Where The Streets Have No Name - Legacy

Legacy

In 2002, Q magazine named "Where the Streets Have No Name" the 16th-"most exciting tune ever". The following year, Q ranked the song at number 459 in a special edition titled "1001 Best Songs Ever". Three years later, the magazine's readers voted the track the 43rd-greatest song in history. Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 28 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time." In a 2010 poll by fan site @U2, approximately 29% of 4,800 respondents named "Where the Streets Have No Name" as their favourite song from The Joshua Tree, ranking it as the most popular song from the album. In 2010, American sports network ESPN used the track, among other U2 songs, in commercials for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, with the South African Soweto Gospel Choir adding vocals to the song. The advertisement, titled "Robben Island", portrays South African political prisoners during the apartheid era forming a soccer team. There are plans to bring a recording of the Soweto-supported performance to retail. Composer John Mackey used the introductory guitar theme in his 2009 piece for wind ensemble, Aurora Awakes. The song's introduction is used by the Vancouver Canucks hockey team at the start each of their home games, when the players take to the ice. The Baltimore Ravens also use the song as they enter M&T Bank Stadium before home games. The Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball team uses this song in their entrance video before all home games at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. The song is also used by the Wisconsin Badgers football team for their entrance video at Camp Randall Stadium prior to all home games.