10 Perfect Protest Songs In Rock History

For all of the genre hopping that they've done since their beginnings, you have to remember that U2 originally started life as a punk rock band. Though they fit pretty snuggly into the world of post punk at the start of the '80s, you could tell that they had the same fire under them that birthed bands like the Clash back in the day. So when they saw carnage take place on their home soil, there was no way to just gloss over it.

In fact, most of War seems to be focused on more political topics, whether that be about the government or the way we interact with our fellow human beings. While something like New Year's Day might work in a broader context, Sunday Bloody Sunday has its teeth out from the minute that it starts, as Bono tries to make sense of the terrible Bloody Sunday massacre back in 1972. As the song starts, you can tell that he's struggling to even make sense of the carnage, until getting angry during the chorus and trying to bring people together to promote some sort of peace.

That was just the studio version though. You don't really have the same power until you hear the song live, especially during the shows filmed for Rattle and Hum when Bono goes off on an American crowd about how he's tired of Irish Americans asking him about the revolution that's going on back home. For the movie version, Bono had his reservations about having that part put out, but when you see it play out in real time, you start to feel the humanity underneath all of those bright stage lights.