subsequent tour, and their participation in Live Aid in 1985. U2 began writing new material in mid-1985 following the Unforgettable Fire Tour.

In the first half of the 1980s, the band spent up to five months per year touring in the United States. Band manager Paul McGuinness recounted that The Joshua Tree subsequently originated from "the great romance" that the band had with the country. Lead vocalist Bono read the works of American writers such as Norman Mailer, Flannery O'Connor, and Raymond Carver so as to understand, in the words of Hot Press editor Niall Stokes, "those on the fringes of the promised land, cut off from the American dream".

In 1985, Bono participated in Steven Van Zandt's anti-apartheid Sun City project and spent time with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. When Richards and Jagger played blues, Bono was embarrassed by his lack of familiarity with the genre, as most of U2's musical knowledge began with punk rock in their youth in the mid-1970s. Bono realised that U2 "had no tradition", and he felt as if they "were from outer space". This inspired him to write the blues-influenced song "Silver and Gold", which he recorded with Richards and Ronnie Wood. Nascent friendships with Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Richards encouraged U2 to look back to rock's roots and focused Bono on his skills as a songwriter and lyricist.

The band wanted to build on the textures of The Unforgettable Fire, but in contrast to that record's often out-of-focus experimentation, they sought a harder-hitting sound within the limitations of more strict song structures. Mark "Flood" Ellis was engineer for the sessions, marking the first time he worked with U2. The band was impressed by his work with Nick Cave, and Bono's friend Gavin Friday recommended Flood based on their work experiences together when Friday was a member of the Virgin Prunes. The band asked Flood for a sound that was "very open... ambient... with a real sense of space of the environment you were in", which he thought was a very unusual request at that time.

Intending to release an album in late 1986, U2 set up a studio in January of that year in Danesmoate House, a Georgian house in Rathfarnham in the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains. Their plan was to create atmosphere and inspiration there, much like their use of Slane Castle for The Unforgettable Fire sessions in 1984. While the band mainly recorded downstairs, their friends Guggi and Gavin Friday used the upstairs rooms to paint, and Bono regularly joined them on trips into Dublin to work with artist Charlie Whisker. A makeshift control room with tape machines, a mixing desk, and other outboard equipment was set up in the dining room, with the adjacent drawing room used for recording and performing. The large doors separating the rooms were replaced with a glass screen, and to maintain a relaxed "non-studio" atmosphere for the sessions, the control room was dubbed the "lyric room" and the recording space was called the "band room". The band found the house to have a very creative atmosphere. The large drawing room, with tall ceiling and wooden floors, created an "ear-splitting" drum sound that while difficult to work with, produced takes that ended up on the finished album.

U2 began with their usual method of sorting through tapes from soundcheck jams, working through Bono's lyric book, and recording jam sessions. One aspect of their recording methods, however, changed after The Unforgettable Fire sessions; rather than recording each instrument separately and layering them into the mix, for The Joshua Tree, U2 recorded all but two of the songs "live". U2's songwriting methods were also developing; not all material was being worked out in band sessions, rather Bono and The Edge often brought basic song ideas to the rest of the group. The band's musical vocabulary improved after their previous album, facilitating communication and collaboration with the production team. One of the first songs worked on was "Heartland", which originated during The Unforgettable Fire sessions and was later released on the band's 1988 album Rattle and Hum. Supplementary recording sessions at STS Studios in Dublin with producer Paul Barrett saw the development of "With or Without You" and the genesis of "Bullet the Blue Sky". The arrangements for "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" were written early in the Danesmoate sessions, giving the band the confidence to experiment.

U2 interrupted the sessions to join Amnesty International's A Conspiracy of Hope Tour in June 1986. Rather than distract the band, the tour added extra intensity and power to their new music and provided extra focus on what they wanted to say. In July, Bono travelled with his wife Ali to Nicaragua and El Salvador and saw firsthand the distress of peasants bullied by political conflicts and US military intervention, experiences which formed the basis of the lyrics for "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Mothers of the Disappeared".

