Wednesday 27 February 2013

Wartime: 30 Years To U2's "War"


When War, the third  studio album of the Irish band U2 was released 30 years ago, on 28 February, it was different world then we know now. There was still the Cold War between USA and USSR, Ronald Reagan (40th president of US) and Margaret Tatcher (UK Prime-Minister) accelerated the privatisation of the public sector, leaving a minimal welfare state and you called still hear the bombs exploding in Northern Ireland's streets while the struggle between Unionists and Protestants seems far away from its end. In a world which war was a defining moment, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. made an album which was a prayer for a peaceful world. Although it may sound too old these days, hearing Sunday Bloody Sunday (Which was written about Bloody Sunday riots in Derry, 1972), New Year's Day (Which was reshaped by the Polish Solidarity Movement, Solidarnosc) and even beautiful 40, can make you think about war and its victims. For the 30 year anniversary of that Politically oriented album, here are five songs which are relevant even today. 

Sunday Bloody Sunday
 
Like A Song
 
Drowning Man
 
New Year's Day
40

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