The Unforgettable Fire (track)
by U2
Year: 1984
From the album The Unforgettable Fire (track #4)
Listen on Spotify
The Unforgettable Fire appears on the following album(s) by U2:
- The Unforgettable Fire (track #4) (this album) (1984)
- The Best Of 1980-1990 (track #9) (compilation) (1998)
- U22: A 22 Track Live Collection From U2360 (track #13) (2012)
- The Best Of 1980-1990 & B-Sides (track #9) (compilation) (1998)
Upcoming concerts
Listen to The Unforgettable Fire on YouTube
The Unforgettable Fire ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
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).
AV = the site mean average rating.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Track ratings | Avg. track rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 38 hours ago | TheDeflektor | 233 | 89/100 |
| ! | 12/24/2025 18:30 | spinout | 38,050 | 83/100 |
| ! | 12/06/2025 09:15 | Siromynian | 15,424 | 71/100 |
| ! | 11/20/2025 17:24 | Exist-en-ciel | 57,651 | 71/100 |
| ! | 09/23/2025 12:13 |  VictorVale | 43,033 | 88/100 |
Rating metrics:
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 2% 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 14.6.
The Unforgettable Fire favourites
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The Unforgettable Fire comments
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Love the chorus. And it's another great Bono vocal performance
craola 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.
rogue 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.
A grand, MEZMERIZING song....
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