(pictured in 2008).|alt=A three-storey stone-faced building. The first level is decorated with colorful graffiti.]] On 1 August 1986, U2 regrouped at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin to resume work on the album. Writing and recording continued for the rest of the year, with the band also using Danesmoate House and The Edge's newly-bought home, Melbeach. "Mothers of the Disappeared" and "Bullet the Blue Sky" were among the songs that the group made progress on at Melbeach. Lanois said "the bulk of the record was done at The Edge's house. Even though the Danesmoate sessions were the backbone of the tonality of the record—we got a lot of the drums done in there." In August, Robbie Robertson, the former guitarist and chief songwriter for The Band, visited Dublin to complete an album that Lanois was producing. Since Lanois was working with U2, Robertson recorded two tracks with the group that appear on his self-titled solo album.

A creative spurt in October resulted in new song ideas. However, they were shelved at Eno's suggestion lest the band miss the deadline for the album's completion. Recording for The Joshua Tree wrapped up in November 1986. Rough mixes had been created throughout the sessions after each song was recorded to, in Lanois' words, take "snapshots along the way ... because sometimes you go too far". The Edge explained that the arrangement and production of each song was approached individually and that while there was a strong uniform direction, they were prepared to "sacrifice some continuity to get the rewards of following each song to a conclusion". The final weeks were a frantic rush to finish, with the band and production crew all suffering exhaustion. Lanois and Pat McCarthy mixed songs at Melbeach on an AMEK 2500 mixing desk, where, without console automation, they needed three people to operate the console. Eno and Flood had minimal involvement with the final mixes. In late December, U2 hired Steve Lillywhite, producer of their first three albums, to remix the potential singles. His job was to make the songs more appealing to commercial radio, and his eleventh-hour presence and changes caused discontent among the production crew, including Eno and Lanois. Lillywhite's remixing was done on an SLL desk and extended into the new year.

Following the completion of the album proper, U2 returned to the studio in January 1987 to complete the new material they shelved in October. These tracks, which included "Walk to the Water", "Luminous Times (Hold Onto Love)", and "Spanish Eyes", were completed as B-sides for the planned singles. In 2007, a re-recorded version of the song, retitled "Wave of Sorrow (Birdland)", was included with the 20th anniversary edition of the album. Clayton bought Danesmoate House in 1987, and it remains his Dublin home. The group's sound on the album draws from American and Irish roots music more than previous albums, following the counsel and influence of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Keith Richards. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" has strong gospel influences, with Bono singing of spiritual doubt in an upper register and Eno, Lanois, and The Edge providing choir-like backing vocals. The slow piano-based ballad "Running to Stand Still" exhibits traits of folk music and acoustic blues in the track's slide acoustic guitar and harmonica. "Trip Through Your Wires", another song on which Bono plays harmonica, was described by Niall Stokes as a "bluesy romp". The riffs to "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "With or Without You" also prominently use delay, with Bono likening the guitar hook from the former track to "chrome bells". while Andrew Mueller said the guitar sounds from "Bullet the Blue Sky" resemble fighter planes. The Edge developed the harsh, feedback-charged guitar part for the latter song at the instruction of Bono who, angry after a visit to war-torn El Salvador, told him to "put [the country] through an amplifier". Bono attributes this maturation to "loosening up" and "discover[ing] other voices", and to employing more restraint in his singing. His vocals became, in the words of Thom Duffy, more "dynamic" than they had been on previous records. On "Where the Streets Have No Name", his voice varies greatly in its timbre (as writer Mark Butler describes, "he sighs; he moans; he grunts; he exhales audibly; he allows his voice to crack") and timing by his usage of rubato to slightly offset the sung notes from the beat. Thematically, the album juxtaposes antipathy towards the United States against the band's deep fascination with the country, its open spaces, freedoms, and ideals. Anger is directed particularly at the perceived greed of the Ronald Reagan administration and its foreign policy in Central America. The band wanted music with a sense of location and a "cinematic" quality, and the album consequently drew on imagery created by American writers whose works the band read. One track that chiefly represents these themes is "In God's Country", which critics interpreted as addressing America's role as the "promised land". | width = 27% | align = left | style = padding:8px; }} Political and social concerns were the basis for several tracks. Bono wrote the lyrics to "Bullet the Blue Sky" after visiting El Salvador and witnessing how US military intervention in the country's civil war hurt the local people. This trip also inspired "Mothers of the Disappeared", after Bono met members of COMADRES—the Mothers of the Disappeared—a group of women whose children were killed or "disappeared" at the hands of the government during the Salvadoran Civil War. The 1984 UK mining strike inspired the lyrics to "Red Hill Mining Town", which Bono wrote from the perspective of a couple affected by the strike. The story of a heroin-addicted couple was the basis for "Running to Stand Still", which Bono set in Dublin's Ballymun Flats. For "Where the Streets Have No Name", he wrote the lyrics in response to the idea that, in Belfast, a person's religion and income can be deduced based on the street they live on. "Exit" portrays a psychotic killer, which was reflected in the lyrics. His marriage was under strain, in part due to the album's long gestation period, the band were criticised by the Irish media for their involvement in the Self Aid event, and his personal assistant Greg Carroll was killed in a motorcycle accident in Dublin. "With or Without You" was written while he was struggling to reconcile his wanderlust as a musician with his domestic responsibilities. "One Tree Hill", named after a volcanic peak in Carroll's native New Zealand, describes how Bono felt at Carroll's funeral.

