War (album)

War is a 1983 album from U2 (see 1983 in music), produced by Steve Lillywhite. It is their first overtly political album and often considered their first truly extraordinary one.

Related Topics:
1983 - U2 - 1983 in music - Steve Lillywhite

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The album opens with "Sunday Bloody Sunday", an ardent protest song and already a significant departure from the themes of innocence and spirituality displayed on the group's first two albums. The song introduces the album with a startling drum beat by Larry Mullen, Jr., a fuming solo by The Edge, and pointed couplets like: "And today the millions cry / We eat and drink while tomorrow they die."

Related Topics:
Larry Mullen, Jr. - The Edge

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Other songs concern topics such as nuclear proliferation and prostitution. The mood grows progressively more bleak as the album continues—despite some balance provided by songs such as "Two Hearts Beat As One", a simple love song (though often associated with the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland), and "New Year's Day", which works as both a political song and a love song—until climaxing with the coda of "Surrender" and finally "surrendering" to the hushed hymn "40".

Related Topics:
Nuclear proliferation - Prostitution - Ireland

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The sound is much more raw than that of the band's other albums, with the drums mixed prominently and the guitar treated relatively lightly, befitting the forceful lyrical matter of the songs.

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