'We knew there was something special there,' recalled Larry. 'We felt we'd finished the songs and done as much on the album as we could possibly do.'
Opening with Sunday Bloody Sunday and closing with "40", it was, said Bono at the time, 'A slap in the face against the snap, crackle and pop'.
'War', the band's third studio album, was released in February 1983. It was U2 at their most rhythmic said Adrian Thrills in the NME. 'Their sound is rooted in drummer Larry Mullen's shuddering tub-thumping and bassist Adam Clayton's bewildering percussive patterns. Guitarist the Edge is less dominant than before, the traditional solos of the axe hero superceded by intuitive excursions in tonality and harmonics that put an eerie veneer over the rock solid foundations.'
J D Considine in Rolling Stone concluded that the songs 'stand up against anything on The Clash's London Calling in terms of sheer impact, and the fact that U2 can sweep the listener up in the same sort of enthusiastic romanticism that fuels the band's grand gestures is an impressive feat.'
Tracks like New Year's Day and Sunday Bloody Sunday came to define the band's sound for millions and remain live standards today... but can you remember the second single release, Two Hearts Beat As One, performed in this clip on a TV show deep in the heart of the 1980's?
What is it you love about War? Was it a beginning or an ending for U2? How would you recommend the album to a teenage or twenty-something fan who wasn't born when it came out? Complete the following sentence:
'If you like War by U2 you'll also like...'Add your comments below.
If you can do clever and profound along with concise, post your review of War in less than 140 characters. We'll retweet the best from our @u2com twitter account. #U2WAR30
@u2fanlife New Year's Day + Sunday Bloody Sunday = #U2War The best phrase. Bono: "No more! No More!" #U2WAR30
@maxtsukino And they're doing the atomic bomb / Do they know where the dance comes from? #U2WAR30
@danicr1 It has something special. Something that can't be explained. Rage. Non-conformism. Love. It was an ending and a beginning for U2. #U2WAR30
Subscribers Special
There were records released in 1983 that would become iconic by the decade's end such as Synchronicity (The Police), and Murmur (R.E.M.), as well as solid releases from Duran Duran, The Cure, The Eurythmics, Madonna, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Billy Idol, and Culture Club that would birth some of the most beloved singles of that huge shoulder pad and large-framed glasses era. Of course, many of those same songs would now be regarded by some as vapid epic cheese. Alas...
For their part, U2 released their distinctive third album in 1983. Coming off the commercial, and somewhat artistic, disappointment that was October (1981), U2 were still hungry for the chart-topper and to live up to the promise so brilliantly displayed in their debut album, Boy (1980). The early 1980s marked the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the U.S. intervention in Lebanon, the Falklands Islands crisis, the actions against the Solidarity movement in Poland, and, of course, the ongoing "Troubles" in Northern Ireland with the corresponding IRA bombings in the U.K.
Looking out at the world U2 replied with War. Bono was quoted in Hot Press Magazine as saying "We wanted an album that would separate us from our contemporaries". And yet, although written with an anti-pop sentiment the album would ultimately be propelled by two massive pop-rock hits in "New Year's Day" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday". Of course, these songs were not the bubblegum pop of many of their peers. They were pop, for sure, but with a solid progressive rock core.
War is, in my opinion, an album with two epic songs ("Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day"), one really great song ("Two Hearts Beat as One") and another gem ("Drowning Man") that deserved far, far more attention than it ever received. And all U2 fans adore "40", although that is primarily concert-related, as it was the closing song for their live shows for many years. Outside of the live context "40" has nowhere near the same power, as any U2 concert bootlegger can attest, if they are being honest.
For all of its power and bombast, I never listen to War front-to-back. It certainly has a very strong A-side but it also has a rather weak B-side. "The Refugee" and "Red Light" are almost painful to hear. "Surrender" begins with promise only to be ruined by corny back-up singers and a cowbell. To my taste their oft-maligned "Christian rock" sophomore album October is a superior listening experience. Indeed, "40" sounds like a holdover from the October recording sessions.
Not to take anything away from War, its place among the albums of 1983, and its important role as a milestone in U2's development. It was an important arrival for the band but also an end-point. After the welcome release of the live mini-album Under a Blood Red Sky later in 1983, which featured songs from the War tour, U2 went away and began sowing the seeds for U2 Version 2.0. That evolution would, of course, result in The Unforgettable Fire (1984). But that's another story;