“The Unforgettable Fire" is the name of a collection of drawings and pictures made by the survivors of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb blast at the end of World War II. Although simplistic in depiction, they are considered national treasures by the Japanese. An exhibit toured through the United States in early 1984, and U2 saw the exhibit in Chicago. Touched by the exhibit, it inspired the song and
album title, as well as some of the painting used as stage backdrops on the Fire' tour. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum collect memories with a goal: to prevent this from happening again. A book was published that contained a series of hibakusha (survivors) artwork. It's called "Unforgettable Fire: Pictures Drawn by Atomic Bomb Survivors". (Source: Floating Lantern: Hiroshima Speaks Out
Hiroshima Peace Site)
The album title also refers to the "unforgettable fire" for equality and peace which burned inside people like Martin Luther King, Jr. The songs themselves speak to this, juxtaposing images of nuclear devastation and human triumph in and between the various tracks on the album.
At the time of its release The Unforgettable Fire was a confusing disappointment. U2’s previous three albums had been categorized by an earnest directness; the lyrics carried emotion and meaning but in a very clear way. The Unforgettable Fire jettisons the directness for a blurry sense of abstraction that one might find starling at first, but the abstraction of The Unforgettable Fire is perhaps the most important change U2 made to their music in the 1980s.
The sense of abstraction that permeates The Unforgettable Fire is best captured by the title track “A Sort of Homecoming.” The song takes emotion and sketches it like an abstract painting.
The emotion that categorizes The Unforgettable Fire is a sense of angst, which runs through every note of the album.
As Bono sings “Barbed wire fence cut me down/I'd like to be around/In a spiral staircase/To the higher ground” in the song “Promenade,” his words are a plea to escape a troubled relationship to something more. The angst that categorizes the album focuses on that “more.” When the band sings about heroin addiction on “Bad” and the loss of innocence on “Wire” they are tapping a feeling of that something is out of place with the society and the world. The only exception to the abstract nature of the album is, ironically, the hit single “Pride (In the Name Of Love).” The song, which is about Martin Luther King, Jr., is a literal song that feels as though it could have been on Boy or War. When taken as a whole, “Pride” almost mars the albums more ambitious goals.
The Unforgettable Fire is a flawed masterpiece; almost stronger because of its weaknesses. It is an album that is meant to be felt just as much as it is meant to be heard. Each song carries with it an emotion that is meant shown rather than told to the listener. The Unforgettable Fire also categorizes an important shift in U2’s style, the sense of abstraction will later be combined with U2’s previous direct earnestness to create, arguably, one of music’s greatest albums. (source: Franklin and Marshall College newspaper, The College Reporter on March 5, 2007, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.,USA)
album title, as well as some of the painting used as stage backdrops on the Fire' tour. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum collect memories with a goal: to prevent this from happening again. A book was published that contained a series of hibakusha (survivors) artwork. It's called "Unforgettable Fire: Pictures Drawn by Atomic Bomb Survivors". (Source: Floating Lantern: Hiroshima Speaks Out
Hiroshima Peace Site)
The album title also refers to the "unforgettable fire" for equality and peace which burned inside people like Martin Luther King, Jr. The songs themselves speak to this, juxtaposing images of nuclear devastation and human triumph in and between the various tracks on the album.
At the time of its release The Unforgettable Fire was a confusing disappointment. U2’s previous three albums had been categorized by an earnest directness; the lyrics carried emotion and meaning but in a very clear way. The Unforgettable Fire jettisons the directness for a blurry sense of abstraction that one might find starling at first, but the abstraction of The Unforgettable Fire is perhaps the most important change U2 made to their music in the 1980s.
The sense of abstraction that permeates The Unforgettable Fire is best captured by the title track “A Sort of Homecoming.” The song takes emotion and sketches it like an abstract painting.
The emotion that categorizes The Unforgettable Fire is a sense of angst, which runs through every note of the album.
As Bono sings “Barbed wire fence cut me down/I'd like to be around/In a spiral staircase/To the higher ground” in the song “Promenade,” his words are a plea to escape a troubled relationship to something more. The angst that categorizes the album focuses on that “more.” When the band sings about heroin addiction on “Bad” and the loss of innocence on “Wire” they are tapping a feeling of that something is out of place with the society and the world. The only exception to the abstract nature of the album is, ironically, the hit single “Pride (In the Name Of Love).” The song, which is about Martin Luther King, Jr., is a literal song that feels as though it could have been on Boy or War. When taken as a whole, “Pride” almost mars the albums more ambitious goals.
The Unforgettable Fire is a flawed masterpiece; almost stronger because of its weaknesses. It is an album that is meant to be felt just as much as it is meant to be heard. Each song carries with it an emotion that is meant shown rather than told to the listener. The Unforgettable Fire also categorizes an important shift in U2’s style, the sense of abstraction will later be combined with U2’s previous direct earnestness to create, arguably, one of music’s greatest albums. (source: Franklin and Marshall College newspaper, The College Reporter on March 5, 2007, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.,USA)
1 comment:
What an interesting comparison ... absolutely amazing! U2 has the ability to make one think with the music they make and the lyrics they write ... may they continue to change the world!
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