History Music / WarU2Album

!!"I can't believe the tropes today":

* MusicAtSportingEvents: The UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}} Alouettes of the UsefulNotes/CanadianFootballLeague play "Sunday Bloody Sunday" before all Sunday home games. The Als do this as a tribute to the band's unintended role in franchise history. A [=U2=] concert at the team's then-current home of Stade Olympique forced them to move a playoff game to the smaller Stade Percival-Molson. A sellout crowd and a more intimate atmosphere led the Als to permanently move to Molson the next year (with occasional games at Olympique).

* MusicArSportingEvents: The UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}} Alouettes of the UsefulNotes/CanadianFootballLeague play "Sunday Bloody Sunday" before all Sunday home games. The Als do this as a tribute to the band's unintended role in franchise history. A [=U2=] concert at the team's then-current home of Stade Olympique forced them to move a playoff game to the smaller Stade Percival-Molson. A sellout crowd and a more intimate atmosphere led the Als to permanently move to Molson the next year (with occasional games at Olympique).

# "Like A Song..." (4:48)

# "Two Hearts Beat As One" (4:00)

* HeavyMeta: "Like A Song"

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: This album directly references the civil war and religious wars that have divided Northern Ireland for decades. This was a very mature and commercially risky subject to tackle for a rock band, but U2 actually managed to get people talking about the subject. Yet, as Bono said himself on their LiveAlbum "Under A Blood Red Sky", before playing "Sunday Bloody Sunday".
--> ''There's been a lot of talk about this next song, [[WhamLine maybe too much talk]].''

!!"I can't stop to trope":

* RefrainFromAssuming: If you only know it from the radio, you can be forgiven for assuming that "New Year's Day" is called "I Will Be With You Again."

Not to be confused with [[Music/WarBand the band of the same name]].

--> ''Like a song I have to sing''
--> ''I sing it for you''

--> ''Take my hand''
--> ''You know I'll be there''
--> ''If you can''
--> ''I'll cross the sky for your love''
--> ''Give you what I hold dear''

-->The storms will pass
-->It won't be long now
-->The storms will pass
-->But my love lasts forever

--> ''And the battle's just begun''
--> ''There's many lost, but tell me who was won?''
--> ''The trench is dug within our hearts''
--> ''And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart!''

--> ''Her papa go to war''
--> ''He gonna fight''
--> ''But he don't know what for?''

--> ''And we love to wear a badge, a uniform''
--> ''And we love to fly a flag''
--> ''But I won't...let others live in hell''
--> ''As we divide against each other''
--> ''And we fight amongst ourselves''
--> ''Too set in our ways to try to rearrange''
--> ''Too right to be wrong, in this rebel song''

* AbsenteeActor: When "40" was recorded, Adam Clayton had already gone home, and the band only had two hours of studio time left, so The Edge played bass on the basic track and overdubbed the guitar. When they perform the song live, Edge and Adam will swap instruments.

* TimeMarchesOn: "Seconds" mentions the USSR, which [[TheGreatPoliticsMessup dissolved in 1991]].

It's widely regarded as their first great album. Critical reception was extremely positive, with ''Magazine/RollingStone'' giving it four out of 5 stars. Dan Kennedy of the ''Orlando Sentinel'', in awarding it five out of five stars, stated that the despair on the surface of its sound revealed a "voice of hope that flies in the face of most rock postures".

The album was listed at #221 in ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='=]s [[Music/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]] in 2003, and #223 on the 2012 list.

* NewSoundAlbum: Compared to their earlier albums this record way more political and confrontational.

* SpecialGuest: Kid Creole and the Coconuts, best known for "Annie I'm Not Your Daddy", performed backing vocals on three of the tracks.

* The Edge - guitar, backing and lead vocals, piano, bass

''How long, do we sing this song...?''
''How long, do we sing this song...?''

[[caption-width-right:350: ''And we can break through, though torn in two, we can be one.'']]

''War'' is the third studio album by Music/{{U2}}, released in 1983. At the time it surprised many for being a NewSoundAlbum where the band [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard]] as songwriters. Many songs, including the hits "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day" were very political and directly referred to [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles the civil war in Northern Ireland]]. It's widely regarded as their first classic album. The album was listed at #223 in ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='=]s [[Music/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]].

!! New Year's Tropes:

Not to be confused with the band of the same name ("Low Rider").