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"I look more like an artisan than an artist. I have these big hands and this pointed face. Where's the glamour in all that?" -- Bono |
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"I look more like an artisan than an artist. I have these big hands and this pointed face. Where's the glamour in all that?" -- Bono |
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25 Years of War
@U2,
February 26, 2008
In 1983, the Iran-Iraq war was in its third year, U.S. President Ronald Reagan launched a "Star Wars" program to intercept enemy missiles, and the youngest member of the Jackson 5 was dominating the music charts with his new album Thriller. There was no better time for U2 to declare War. While other artists were drenching their fans in sugar-sweet pop sounds in contrast to what the world was experiencing, U2 was brave (or naive) enough to go the opposite route with their third album. What resulted was a raw, honest set of tracks focusing on a variety of serious topics. Many would claim this was the album that took U2 from being a Christian punk band to a political rock band. Others would dismiss it as an arrogant display of pretension. Now 25 years later, we take a look back at what the critics were saying then, how the songs have (or haven't) sustained popularity over the years, and how War still affects us today. In Ireland, Hot Press magazine recognized the work as "a mixture of fear, courage and hope" in Liam Mackey's review. He also somewhat prophetically mentions the record "waving the white flag" a full four months before the Red Rocks footage of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" -- featuring Bono waving a white flag -- would become a popular image on MTV. In the U.S., People magazine disliked Bono's "sophomoric" lyrics and credited Edge for the band's progress on the album, while the now-defunct Sounds magazine in England thought there was "little meat" to it. In New Zealand, they had the opposite view, calling War a "classic." Perhaps the most thorough review came from the boys themselves in an exclusive NME interview the week of the album's release. The even-quotable-back-then Bono noted the difference in War compared to other hits of the early '80s: People are growing disillusioned with pap, with the wallpaper music and the gloss. It's as if someone has eaten too many Smarties over the last couple of years, and they're beginning to feel ill as they look at all the wrapping paper strewn around the room. While the ever-realistic Edge understood the risks of naming the album with such a prolific word: It's a heavy title. It's blunt. It's not something that's safe, so it could backfire. It's the sort of subject matter that people can really take a dislike to. But we wanted to take a more dangerous course, fly a bit closer to the wind, so I think the title is appropriate. And to lighten up the seriousness of the work, the frank Adam Clayton summed up his feelings of their accomplishments at the time by admitting he thought they were all "nutters" who were fortunate to have things "come out in the wash." It should also be noted that U2 enjoyed large features in Rolling Stone, The Rocket and Creem that same year. In addition, the band established strong visual branding with the cover for War, which was inspired by the striking covers of news magazines at the time. According to Steve Averill in his book Stealing Hearts at a Traveling Show, the concept was to convey "archetypal images of war" by showing child subject Peter Rowen in a gas mask or combat gear. In fact, many reels of film were shot doing exactly that, although they decided on using a raw pose in the end, showing only his face with a coincidental cut lip. The image would come to be known as one of the band's most timeless, and made such an impression on me I caught up with and http://www.atu2.com/news/article.src?ID=4244">interviewed Peter Rowen about it 23 years later for @U2. Though War didn't win any Grammys, it did rack up wins in six categories in the Hot Press readers poll, and the band was named "Best Live Act" at the Brit Awards in 1983. Another milestone moment for U2 happened in the same era during their landmark Red Rocks concert, which would be commemorated with the video release and companion live album Under a Blood Red Sky. As for chart positions, "New Year's Day" reached No. 2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, which is based on U.S. radio airplay, and was followed by "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (No. 7), "Two Hearts Beat As One" (No. 12), and "Surrender" (No. 27), respectively. In the Billboard Top 100 chart, "New Year�s Day" reached No. 53. The album went platinum in four countries and gold in another three. The most lasting hits are of course what were the popular singles of the time: "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day." U2 continue to play them in their live sets, and both still command regular radio airplay. Over the years, the album has enjoyed various recognitions, such as being named the 40th best album in the Top 100 Albums of the '80s list compiled by Rolling Stone in 1989, and the album's biblical closer "40" being noted in the Top 10 Underrated U2 Songs list chosen by Entertainment Weekly in 2004. Here at @U2, we've remembered the songs from War in a few different ways. In 2002, Matt McGee named "40" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" in his list of U2's Top Ten Classic Live Songs, while Khoa Tran recognized "Drowning Man" as one of Bono's Top Ten Vocal Performances. Angela Pancella ranked "New Year's Day" in her 2002 Top Ten Videos article and made "40" her final Song of the Week as she closed the door on her My Fan Year column in 2005 [note: scroll to bottom for reference]. Two of us also chose songs from this album for our first "Like a Song" essays. There is one about "Surrender" by Kelley Eskridge, and another about "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by yours truly. As we look forward to the re-release of this album in May, we'll undoubtedly be inundated with talk of white flags, Irish troubles and Bono's former haircuts. While it will never achieve the status of The Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby, War has certainly earned its stripes in pop culture history and in that of our beloved band. That we're talking about it this many years later is all the proof I need. © @U2/Kokkoris, 2008.
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