The Unforgettable Fire (track)
by U2

The Unforgettable Fire by U2
Year: 1984
From the album The Unforgettable Fire (track #4)
Average Rating: 
86/100 (from 252 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history

Listen on Spotify SPOTIFY
The Unforgettable Fire (10 tracks) « Previous track (#3)
Wire
This track (#4)
The Unforgettable Fire
Next track (#5) »
Promenade

The Unforgettable Fire appears on the following album(s) by U2:


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The Unforgettable Fire ratings

Average Rating: 
86/100 (from 252 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
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Showing latest 5 ratings for this track.  | Show all 252 ratings for this track.

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RatingDate updatedMemberTrack ratingsAvg. track rating
 
80/100
 
03/15/2026 01:19 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  97,64471/100
 
95/100
 
01/03/2026 23:37 TheDeflektor  Ratings distribution  23389/100
 
90/100
 
12/24/2025 18:30 spinout  Ratings distribution  39,41683/100
 
90/100
 
12/06/2025 09:15 Siromynian  Ratings distribution  16,55670/100
 
100/100
 
09/23/2025 12:13 VictorVale  Ratings distribution  43,40688/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some tracks can have several thousand ratings)

This track is rated in the top 1% of all tracks on BestEverAlbums.com. This track has a Bayesian average rating of 86.0/100, a mean average of 85.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 86.4/100. The standard deviation for this track is 14.5.

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The Unforgettable Fire comments

Showing all 4 comments |
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Rating:  
90/100
From 02/20/2022 20:24 | #281636
Love the chorus. And it's another great Bono vocal performance
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 08/20/2019 22:33 | #241465
my favorite u2 song. once again, adam and the edge are the highlights, but this song is a better illustration of how well the band works together. while i find myself following what the edge is doing for most of the song, i know what everyone's up to, and they're all absolutely on point. find me a better example of how well this group works together. lyrically, this is one of my favorites from bono. it's so impressionistic. the song was inspired by photographs taken of the atomic plumes following the drops on hiroshima and nagasaki - a death by an unforgettable fire. it's interesting then that the first lines are "ice, your only rivers run cold", a recognition that no matter how hot the death was, its wake is always cold. the inspiration though - those smokey plumes are evidenced by what the edge is doing as well. fully immersed in the concept. and the synths stabbing like the bombs hitting the ground ... it's all so well done.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 07/17/2019 13:02 | #239762
This song deserves SO MUCH MORE LOVE, both as an overall great song but also as one of U2's best.

A touch of synth, a lot of electricity. Big and beautiful.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 10/24/2014 20:03 | #125259
A grand, MEZMERIZING song....
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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