The group's religious faith was a source of inspiration for many lyrics. On "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", Bono affirms this faith but sings of spiritual doubt ("I believe in Kingdom Come"... "But I still haven't found what I'm looking for"). Several critics interpreted "With or Without You" in both romantic and spiritual manners. Thom Duffy interpreted the album as an exploration of the "uncertainty and pain of a spiritual pilgrimage through a bleak and harsh world".

Packaging and title

that was featured throughout the album artwork is located in the Mojave Desert.|alt=A tree with spiked limbs sprawling in several directions stands in a desert. A mountain range stands in the background]]

The album sleeve was designed by Steve Averill, and the band developed the idea for it from the record's "imagery, and cinematic location" in the desert. The initial concept for the sleeve was to represent where the desert met civilisation, and accordingly, one of the provisional titles for the album was The Desert Songs. He later recounted that the main idea of the shoot was to juxtapose "man and environment, the Irish in America". Bono consulted the Bible and was pleased to discover the religious significance of the plant's etymology. According to Mormon legend, early settlers referred to the Joshua tree as "the praying plant" and said that its branches represented the Old Testament prophet Joshua raising his hands in prayer. The following day, Bono declared that the album should be titled The Joshua Tree. That day, while driving on Route 190, they spotted a lone-standing tree in the desert, unusual since the plant is usually found in groups. Corbijn had been hoping to find a single tree, as he thought it would result in better photographs than if he shot the band amongst a group of trees. They stopped the bus and photographed with the lone plant for about 20 minutes, something The Edge called "fairly spontaneous". Despite shooting in the desert, the group dealt with cold weather. Bono explained, "it was freezing and we had to take our coats off so it would at least look like a desert. That's one of the reasons we look so grim."

