10 Perfect Rock And Roll Protest Songs

Half of the reason why U2 tends to grate on people is because of their politics. Bono clearly has more on his mind than writing party songs half the time, and one look at some of his speeches on Rattle and Hum will tell you everything you need to know about the frontman being a little bit pretentious more often than not. When they do hit on something poignant though, there was no else who could touch them, rock and roll or otherwise.

Written as a direct response to the Bloody Sunday massacres that were happening in Ireland a few years before, this song is more a song about pain than trying to say anything substantial. When you hear Bono trying to rally people together to find hope, you can hear him sounding almost on the verge of tears, just wanting all of the violence that he's seeing every day to stop if only for a second. It gets even more intense during the live concert footage in Rattle and Hum, when Bono takes Irish Americans to task about wanting to start a revolution, saying that only peace will help in bringing all of this back to normal.

If you look at the other songs on War like New Year's Day though, Bono knows how that hope can fizzle out as well, knowing that there's a slim chance that nothing will be done to change anything. It's never an easy battle trying to maintain the peace, but this is more than just fighting for your country here. It's about holding onto your humanity.