The fourth studio album by U2, The Unforgettable Fire was the band's first collaboration with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Recording began in March 1984, and the album was released on Oct. 1. The Unforgettable Fire went to #1 in both the UK and Australia, and went to #12 in the US.
The title The Unforgettable Fire was inspired by the Hiroshima Nagasaki Atomic Bombing Exhibition at Chicago's now closed The Peace Museum. The castle on the cover is the Moydrum Castle.
Two singles were released from the album, "Pride (in the Name of Love)," and "The Unforgettable Fire."
"Pride (in the Name of Love)" reached #3 in the UK and was the band's first top 40 single in the United States. Chrissie Hynde sang backing vocals on the song and is credited as "Christine Kerr."
"The Unforgettable Fire," the album's second single, was released in April 1985 and went to #6 in the UK. The song did not chart in the US.
The Unforgettable Fire also features "A Sort of Homecoming," "Bad," and the Waist High favorite "Promenade," a song U2 has never performed live.
Of the album, Bono said in 1987, "The Unforgettable Fire was a beautifully out-of-focus record, blurred like an impressionist painting, very unlike a billboard or an advertising slogan. In America there was such a backlash when we put out The Unforgettable Fire. People thought we were the future of rock'n'roll and they went, 'What are you doin' with this doggone hippie Eno album?' We owe Eno and Lanois so much for seeing through to the heart of U2."
Quote: u2.com