Corbijn's original idea for the sleeve was to have a shot of the Joshua tree on the front, with the band in a continuation of the photograph on the back. Ultimately, separate photographs were used for each side of the sleeve; an image of the group at Zabriskie Point was placed on the front, while an image of them with the tree appears on the reverse side. In 1991, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 97 on its list of the "100 Greatest Album Covers of All Time". The Joshua Tree was released on 9 March 1987, the first new release to be made immediately available on the compact disc, vinyl record, and cassette tape formats on the same date. Record stores in Britain and Ireland opened at midnight to accommodate the large amount of fans who had queued outside to buy the album. On 21 March 1987, it debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number one, spending two weeks at the top position, and it remained on the chart for 163 weeks. 35 of them in the top 10. On 13 May 1987, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album triple Platinum. and Canada. Rolling Stone declared that the album increased the band's stature "from heroes to superstars". U2 became the fourth rock band to be featured on the cover of Time (following The Beatles, The Band, and The Who), who declared that U2 was "Rock's Hottest Ticket". The song topped the singles chart in Canada, while reaching number four in the UK and number two in the Netherlands. The group originally planned to use "Red Hill Mining Town" as the second single. The single peaked at number six in the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands. By May, sales of the album surpassed 7 million copies worldwide. number four on the UK Singles Chart, and number 13 in the US. The album's first three singles all topped the Irish Singles Charts, while charting within the top 20 of the singles charts in the UK, the US, Canada, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. "In God's Country" was released as a fourth single exclusively in North America in November 1987, "One Tree Hill" was released as a fourth single in Australia and New Zealand in March 1988, By the end of 1988, The Joshua Tree had sold more than 14 million copies worldwide. |rev2 = Chicago Sun-Times |rev2Score = |rev5 = New Zealand Herald |rev5Score = |rev6 = NME |rev6Score = (8/10) (2007) |rev8 = Rolling Stone |rev8Score = (2007) |rev10 = Uncut |rev10Score = (2007) }}

The Joshua Tree received almost universally positive album reviews, the best of U2's career to that point. Rolling Stone wrote, "For a band that's always specialized in inspirational, larger-than-life gestures—a band utterly determined to be Important—The Joshua Tree could be the big one, and that's precisely what it sounds like." Steve Morse of The Boston Globe echoed these sentiments in his review, stating, "It's another spiritual progress report, enwrapped in music that strikes a healthy balance between the lushness of their last album, 1984's The Unforgettable Fire, and the more volcanic rock of their early years." Morse called it "their most challenging work to date" and the "most rewarding rock record of the new year". Before The Joshua Tree, the band had been proportionally more successful as a live act than as a record-selling act. The album brought them to a new level of mega-stardom, and the tour sold out arenas and stadiums around the world—the first time they had consistently visited venues of that size—while playing to over 3 million people. Songs from the album became staples of the tour setlists, as the group regularly performed eight of the record's eleven tracks, and the only song not to be played was "Red Hill Mining Town".

Like their previous tours, The Joshua Tree Tour was a minimalistic, austere production that was highlighted by U2's earnestness, and they used this outlet for addressing political and social concerns. Throughout the tour, the band continued to explore American roots music: they collaborated with folk artist Bob Dylan, blues musician B. B. King, and Harlem's New Voices of Freedom gospel choir; the band also visited Graceland and Sun Studios in Memphis, where they recorded new material. These new songs and the group's experiences on tour were documented for the 1988 Rattle and Hum album and Phil Joanou-directed motion picture.

The tour grossed $40 million, but despite its commercial success and positive reviews, U2 were dissatisfied creatively, and Bono believed they were musically unprepared for their success. and for Bono the tour was "one of the worst times of [their] musical life". On the road, the group dealt with death threats, along with injuries that Bono sustained from performing. The band hinted that the stresses of touring led them to enjoy the "rock and roll lifestyle" they previously avoided.

Legacy

{{ Quote box | quote = "During the two decades that have elapsed since then, every move the band has made has been, in some way, a reaction to the legacy of The Joshua Tree. Rattle and Hum was an extension of the album, further exploring American music forms such as blues, gospel, and soul. Then, inevitably, U2 got tired of living in their own shadow, and both Achtung Baby and Zooropa chipped away at expectations of the band. When they finally realized there was no escaping their iconic status sealed by The Joshua Tree, U2 mocked it on Pop. By then, though, fans had grown weary of the band's experimentation, and U2 have spent their last two albums trying to recapture the radio-friendly sound of their 1987 opus." | source = —PopMatters, in 2007 In the UK, it is certified 6× Platinum, with an additional Silver certification for the 20th anniversary edition. In the Pacific, it is certified 5× Platinum and 14× Platinum in Australia and New Zealand, respectively.

