War will always be my favorite U2 album. I haven’t even listened to every single album of theirs but I just know that War will always be my favorite. Not just because it’s a fantastic album, but because I hold a very emotional connection with it. I was in 8th grade when I was first listening to it. At the same time I was reading All Quiet on the Western Front for English class (for those of you unfamiliar with AQWF, it’s a very famous novel written by a WWI vet in protest of war, it’s absolutely incredible, I definitely recommend reading it). We had to write this giant-ass paper for it, and during those two excruciating weeks of writing, I was listening to War. It was painful, yet this is one of my fondest memories. And now they are forever intertwined in my mind. Everytime I listen to that album, I get so lost in the words, yet I don’t recognize them. The only thing I think about is Paul Bäumer, and his best friend Stanislaus Katczinsky. I think about the anger and frustration of Albert Kropp. The terrible death of Gérard Duval. I recall the brutality, the destruction, and pain of WWI. And I think it’s absolutely brilliant that this album can bring me back to that. However ugly the reality of the book might be, it opened my eyes to a whole new set of horizons, which made me the person I am today. I know that sounds cheesy as fuck, but it’s true. So cheers to U2, and one hell of an emotionally charged album.
