Following are U2's acceptance speeches from the 1988 Grammy Awards, when they won for "Best Rock Performance By a Duo Or Group" and The Joshua Tree was named "Album Of The Year."  All four band members, and many others in the "organization," attended what was essentially U2's coronation as the biggest band in the world.  The Edge spoke first, accepting the award for "Duo or Group."  Bono spoke later when the band accepted for "Album of the Year."

The Edge:  "Well, uh, we seem to have lost our bass player.  He went to the loo a couple of minutes ago and he's still in the back. [laughter] [Edge sees Adam approaching.]  Oh, Adam, this way.  Here he comes.  I don't know about you, but I'm still recovering after Whitney Houston.   I have a bit of a list here I want to read out.  It's just a few people we thought we should thank.  Um, I've got to be careful of this list 'cause it's got the lad's votes and, uh, stuff on the back.  OK.  First I'd like to thank our lawyer and friend, Owen Epstein, who couldn't be with us tonight.  Thanks go to Paul McGuiness, our manager for the loan of yet another suit, our management team in New York and Dublin, Ellen and Anne Louise, Island Records, Atlantic Records and WEA, Frank Barcelona and Premier Talent, everybody in college radio... I don't know where we'd be without them.  I'd also like to thank Jack Healy and Amnesty International for all their work, Desmond Tutu for his courage, Martin Luther King. [occasional laughter during rest of Edge's "list"]  I'd like to thank Bob Dylan for "Tangled Up In Blue," Flannery O'Conner, Jimi Hendrix, Walt Disney, John the Baptist, Georgie Best, Gregory Peck, James T. Kirk, Morris Pratt, Dr. Ruth, Fawn Hall, Batman and Robin, Lucky the Dog, Pee Wee Herman, the YMCA, Eddie the Eagle, sumo wrestlers around the world, and, of course, Ronald Reagan.

Bono: "Well, this is all very Celtic.  We appreciate it.  It's actually hard carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders and saving the whale, and, uh, organizing summits between world leaders and that sort of thing. [laughter] But we enjoy our work. And it's hard when there's fifty million people or so watching not to take the opportunity to talk about things like South Africa and what's happening there and remarkable people like Bishop Tutu and what they have to put up with. [mild applause] But, tonight is maybe not the night for me to do that, so, uh, instead I'd like to talk about the music, as we set out to make music, soul music.  That's what U2 wanted to make.  It was soul music.  It's not about being black or white, or the instruments you play, or whether you use a drum machine or not.  It's a decision to reveal or conceal.  And without it, people like Prince would be nothing more than a brilliant song-and-dance man.  That he is, but he's much more than that.  People like Bruce Springsteen would be nothing more than a great storyteller.  But he's much more than that.  Without it, U2 would probably be getting better reviews in the Village Voice, but, um, that, that's a joke. [laughter]  Sometimes they don't understand.  Without it, U2 certainly wouldn't be here, and we are here, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than New York City tonight. [applause] Thank you.  And I'd also like to thank Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, without whom we couldn't have made that record.  Thank you very much."

source:  www.u2station.com/news/archives/1988