The Joshua Tree is often cited as one of the greatest albums in rock history. In 1989, two years after its release, it was rated number three on Rolling Stones list of "The 100 Greatest Albums of the 80's". Various critics called them "po-faced", Author Bill Flanagan summarised the impact of The Joshua Tree on the group's career in his liner notes to the album's 20th anniversary release: "The Joshua Tree made U2 into international rock stars and established both a standard they would always have to live up to and an image they would forever try to live down."

20th anniversary edition

On 20 November 2007, a 20th anniversary edition of The Joshua Tree was released.

Personnel

;U2

Brian Eno – keyboards, DX7 programming, backing vocals

Daniel Lanois – tambourine, Omnichord, additional guitar, backing vocals

The Armin Family – strings (track 9)

The Arklow Silver Band – brass (track 6)

;Technical

Production – Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno

Recording – Flood

Additional engineering – Dave Meegan with Pat McCarthy

Mixing – Steve Lillywhite (tracks 1, 3, 4, and 6)

Mix engineering – Mark Wallis

Mix engineering assistance – Mary Kettle

Studio crew – Joe O'Herlihy, Des Broadberry, Tom Mullally, Tim Buckley, Marc Coleman, Mary Gough, Marion Smyth

Charts and certifications

Album {|class="wikitable" border="1" ! Chart ! Peak position ! Certification |- |Australian ARIA Albums Chart |align="center"|3 |align="center"|14× Platinum |}

The 20th anniversary edition was certified Silver.

Songs {|class="wikitable" !rowspan="2"| Year !rowspan="2"| Song !colspan="7"| Peak |- ! width="50"|IRE ! width="50"|NZ ! width="50"|UK ! width="50"|USby Hot Chocolate | title = UK number-one album | years = 21 March 1987 – 3 April 1987 | after = Now That's What I Call Music 9by various artists }}

Category:1987 albums Category:U2 albums Category:Grammy Award for Album of the Year Category:Albums produced by Brian Eno Category:Albums produced by Steve Lillywhite Category:Albums produced by Daniel Lanois Category:Island Records albums Category:English-language albums Category:Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab albums Category:Recording Industry Association of America Diamond Award albums Category:2007 video albums Category:Live video albums Category:2007 live albums Category:Documentary films about music Category:Island Records live albums Category:Island Records video albums

Name	The Streets
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Michael Geoffrey Skinner
Born	November 27, 1978
Origin	Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Instrument	Vocals, keyboards, guitar|
Genre	UK garage Electronica Hip-Hop
Years active	1994–present
Label	Locked On/679 Recordings (UK)Vice/Atlantic Records (US) (2000–2010) Warner Music (Worldwide)
Url

Michael Geoffrey "Mike" Skinner (born 27 November 1978), more commonly known by his stage name The Streets, is a British rapper, musician and record producer from Birmingham, United Kingdom. Skinner started making songs at the age of fifteen.

He has suffered from epilepsy since he was seven. He later stated in a blog that he was misquoted, and that the album would sound like the city of Berlin, not the album by Reed. He went on, saying that the album will be "ravey".

On 6 August 2008, Skinner stated on his MySpace blog that the title of the final Streets record will be Computers and Blues, and that it will likely not be released for at least two years. He has repeatedly stated that it will be the last Streets album, remarking that he is "fucking sick" of the name and connotations that come along with it. In a Beat Stevie episode where he describes the making of Everything Is Borrowed, Skinner says that the final Streets album will be "one more banger" and will be "dancing music to drink tea to".

The album will be released on 7 February 2011.

The first single from the album will be Going Through Hell, the music video for which is currently playing on music channels.

The album's artwork features student accommodation at University of East Anglia in Norwich.

Live line-up

The Streets regularly plays live, and has performed at several major festivals.

Up until recently his playing line-up was Mike Skinner, Leo the Lion singing backing vocals, Eddie "The Kid" playing keyboard, Johnny Drum Machine playing drums, and long-time friend Morgan Nicholls playing bass and guitar. Morgan has since left the band to focus on playing with rock band Muse, playing a variety of instruments as part of their live show.

