Reception
U2 were aware when they decided to record "Sunday Bloody Sunday" that its lyrics could be misinterpreted as sectarian, and possibly jeopardize their personal lives. Some of The Edge's original lyrics explicitly spoke out against violent rebels, but were omitted in order to protect the group. Even without these lyrics, some listeners still considered it to be a rebel song—even one which glorifies the events of the two Bloody Sundays to which the lyrics refer.
Commercially, the single had its biggest impact in The Netherlands, where it reached number 3 on the national charts. In the U.S., the song gained significant album-oriented rock radio airplay, and together with the earlier "New Year's Day" helped expose U2 to a mainstream American rock audience.
Critical reception to the song was positive. In the Irish magazine Hot Press, Liam Mackey wrote that "Sunday Bloody Sunday" "takes the widescreen view...a powerful riff and machine-gun drumming crisscrossed by skipping violin." Denise Sullivan commented for Allmusic that Mullen's opening drumwork "helps set the tone for the unforgiving, take-no-prisoners feel of the song, as well as for the rest of the album."
Read more about this topic: Sunday Bloody Sunday
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