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War
War is het derde studioalbum van U2. Het is de eerste elpee van U2 waarop ze een expliciete politieke stelling innemen. Van dit album zijn New Year's Day, Two Hearts Beat As One en Sunday Bloody Sunday als single uitgebracht. 40 is ook als single uitgebracht, maar alleen in Duitsland.
War is the third studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Steve Lillywhite, and was released on 28 February 1983 on Island Records. The album is regarded as U2's first overtly political album, in part because of songs like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day", as well as the title, which stems from the band's perception of the world at the time; lead vocalist Bono stated that "war seemed to be the motif for 1982."
U2 recorded the album from September to November 1982 at Windmill Lane Studios with Lillywhite producing, the group's third consecutive album made at the studio with the producer. While the central themes of U2's previous albums Boy and October were adolescence and spirituality, respectively, War focused on both the physical aspects of warfare, and the emotional after-effects. Musically, it is also harsher than the band's previous releases.
War was a commercial success, knocking Michael Jackson's Thriller from the top of the UK charts to become U2's first number-one album there. In the United States, it reached number 12 and became the band's first album certified gold. War received generally favourable reviews, although some British journalists criticised it. The band supported the album with the War Tour through the end of 1983. In 2008, a remastered edition of War was released. In 2012, the album was ranked 223rd on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".