His current live line-up consists of Kevin Mark Trail on backing vocals, Wayne Vibes on guitar and bass, Chris Brown on keyboards, Magic Mike on samplers and Johnny Drum Machine as drummer and musical director. Skinner has credited Johnny Drum Machine as the only other member of The Streets to have appeared on all the albums.

Performance trademarks include crowd controlling "Go Low" (the whole audience drops to the floor) and "Go Moses" (audience parts down the middle, Skinner runs to the back and crowd surfs back to the stage) with variable success.

Other projects

The Beats Recordings

In 2005, Mike Skinner and Ted Mayhem launched the independent record label The Beats Recordings. A subsidiary of 679 Recordings, The Beats was home to British hip hop acts such as The Mitchell Brothers, Example and Professor Green. The label closed in 2007.

Beat Stevie

An online channel currently presented by Mike and business partner Ted Mayhem, Beat Stevie is an "anything goes" blog/music show also shown on Channel 4 in their 4Music late night strand. The episodes often include backstage footage and onstage hijinks.

In one of the episodes, Mike and Ted get trained by pickup artist and dating coach 5.0 of Love Systems on how to approach and talk to women.

Acting

Skinner had a cameo role in the fifth series of Doctor Who as a security guard, featuring in the episode "The Time of Angels".

In December 2010, it was revealed that Skinner had had relationships with both Rachel Stevens and Cheryl Cole (then Tweedy) circa. 2004.

Promotional and campaign work

Skinner is an ardent fan of Reebok Classics shoes; he is often seen wearing a pair of white Workout Plus trainers, and has mentioned them in the lyrics for his song "Let's Push Things Forward", in which he raps, "Let's put on our Classics and have a little dance, shall we?". In 2005, he signed up to appear in a twelve-month ad campaign for Reebok's "I Am What I Am" campaign.

Discography

Original Pirate Material (2002)

A Grand Don't Come for Free (2004)

The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (2006)

Everything Is Borrowed (2008)

Computers and Blues (2011)

References

External links

Mike Skinner on Twitter

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:English male singers Category:English electronic music groups Category:Music from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:Grime artists Category:People with epilepsy Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:People from Barnet Category:UK garage musicians

Name	James Dean
Imagesize	220px
Caption	Dean in 1955
Birthname	James Byron Dean
Birth date	February 08, 1931
Birth place	Marion, Indiana, U.S.
Death date
Death place	Cholame, California, U.S.
Othername	Jimmy Dean
Occupation	Actor
Yearsactive	1951–1955

James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) was an American film actor.

Dean's career picked up and he performed in further episodes of such early 1950s television shows as Kraft Television Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents, Danger, and General Electric Theater. One early role, for the CBS series Omnibus in the episode "Glory in the Flower", saw Dean portraying the type of disaffected youth he would later immortalize in Rebel Without a Cause. (This summer 1953 program was also notable for featuring the song "Crazy Man, Crazy", one of the first dramatic TV programs to feature rock and roll.) Positive reviews for Dean's 1954 theatrical role as "Bachir", a pandering North African houseboy, in an adaptation of André Gide's book The Immoralist, led to calls from Hollywood.

Dean avoided the draft by registering as a homosexual, then classified by the US government as a mental disorder. When questioned about his orientation, he is reported to have said, "No, I am not a homosexual. But, I'm also not going to go through life with one hand tied behind my back." Turnupseed received a gashed forehead and bruised nose and was not cited by police for the accident. He was interviewed by the Tulare Advance-Register newspaper immediately following the crash, saying that he had not seen Dean's car approaching, but after that, refused to ever again speak publicly about the accident. He went on to own and operate an electrical contracting business and died of lung cancer in 1995. There have been several accounts of Dean's sexual relationships with both men and women.

