In what year did you buy/get each U2 album?

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deltau922

War Child
Joined
Sep 27, 2004
Messages
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Was thinking about this today as hard as I was jonesing for new U2 between seeing R&H and the release of AB, it’s weird that I didn’t dive into their old catalogue more.

Anyway
1987 - TJT
1987 - TUF
1988 - R&H (movie was first time I heard SBS)
1988 - UABRS (first time hearing almost everything on that album)
1989 - War
1991 - AB
1992 - October and Boy
Everything else - the moment it was released.
 
1998 - Best of 1980-1990
2000 - ATYCLB
2002 - Best of 1990-2000
First half of 2003 - almost everything else to date (a couple of videos, Passengers, and MDH were a little later, but all bought by 2005)
2004 - HTDAAB
2007 - JT reissue
2008 - Boy, War, October reissues
2009 - NLOTH and the UF reissue

Nothing since. I never bought a physical SOI.
 
Family member had UABRS, TUF, R&H, AB, ATYCLB, Best of 90-2000 and HTDAAB on CD. I bought every other album released to that point around 2006 to fill in the gaps. NLOTH on release day, SOI deluxe soon after it was in shops (yes, I was that one person who bought a free album).

Reissues shortly after they came out too, except for the dumb 30th JT release that added virtually nothing new.

I never got around to buying MDH.

When I bought the TUF reissue, the security person checking my bag laughed. No idea why. The only other thing in the bag was a blu-ray of Pulp Fiction.
 
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I bought them all in 1995-96. , at roughly 13-14 years old. That was the year I got into them. My Dad had RH and JT. Then I borrowed my Uncles UABRS cassette. I remember Achtung Baby and War were the first ones I bought.

I remember it was about a year later that I realized October even existed! I never saw the CD in any music stores. When I finally saw it I thought "WTF IS THIS??" The only song I recognized was "Gloria". It was the last album I bought.

From Pop onwards, I have bought every album on its release date.
 
1983 -- Saw them for the first time on War tour, that summer on break from college -- mind was blown and quickly bought Boy, October, and War over the next week or so. On vinyl! (I am older than dirt relative to many of you all :) )

1984 -- From Unforgettable Fire onward, every one of the major releases (Hmm, Passengers -- do you count? Were you "major"?) was purchased exactly on the joyous release day. Won't list them as I'm sure we all know the exact years :)

Even bought SOI on CD on release day -- getting tougher to buy CDs anymore; I found it at Target -- for completist purposes, even tho I knew it all by heart already from the lighten-up-people-it-was-FREE iTunes cram-down.
 
Early 1984 - UABRS
Mid 1984 - Boy/October/War

From TUF onwards - day of release

I got UABRS video (Betamax!) for Christmas 1984 and collected all their past vinyl releases (singles, albums & 12”) during 84/85
 
The Joshua Tree was in my home as a child

93 - Achtung, Zooropa, R&H, UABRS
94 - Boy - TUF

I got the rest on release day, or leak day
 
Ummm, let's see if my memory holds up.

TUF was the first. I think I got it as a Christmas gift from a cousin in '86?

JT, probably the year it came out - and I got it through the Columbia Music House club. Ha.

R&H, day it came out. That turned me into a huge fan, so I think I caught up with all the pre-TUF albums that year.

Everything from Achtung Baby on, I got the day it came out.
 
January 2002 - Best of 1980-1990
May 2002 - Achtung Baby
June 2002 - Joshua Tree, ATYCLB, War
July 2002 - Pop
October 2002 - Zooropa
December 2002 - Boy, TUF, Best of 1990-2000
January 2003 - October
October 2004 - Passengers

No clue when I bought R&H or heard it first. It was last, I think. Everything else I picked up on release.
 
2005: HTDAAB
2005: The Joshua Tree
2005: Achtung Baby
2006: Best of 1980-1990
2009: No Line
2012: Pop
Everything else was streamed around then.
2016: Friend got me vinyl copies of UF, War.
2016: Brother got me vinyl SOI
 
In 89 I borrowed the Rattle and Hum cassette from my aunt and liked a few songs off it and then kind of got interested in other music. 1992 I got Achtung Baby on CD and by the time Zooropa came out I had picked up their entire discography up until that point and ever since then I’ve pretty much acquired each release around the time it came out. Except for Passengers. I didn’t get Passengers until 2006 but on vinyl.
 
I became a fan back in 2001 when I saw the Elevation music video on VH1 and went out and bought ATYCLB later on that day. My father already had TJT and AB in his collection and I've been "borrowing" them ever since. :wink:

2005 was when I completed most of my collection as far as all the albums, concert videos, and a few singles from the 90's era.
 
In 89 I borrowed the Rattle and Hum cassette from my aunt and liked a few songs off it and then kind of got interested in other music. 1992 I got Achtung Baby on CD and by the time Zooropa came out I had picked up their entire discography up until that point and ever since then I’ve pretty much acquired each release around the time it came out. Except for Passengers. I didn’t get Passengers until 2006 but on vinyl.


This is basically my exact story, minus the aunt and the Passengers year and vinyl!
 
