Irish rock band that led to controversy. Greatest of all, though, have been the many successes that have ultimately placed the group on the map.
That starts with the storied albums in U2's discography, like 1987's The Joshua Tree, which was so highly thought of that it even managed to best prime output from Michael Jackson, Prince, and Whitney Houston at the 1988 Grammy Awards. Breaking down the band's output even further, though, it's often been U2's ability to write songs with political, societal, and personal meaning that has gotten them noticed. Take their 1983 album War, for instance, which opened up the group to a wider audience through tracks like "Sunday Bloody Sunday." What was it about this song that made it so popular?
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" Is U2's Stand Against Violence
Brought On By Problems Close To Home
The origins of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (one of the group's first overtly political songs) emerged from traumatic real-world circumstances that took shape in U2's backyard. The Troubles were a series of conflicts in Northern Ireland that took place beginning in the late '60s that weren't fully brought to a halt until the Good Friday Agreement was signed into effect in 1998. The term Bloody Sunday itself refers (in part) to a 1972 conflict during the Troubles in which British troops shot and killed unarmed civil rights protesters and bystanders who were objecting to the unlawful internment of controversial political figures.
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U2 wrote "Sunday Bloody Sunday" as a response to the violence of both this Bloody Sunday, another Bloody Sunday that occurred in Ireland in 1920, and the nature of the Troubles itself. But instead of being specifically about any of these events or the sides responsible for their occurrence, the band chose to make "Sunday Bloody Sunday" an overall call for the end of senseless and bloody violence throughout Northern Ireland and everywhere else. As U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr stated about the song, the band was into the politics of people, not the politics from within these situations themselves.
The Lyrics Of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" Explained
Breaking Down The Overall Message
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" wastes no time in conveying a theme of war and conflict, as Mullen Jr's foundational backing drums either sound like military percussion straight off the battlefield, or the bullets that are flying by from the midst of a hot zone. Lead singer Bono kicks into the fray, singing that he can't believe the news today, that he can't close his eyes and make it go away, and how long must we sing this song when we can instead be as one? Bono also laments the broken bottles under children's feet and the bodies in the dead-end street.
This is the band reacting with horror to the news and images of fighting, not only as a result of the violence, but to those who seek to glorify the bloodshed's "cause" when the group only wants peace and humanity's togetherness. Bono adds that he won't change his mind or have his back put up against the wall about this subject; he only wants harmony. The chorus of "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" is a reference to the aforementioned Northern Ireland events, but also feels like a general, sad, funeral refrain to all violent conflicts such as these.
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That emotion is enhanced in the next verse, when the band wonders that, while the battle's begun and many are lost (with tears being wiped away in mourning), with so many killed and so many lives torn apart, who's won after causing so much pain? Bono also questions those who react with "immunity" to these conflicts due to only seeing sanitized fragments of the violence on television or through their general apathy towards the subject. He sings that we must overcome our complacency and fight the true battle "to claim the victory Jesus won" by resurrecting our salvation through peace.
The lyrical weight and stark intensity of a song like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" from a then still-young band like U2 was eye-opening at the time, and has (sadly) remained relevant to this day. Is it any wonder, then, that the track helped the group attract widespread ears and critical attention?
How "Sunday Bloody Sunday" Broke U2 Into The US Mainstream
All It Took Was a TV Channel And A Music Video
Originally, "Sunday Bloody Sunday" wasn't intended to have a promotional music video, and, as such, one wasn't initially produced. But as the song started to roll out, U2 decided to use a 1983 performance of the track from Colorado's iconic Red Rocks Ampitheatre as the music video for "Sunday Bloody Sunday." Later placed in the 1984 concert film U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky, this take of the track wound up being a perfect promotional inclusion. It captures the heart and soul of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" with an even stronger spirit and emotional catharsis.
The band is locked in razor-sharp here, with Bono at the top of his ferocious level of stage presence. Just the sight of the frontman holding a large white flag of peace, chanting "no more!" as the red-tinted mist of rain came down (looking like blood) was a powerful, rock and roll icon image for the anti-war, anti-violence song. The color may have just been a result of the weather, stage lighting, and the red rocks of the venue, but the message was meaningful, and it was clear as day.
Once the famed music channel MTV got hold of the video, they saw the same potential and put the "Sunday Bloody Sunday" video into heavy rotation. This, in turn, led to U2 not only getting their message out but wound up breaking them into the mainstream of US music popularity. It's unfortunate that the meaning of a song like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" still has current-day relevance, but it serves as a reminder of the impact music can make when a band takes a stand for what they believe in.
