Hi, I'm Mike err...MBfan from Long Island.
First of all, the name is totally unrelated to U2. I couldn't really think of anything other than a name that had to do with sports, as I post in a couple of sport forums (love baseball, football, hockey, basketball, etc.). Jesus Montero and Manny Banuelos are my two favorite young Yankees, so there's where that comes from.
Anyway, my first exposure to U2 was Vertigo on the iPod commercial. I was kind of obsessed with the song but I kind of ignored U2 until Late Summer 2009.
Why? I really love the sound and minimalistic style of The Edge's guitar and Bono's voice really stuck out in a good way. I mean, you hear so many bands with frontmen who feel the need to scream the lyrics, so Bono's relaively smooth voice was refreshing.
So like many new U2 fans of my generation, (I'm around college age) I started with Bomb. Lots of catchy commercial hits. So I naturally go for their other biggest hits and find songs like Beautiful Day, Pride, HMTMKMKM, etc.
After a few months I sort of gravitated to the 80s stuff. Joshua Tree and Unforgettable Fire, then R&H, then War, October, and Boy in that order. It's very easy to listen to...the songs are not too complex and Bono's voice has a different charm to each album. Over the last year and a half or so, my interest between each album has fluctuated., but I think UF is my favorite.
But I don't want to be one of those generics who whines on every Youtube video, "I WANTS THE REAL U2", "CLASSIC U2 BEFORE THEY WENT COMMERCIAL." I know their 90s stuff is a lot more complex so I'm trying really hard to get into it and appreciate it for what it is. This is what I hope I will accomplish after posting here. And I don't mean just the obvious ones, like Stay, Mysterious Ways, etc. I mean Pop (and I mean the whole damn album), the more obscure tracks on Achtung, like LIB, TTTYAATW, So Cruel, and about half of Zooropa.
Not to mention the 2000s stuff. I kind of have a block in my mind telling me that everything from ATYCLB and on is cheesy mainstream stuff with weak-ish lyrics. Not fair to generalize about an entire decade and I already love a couple of songs from NLOTH like Unknown Caller (MOS and others will take a couple of listens).
So in my future posting in the U2 boards, I'm probably going to be heavily biased for the 80s stuff because I have listened to it religiously (Unforgettable Fire the song is my favorite in the entire catalog), but I think it will get more balanced in the future as I gain an appreciation for U2's later (and future) material.
First of all, the name is totally unrelated to U2. I couldn't really think of anything other than a name that had to do with sports, as I post in a couple of sport forums (love baseball, football, hockey, basketball, etc.). Jesus Montero and Manny Banuelos are my two favorite young Yankees, so there's where that comes from.
Anyway, my first exposure to U2 was Vertigo on the iPod commercial. I was kind of obsessed with the song but I kind of ignored U2 until Late Summer 2009.
Why? I really love the sound and minimalistic style of The Edge's guitar and Bono's voice really stuck out in a good way. I mean, you hear so many bands with frontmen who feel the need to scream the lyrics, so Bono's relaively smooth voice was refreshing.
So like many new U2 fans of my generation, (I'm around college age) I started with Bomb. Lots of catchy commercial hits. So I naturally go for their other biggest hits and find songs like Beautiful Day, Pride, HMTMKMKM, etc.
After a few months I sort of gravitated to the 80s stuff. Joshua Tree and Unforgettable Fire, then R&H, then War, October, and Boy in that order. It's very easy to listen to...the songs are not too complex and Bono's voice has a different charm to each album. Over the last year and a half or so, my interest between each album has fluctuated., but I think UF is my favorite.
But I don't want to be one of those generics who whines on every Youtube video, "I WANTS THE REAL U2", "CLASSIC U2 BEFORE THEY WENT COMMERCIAL." I know their 90s stuff is a lot more complex so I'm trying really hard to get into it and appreciate it for what it is. This is what I hope I will accomplish after posting here. And I don't mean just the obvious ones, like Stay, Mysterious Ways, etc. I mean Pop (and I mean the whole damn album), the more obscure tracks on Achtung, like LIB, TTTYAATW, So Cruel, and about half of Zooropa.
Not to mention the 2000s stuff. I kind of have a block in my mind telling me that everything from ATYCLB and on is cheesy mainstream stuff with weak-ish lyrics. Not fair to generalize about an entire decade and I already love a couple of songs from NLOTH like Unknown Caller (MOS and others will take a couple of listens).
So in my future posting in the U2 boards, I'm probably going to be heavily biased for the 80s stuff because I have listened to it religiously (Unforgettable Fire the song is my favorite in the entire catalog), but I think it will get more balanced in the future as I gain an appreciation for U2's later (and future) material.
. I didn't like MOS the first however-many-times, but then after listening to a live version I "got" it. It's one of my favorites now 
