[Post 6 of 10]

Album 6: U2's Unforgettable Fire

Island Records, 1984

This album came out the month I turned 18. Having just gone away to college in another state, another identity shift was beginning and music once again played a huge role.

This album spoke not only to my progressive rock heart, but struck a chord on a much deeper level. Unlike the vast majority of 80s pop music, which for the most part revolted me at this stage, U2 was a band with a calling - a passion - a "Mission from God", to quote the Blues Brothers. Outrageously popular as they were, though, they sang about injustice and "The Troubles" of Ireland (Boy, War, & Unforgettable Fire in particular) and even dared to sing about spirituality...and God (October). These were songs that wildly inspired me - that on a subconscious level challenged me to align my life and career choices with eternal principles, and that has always stuck.

Now I KNOW I am breaking ranks here, but this album is where the love affair began and ended.  As soon as they started to explore America, in Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum, I was out.  After all, what attracted me to them in the first place was music that sparked genetic memory in my Irish American soul - not music about the heart of America.

I have since enjoyed tunes from these and other albums of theirs, but nothing quite sticks with me like songs from their early years!

[UPDATE: 6/26/20 - Boy do I stink at following through on challenges like this! Just saw this now and realize that my short attention span ended with album 6. Maybe in a future writer's block I'll pick-up with 7. ;) ]