It’s hard to quantify just how big of a record War was.
Up to this point, U2’s brand of anthemic post-punk had brought them modest success, but they were hardly a household name to anyone. War, on the other hand, knocked Thriller off of the top spot on the UK charts.
Thirty-one years later, it remains one of the group’s most definitive and celebrated works, and with good reason. For my own part, it was a chance purchase of this record in a used bin when I first started collecting records that made me a U2 fan in the first place, and it was my favorite of theirs for quite a few years.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled (er, irregularly, rather—sorry) blog schedule to go on an unscheduled, but essential deep dive.