May Day 2010: The 20 Greatest Protest Songs

6. U2: 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' – Opening with a military drumbeat, U2's highly political 1983 anthem soon turns into a heady protest at The Troubles in Northern Ireland - most notably the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry in January 1972 when British soldiers opened fire on protesters, killing 14 and injuring 29 more. Composed by The Edge, arguably the most hard-hitting moment of the song comes when Bono proclaims “I won't heed the battle call”. An earlier version of the track interestingly featured the line “Don't talk to me about the rights of the IRA, UDA”, but this was later removed as the band did not want to directly reference political groups.

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