“Get real”: The Edge discusses the most bitter song U2 ever made
Although often overshadowed by an air of pretension, at their core, U2 are a political band. This might seem incomprehensible to music fans frustrated by frontman Bono and his group of iTunes-infiltrating rockers, but the quartet have long championed humanitarian causes. Despite facing widespread accusations of virtue signalling, there is no doubt that the Irish band are deeply committed to the issues they passionately support.
Many years ago, when U2 still had cultural currency and were on their route to superstardom, crafting rousing rock music brimming with authenticity, the political environment of their native land and the heartbreaking Troubles north of the border impacted their music. Resultantly, one of the most important songs they have ever released is ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ from the explicitly titled 1983 album War.
A completely earnest song, fuelled by anger and despair, it tells the story of an observer of the 1972 Bloody Sunday Massacre, when British soldiers shot and killed unarmed civil rights protestors in one of the bleakest flashpoints in an already grim ethno-nationalist conflict. Due to this reality, the song resonated deeply with listeners across Ireland and the United Kingdom when it was released. It was then immortalised during the band’s 1983 performance at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre when the young, mulleted Bono hoisted a white flag of peace in the air.
As U2’s prominence grew globally, their political sentiment remained a key element in their music, with The Troubles resurfacing in one particular track years later—’Peace on Earth’. With its John Lennon-esque title and message, the song stands as one of their most overtly political efforts. It was fitting that it appeared on their 2000 album, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, which was celebrated as a return to the band’s classic sound. This came after a polarising period in which they experimented with alt-rock, electronic music, and other contemporary styles, leading to accusations of being out of touch and overly pretentious.
Notably, the track was written on the same day of the Omagh bombing of August 15th, 1998, the deadliest incident of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It was carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army, an Irish Republican Army splinter group opposed to the Good Friday Agreement signed earlier that year. It killed 29 people and injured roughly 220.
Like many Irish people, Bono feared the bombing would end the peace process. Later, during the Christmas period of that year after the album had arrived in October, he felt that the Christian message of “peace on earth, goodwill to all men” left a particularly sour taste.
The U2 frontman’s anger fuelled the song, which, according to guitarist The Edge, is the most bitter the group ever wrote. The following gloomy line typifies this for him: “I’m sick of hearing again and again that there’s gonna be peace on earth.”
“It’s too negative,” he stated in the 2005 autobiography U2 by U2. “I thought it should have been ‘I’m sick of hearing again and again that there’s never gonna be peace on earth.’ Which turns it completely around. Cynicism has its place but it’s often a self-fulfilling prophecy. The notion that we only have a few short years on planet Earth so we all better ‘get real’ and live life to the hilt is just an excuse for total self-centeredness.”
The Edge expanded his comment by asserting that reliance on the religious fairy tale of rewards when you die is also “dangerous”, as it excuses a lot of terrible behaviour. He thinks neither cynicism nor religious denial are right. Yet, this is U2, and their take on the matter is as you’d expect. According to their guitarist, their collective stance is that they believe in heaven but live as if they didn’t. They just can’t help themselves.