89 bought RH, realized it was the wrong version of ISHFWILF

Later that fall JT

90 bought the entire back catalog, thanks to one of those Columbia house clubs

AB I snuck out of my house for a midnight sale

The rest were bought day of
 
89 bought RH, realized it was the wrong version of ISHFWILF

Later that fall JT

90 bought the entire back catalog, thanks to one of those Columbia house clubs

AB I snuck out of my house for a midnight sale

The rest were bought day of



I only bought Rattle and Hum on CD hoping Bad would be on it.. I didn’t know Bad by title at the time because I hadn’t picked up Unforgettable Fire yet. So it was a hopeful purchase. I was let down.
 
1998
The Best Of 1980-1990 and The B-Sides
Under A Blood Red Sky
War
October
The Unforgettable Fire
Rattle & Hum

1999
Achtung Baby
Zooropa
Pop
The Joshua Tree
Boy

2000
(Passengers)
(The Million Dollar Hotel)
All That You Can't Leave Behind

2002
The Best of 1990-2000 and The B-Sides

2004
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

2009
No Line On The Horizon

2014
Songs Of Innocence

From 1998-2002, I also amassed maybe 20 singles and EPs including but not limited to Wide Awake In America, Popheart, One, Even Better Than The Real Thing, Mysterious Ways, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, Miss Sarajevo, Discotheque (two different), Staring At The Sun, Last Night On Earth (two different), Mofo, The Sweetest Thing (two different), Beautiful Day (two different). I'm sure there are more.
 
October 13, 2001: ATYCLB
November 3rd 2001: Zooropa (that was quite a shock after only previously hearing ATYCLB!)
Christmas 2001: JT and Best of 1980-1990
February 2002: 7 (from Target) and Pop
June 2002: Achtung Baby
November 5th? 2002: Best of 1990-2000 (the day it was released)
I basically filled in the rest of the 80s albums from then on until about 2005 when I think I finally had all of them. I bought October on Black Friday one year, but don't remember exactly when (might have been 2005).
HTDAAB: November 23, 2004 (release day); it snowed that night.
Passengers: I think that was Christmas 2006; I listened to it a lot in 2007.
NLOTH: March 3, 2009 (release day) I also bought a box of State Fair frozen corn dogs because I was in college and they were delicious.

I almost always buy new U2 album releases at Target the day they come out (except SOI, because they didn't have the deluxe version).
 
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Introduced to Rattle & Hum by a friend upon release, aged 16.

Bought TJT the same week.

Scrimped, saved, op-shopped and scoured markets for their entire back catalogue on vinyl over the course of next few months, including singles, 12" releases etc. Played them all until the grooves ran out.

AB: midnight release at Allan's music store in Hobart, Tasmania.

Zooropa: midnight release at HMV, Sydney

Pop: midnight release at HMV Ealing Broadway, London

ATYCLB & subsequent: bought on day of release, in daylight hours (!)
 
Wow, a lot of people that came to the band in the 2000's

I got JT in 1987 (my first BMG purchase along with Born in the USA) and R&H in 1988.
UF, War, October, Boy in 89
AB onward everything on first day, sometimes midnight release
 
2000: Achtung Baby
2001: ATYCLB, TJT, Zooropa, Pop
2002: (N/A)
2003: R&H, War(?)
2004: TUF(?)
2005: Passengers(?), Boy
2006: October

HTDAAB, NLOTH, and SOI were all bought on the day they came out.
 
Summer of 1999 - Boy-Pop

Everything else on the first day of release
 
Okay, I have to think hard about this this... the following is when I bought certain albums, though not necessarily when I first heard them:

1988(?) -- The Joshua Tree (this was on cassette, people)

1992 -- War
1992 -- The Unforgettable Fire

1993 -- Zooropa (couple days after release)
1993 -- Achtung Baby (but I'd heard it since week of release)
1993 -- Under a Blood Red Sky

1994 -- Rattle & Hum (but had been listening to it for, like, five years by then)
1994 -- Boy

2000 -- All That You Can't...

2004 -- How to Dismantle...

2009 -- No Line on the Horizon

Hm. At some point I think I bought October and Pop, many years after each was released, but I can't remember when. Don't know where they are now, either. (I think my ex-girlfriend has them in a box somewhere...).
 
Wow, it always amazes me at how many young, new fans this band has. For me, let's put it this way, Boy and October were the only two albums I did not buy the year and month of release. Saw the Gloria video on MTV and I was hooked.

Here we are 11 studio albums, countless concerts and 36 years later...and I'm once again anxiously awaiting the next release and tour.
 
For the first three years I had TJT and TUF on opposite sides of a 90-minute blank tape. Didn’t actually get the CDs until 1990, which was the first time I had ever even heard the second verse of Mothers of the Disappeared. I think TUF all fit on one side.
 
Yikes, this is hard.

Everything from Pop on was bought or downloaded or whatever on the day of release or earlier if it happened to have leaked.

Pretty much would say I acquired every album, that had been released to that point, between 1995, when Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill me was released, and the end of my freshman year in college around 99. I think Boy and October were last.

I know I had Achtung Baby and JT burned to cassette before 95, but couldn't tell you the actual date.

But yea I went from "I know the popular albums these guys have done" to "must have all the things" from the age of 14 to 18.

And now I'm about to turn 37 in a month, so this thread has reminded me of how fucking old I am.
 
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