U2 recorded the album from September–November 1982 at Windmill Lane Studios with Lillywhite producing, the group’s third consecutive album made at the studio with the producer. While the central themes of U2’s previous albums Boy and October were adolescence and spirituality, respectively, War focused on both the physical aspects of warfare, and the emotional after-effects. Musically, it is also harsher than the band’s previous releases. The album has been described as the record where the band “turned pacifism itself into a crusade.”
The sound of War is arguably harsher than that of the band’s other albums. A major reason for this is that the Edge uses far less delay and echo than in previous and subsequent works.
War opens with the protest song “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. The song describes the horror felt by an observer of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, specifically Bloody Sunday. Already a departure from the themes of innocence and spirituality displayed on the group’s first two albums, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” introduces the album with a startling, military-esque drum beat by Larry Mullen, Jr., a fuming solo by the Edge that segues into staccato bursts reminiscent of machine gun fire, and pointed lyrical couplets such as: “And today the millions cry / We eat and drink while tomorrow they die.” The album as a whole is more direct than the ambient October. Bono said in 1983,
A lot of the songs on our last album were quite abstract, but War is intentionally more direct, more specific. But you can still take the title on a lot of different levels. We’re not only interested in the physical aspects of war. The emotional effects are just as important, ‘the trenches dug within our hearts’. People have become numb to violence. Watching the television, it’s hard to tell the difference between fact and fiction. One minute you see something being shot on The Professionals, and the next you see someone falling through a window after being shot on the news. One is fiction and one is real life, but we’re becoming so used to the fiction that we become numb to the real thing. War could be the story of a broken home, a family at war.
“Sunday Bloody Sunday” is considered to be among the greatest political protest songs, and has remained a staple of U2’s live concerts in the years since.
“Seconds” is a song about nuclear proliferation, and the possibility that Armageddon could occur by an accident. The track contains a sample from the 1982 documentary Soldier Girls. The Edge sings the first two stanzas, making it one of the rare occasions on which he sings lead vocals.
In continuing the political motif of the album, “New Year’s Day” is about the Polish solidarity movement. In 2004, Rolling Stone placed it as the 435th greatest song of all time. The song remains a staple of the band’s live set, and is their third-most frequently performed song behind “I Will Follow” and “Pride (In the Name of Love)“.
“Like a Song…” was intended as a message to those who believed that the band was too worthy, sincere and not “punk” enough. Bono speculated that the song’s punk attitude would have made more sense in the 1950s and 1960s, as opposed to the “dressing up” of the genre in the early 1980s. “Like a Song…” was only played live once.
“Drowning Man” is the fifth track on the album. Its sound is a departure from the other tracks in War as it is a quiet, atmospheric song heavily influenced by the work of the Comsat Angels. It was never performed live, although there are also unconfirmed reports that it was performed at a concert in 1983.
Other songs concern topics such as prostitution (“Red Light”) and love (“Two Hearts Beat as One“).
In 2012, the album was ranked 223rd on Rolling Stone‘s list of “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time“.
U2
- Bono – lead vocals, guitar
- The Edge – guitar, piano, lap steel guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Seconds” (bass guitar on “40”; uncredited on the album)
- Adam Clayton – bass guitar (except “40”)
- Larry Mullen Jr. – drums and percussion
Additional personnel
- Kenny Fradley – trumpet on “Red Light”
- Steve Wickham – electric violin on “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “Drowning Man”
- The Coconuts: Cheryl Poirier, Adriana Kaegi, Taryn Hagey, Jessica Felton – backing vocals on “Like a Song…”, “Red Light”, and “Surrender”
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