U2 – Pride (In The Name Of Love)

“Pride (In the Name of Love)” Single by U2 from the album The Unforgettable Fire
B-side “Boomerang II”
Released 3 September 1984
Recorded May–August 1984
Label CBS Ireland, Island
Composer U2
Lyricist Bono
Producers Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois
Charted No.No.2 in US, No.3 in UK, No.1 in New Zeeland, No.20 in Italy

It is the second track on the band’s 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire, and was released as its lead single in September 1984.

The band got the idea for this song at a soundcheck in Hawaii on their 1983 US tour. The engineers recorded all U2’s soundchecks for this very purpose.

The song contains the erroneous reference to King’s shooting as “Early morning, April 4,” when it actually occurred after 6 p.m. Bono acknowledges the error and in live performances he often changes the lyric to “Early evening…” The error was corrected on the acoustic version of the song included on the group’s 2023 album Songs of Surrender; the updated lyric is “In the evening, April 4”.

“Pride” was first played live at the opening show of the Unforgettable Fire Tour on 29 August 1984 in Christchurch, New Zealand.[19] The song has been played at virtually every U2 concert since the Unforgettable Fire Tour, although it was played infrequently on the first and second legs of 2001’s Elevation Tour and the second and third legs 2009’s U2 360° Tour.

Chrissie Hynde (lead singer of The Pretenders) sang backup. She was married to Jim Kerr of Simple Minds at the time and was thanked on the album as “Mrs. Christine Kerr.”

U2
Bono – lead vocals
The Edge – guitar, backing vocals
Adam Clayton – bass guitar
Larry Mullen Jr. – drums

Additional performers
Chrissie Hynde (credited as “Christine Kerr”) – backing vocals