William Bast, one of Dean's closest friends, was Dean's first biographer (1956). In this second book, Bast describes the difficult circumstances of their involvement and also deals frankly with some of Dean's other reported homosexual relationships, notably the actor's friendship with Rogers Brackett, the influential producer of radio dramas who encouraged Dean in his career and provided him with useful professional contacts. and other Dean biographers. The first exhibit from the CHP featuring the car ended unsuccessfully, as the garage storing the Spyder went up in flames, destroying everything except the car itself, which suffered almost no damage whatsoever from the fire. The second display, at a Sacramento high school, ended when the car fell, breaking a student's hip. "Little Bastard" caused problems while being transported several times. On the way to Salinas, the truck containing the vehicle lost control, causing the driver to fall out, only to be crushed by the Porsche after it fell off the back. On two separate occasions, once on a freeway and again in Oregon, the car came off other trucks, although no injuries were reported, another vehicle's windshield was shattered in Oregon. Its last use in a CHP exhibit was in 1959. In 1960, when being returned to George Barris in Los Angeles, California, the car mysteriously vanished. It has not been seen since.Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Foreign ActorJussi Award for Best Foreign Actor |- | Rebel Without a Cause | Jim Stark |Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor |- | 1956 | Giant | Jett Rink |Golden Globe Special Achievement Award for Best Dramatic ActorNominated – Academy Award for Best Actor |}

Stage

Broadway

See the Jaguar, (1952)

The Immoralist (1954) – based on the book by André Gide

Off-Broadway

The Metamorphosis (1952) – based on the novella by Franz Kafka

The Scarecrow (1954)

Women of Trachis (1954) – translation by Ezra Pound

La Légende de Jimmy (1990) – Musical by Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon

Television

Father Peyton's Family Theater, "Hill Number One" (Easter Sunday, April 1, 1951)

The Web, "Sleeping Dogs" (February 20, 1952)

Studio One, "Ten Thousand Horses Singing" (March 3, 1952)

Lux Video Theatre, "The Foggy, Foggy Dew" (March 17, 1952)

Kraft Television Theatre, "Prologue to Glory" (May 21, 1952)

Studio One, "Abraham Lincoln" (May 26, 1952)

Hallmark Hall of Fame, "Forgotten Children" (June 2, 1952)

The Kate Smith Show, "Hounds of Heaven" (January 15, 1953)

Treasury Men In Action, "The Case of the Watchful Dog" (January 29, 1953)

You Are There, "The Capture of Jesse James" (February 8, 1953)

Danger, "No Room" (April 14, 1953)

Treasury Men In Action, "The Case of the Sawed-Off Shotgun" (April 16, 1953)

Tales of Tomorrow, "The Evil Within" (May 1, 1953)

Campbell Soundstage, "Something For An Empty Briefcase" (July 17, 1953)

Studio One Summer Theater, "Sentence of Death" (August 17, 1953)

Danger, "Death Is My Neighbor" (August 25, 1953)

The Big Story, "Rex Newman, Reporter for the Globe and News" (September 11, 1953)

Omnibus, "Glory In Flower" (October 4, 1953)

Kraft Television Theatre, "Keep Our Honor Bright" (October 14, 1953)

Campbell Soundstage, "Life Sentence" (October 16, 1953)

Kraft Television Theatre, "A Long Time Till Dawn" (November 11, 1953)

Armstrong Circle Theater, "The Bells of Cockaigne" (November 17, 1953)

Robert Montgomery Presents the Johnson's Wax Program, Harvest (November 23, 1953)

Danger, "The Little Women" (March 30, 1954)

Philco TV Playhouse, "Run Like A Thief" (September 5, 1954)

Danger, "Padlocks" (November 9, 1954)

General Electric Theater, "I'm A Fool" (November 14, 1954)

General Electric Theater, "The Dark, Dark Hour" (December 12, 1954)

The United States Steel Hour, "The Thief" (January 4, 1955)

Lux Video Theatre, "The Life of Emile Zola" (March 10, 1955) – appeared in a promotional interview for East of Eden shown after the program aired

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, "The Unlighted Road" (May 6, 1955)

Biographical films

James Dean: Portrait of a Friend aka James Dean (1976) James Dean – Outside the Lines (2002), episode of Biography, US television documentary includes interviews with Rod Steiger, William Bast, and Martin Landau (2002).

