About The Song
“Pride (In the Name of Love)” is a song by Irish rock band U2. 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 song was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Written about the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., “Pride” received mixed critical reviews at the time, but it was a major commercial success for U2 and has since become one of their most popular songs, as well as being re-evaluated positively by many as one of the greatest songs of all time. It appeared on the band’s compilation albums The Best of 1980–1990 and U218 Singles and was reworked and re-recorded for Songs of Surrender (2023).
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it 378th on its list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. The song was included on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.
The melody and the chords for “Pride” were improvised by U2 during a soundcheck prior to a November 1983 concert in Hawaii on the band’s War Tour. Guitarist the Edge led the group with a series of chord changes during the soundcheck, but after someone made a mistake, the other members picked up on it and changed course, providing a “new twist” to the improvisation, according to Niall Stokes. After the tour concluded, the group continued to work on the track at lead vocalist Bono’s home in a Martello tower in Bray, County Wicklow, where the Edge devised a guitar part for the song. “Pride” was further worked on at Slane Castle during the recording sessions for The Unforgettable Fire, but was subsequently re-recorded in its final version at Windmill Lane Studios (it was the only song to be re-cut).
“Pride” reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was the band’s first top 40 hit in the United States where it peaked at number 33. It gained considerable US album-oriented rock radio airplay and its video was on heavy rotation on MTV, thus helping U2 continue its commercial breakthrough begun with the War album. It reached number 1 in New Zealand, the first time a U2 single topped a country’s singles chart.
Initial critical reactions to “Pride” were mixed, especially in regards to the lyrics. Robert Christgau in The Village Voice complained of “the moralism with the turn-somebody-else’s-cheek glorification of Martin Luther King’s martyrdom.” Meanwhile, Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone wrote that “‘Pride’ gets over only on the strength of its resounding beat and big, droning bass line, not on the nobility of its lyrics, which are unremarkable.” Cash Box called it a “rousing anthem” with “powerful vocal and guitar,” saying that “Bono’s writing and vocal delivery are pure inspiration as is the pounding rhythm section.” The 1984 Pazz & Jop poll of 240 music critics ranked “Pride” as the 12th-best single of that year, a higher ranking than the overall album, which finished 29th. The single’s ranking remained the highest of any U2 single until “One” achieved 8th in 1992.
Video
Lyrics
In the name of love
One man come in the name of love
One man, he come and go
One man comes he to justify
One man to overthrow
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
Early evening, April four
A shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride
In the name of love
In the name of love
In the name of love
In the name of love