<P> The song's power was reasserted when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band took their rendition into the U.S. Top 10 in 1986 . It was also covered by Frankie Goes to Hollywood in 1984, by The Fall on the 1994 offering Middle Class Revolt and more recently by the Rock band Black Stone Cherry on its 2016 album Kentucky . </P> <P> The Temptations' version of "War", featuring Paul Williams and Dennis Edwards on lead vocals, was much less intense than the Edwin Starr version . Williams and Edwards deliver the song's anti-war, pro-peace message over a stripped - down instrumental track, with bass singer Melvin Franklin chanting a repeated recruit training - like "hup, two, three, four" in the background during the verses . </P> <P> The song was included as a track on the March 1970 Psychedelic Shack album, which featured the title track as its only single . The track's direct message, summarized by its chorus ("War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin'!"), struck a chord with the American public and resonated with growing public opposition to the war in Vietnam . Fans from across the nation, many of them college students and other young people, sent letters to Motown requesting the release of "War" as a single . The label did not want to risk the image of its most popular male group, and the Temptations themselves were also apprehensive about releasing such a potentially controversial song as a single . The label decided to withhold "War" 's release as a single, a decision that Whitfield fought until the label came up with a compromise: "War" would be released, but it would have to be re-recorded with a different act . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> "War" </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Single by Edwin Starr </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> from the album War & Peace </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> B - side </Th> <Td> "He Who Picks a Rose" </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Released </Th> <Td> June 10, 1970 (1970 - 06 - 10) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Format </Th> <Td> 7 - inch single </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Recorded </Th> <Td> May 15, 1970 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Studio </Th> <Td> Hitsville USA (Studio A), Detroit, Michigan </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Genre </Th> <Td> Psychedelic soul, funk </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Length </Th> <Td> 3: 48 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Label </Th> <Td> Gordy (Gordy 7101) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Songwriter (s) </Th> <Td> Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Producer (s) </Th> <Td> Norman Whitfield </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Edwin Starr singles chronology </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <Table> <Tr> <Td> "Time" (1970) </Td> <Td> "War" (1970) </Td> <Td> "Stop the War Now" (1970) </Td> </Tr> </Table> </Td> </Tr> </Table>

Who sang what is it good for absolutely nothing