References

Further reading

Alexander, Paul: Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Life, Times, and Legend of James Dean . Viking, 1994. ISBN 0670849510

Bast, William : James Dean: A Biography. Ballantine Books, 1956.

Bast, William : Surviving James Dean. Barricade Books, 2006. ISBN 1-56980-298-X

Dalton, David : James Dean-The Mutant King: A Biography. Chicago Review Press, 2001. ISBN 1-55652-398-X

Frascella, Lawrence and Weisel, Al : Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause. Touchstone, 2005. ISBN 0-7432-6082-1

Gilmore, John : Live Fast-Die Young: Remembering the Short Life of James Dean. Thunder's Mouth Press, 1998. ISBN 1-56025-169-7

Gilmore, John: The Real James Dean. Pyramid Books, 1975. ISBN 0-515-03814-8

Holley, Val: James Dean: The Biography. St. Martin's Griffin, 1996. ISBN 0-312-15156-X

Howell, John: James Dean: A Biography. Plexus Publishing, 1997. Second Revised Edition. ISBN 0859652432

Hyams, Joe; Hyams, Jay: James Dean: Little Boy Lost. Time Warner Publishing, 1992. ISBN 0446516430

Martinetti, Ronald: The James Dean Story, Pinnacle Books, 1975. ISBN 0-523-00633-0

Morrissey: James Dean Is Not Dead. Babylon books, 1983. ISBN 0907188060

Perry, George: James Dean. DK Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-4053-0525-8

Sheridan, Liz: Dizzy & Jimmy: My Life With James Dean : A Love Story. HarperCollins Canada / Harper Trade, 2000. ISBN 0-06-039383-1

Spoto, Donald: Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean. Harpercollins, 1996. ISBN 0-06-017656-3

External links

AMC's James Dean Photo Gallery: Living Fast and Dying Young

James Dean.com link to "Official" CMG James Dean website

10 James Dean Essentials: Photo Essay on AMCtv.com

Mad about the boy on the Guardian Unlimited.

James Dean Gallery site

, includes photos of Dean's Tombstone.

James Dean at American Legends.

JamesDeanArchives.com

William Bast, Dean's biographer.

The Stuff of Legend: James Dean's Final Ride (Documentary)

Category:1931 births Category:1955 deaths Category:Actors from Indiana Category:Actors Studio alumni Category:American film actors Category:American Quakers Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Bisexual actors Category:LGBT people from the United States Category:People from Marion, Indiana Category:Road accident deaths in California Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni

Name	Jake Shimabukuro
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	November 03, 1976
Instrument	Ukulele
Genre	jazz, blues, funk, classical, bluegrass, folk, flamenco and rock
Years active	1998–present
Associated acts	Pure Heart
Url	www.jakeshimabukuro.com

Jake Shimabukuro (born November 3, 1976 in Honolulu, Hawaii) is a ukulele virtuoso known for his complex finger work.

External links

Official website

YouTube clip of live collaboration with beatboxer Jason Tom

Jake in Concert on midnight ukulele disco

Jake Shimabukuro collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive

Interview with Jake Shimabukuro 2009

2006 Shimabukuro Interview from Modern Guitars Magazine

2006 Shimabukuro Interview on NPR

2006 Shimabukuro Interview from AsiaXpress.com

A biography and listing of Shimabukuro's albums from Sony Music Entertainment Japan

- Photos from live show

Jake Shimabukuro featured at the Waikiki Shell, Hawaii Romance Festival, May 2008

Jake Shimabukuro feature by the Pacific Citizen newspaper, Oct. 2009

Interview with Jake Shimabukuro

Category:Musicians from Hawaii Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:American people of Japanese descent Category:American people of Okinawan descent Category:American musicians of Japanese descent Category:Ukulele players