Am I the only one?

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gman

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Been a huge u2 fan since 1981. I dread to think how many hours over the years I have spent listening to them. BUT.....am i the only one that doesnt seem to have all the alternate versions of this , that and the next one of all the songs? I have a few bootlegs here and there, the dvds, vids etc and most of the original 7 and 12" vinyls (ah the good old days) up until Achtung Baby days, then it was cd singles from then on. Stopped collecting them around ATYCLB days. But when you lot talk of mercy and alternate versions of songs, I dont have a clue really. I wonder if this is because I feel that musically, U2 arent the force they once were and i think most of this stuff comes after ATYCLB. Anyone else in my boat?
 
their singles have really turned to crap the past couple albums
 
well, times they are a-changing...

perhaps it's changed your way of living U2 and you don't feel that's necessary to collect everything about them..
 
U2 have always been "hit or miss" with their singles, IMO. Some singles will feature new songs, some feature an alternative version of main song, some feature live songs, some feature cover songs and some feature remixes only. For example, I bet if we could go back to early 1992 and Interference existed then, there would have been an uproar over the "Mysterious Ways" CD as it only had remixes - no live songs, no cover songs, no new songs! The "All I Want Is You" CD featured cover songs and a shortened version of the main song (along with the album version). Would that be enough for fans? Based on what I've read on Interference over the years, probably not - there would still be a good majority complaining about the lack of new material or the live version of the song. "Vertigo" featured a nice mix - new song, cover song, remix. Yet even then fans weren't happy as they didn't really care for the songs. So it's really a no-win situation.

I collect the material still as I enjoy it. But if you don't, then hey, you saved $$. As was already stated, if U2 doesn't do it for you any more, so be it. While I enjoy ATYYCLB when it was released, with the exception of two dreadful songs, I adored HTDAAB and felt it was a vast improvement (again, barring those two songs, which I won't list as I don't want to deviate from topic). But that's me. I imagine if I wasn't as impressed with a few U2 albums, I may feel the same.

Hopefully, though, you suddenly don't feel remorseful about not buying these items when you could and then go back to fill in your collection later. That could be more costly.
 
I feel you too. I quit collecting around ATYCLB. There just were too many remixes for me to pay $12 for imports and not enough B-sides.

Us interferencers should collaborate and put a box set of B-sides/remixes for all to share :wink:
 
:hmm: at first, the thread's title reminded me of Nirvana's "Rape Me"

I guess since I"m a young person and not a fan from the beginning I'm starting my collection.. I do have the vertigo dvd single the Saints single and all three WITS singles, but that's it... I don't have the others, was too busy collecting money for the cds by the time COBL ABOY and OOTS were out... but I guess I'll buy them someday, IF I'd still be able to find them, since singles are getting rare these days... we do have a very old record shop, and I saw the Elevation single there... I'm going to get that somewhere in the future... they also had the MDH soundtrack.. perhaps I'd get that too... IMO, if I got the money, why not spend it on something I like? Yes, I already have most songs and remixes on my pc, but it's not the same...

I agree with Doctorwho that U2 simply can't win... especially here in EYKIW... but there will always be fans who will buy their stuff (yes, call them sheep as you wish, it doesn't make them less human!) so I guess they don't need to win all the time..
 
I really only look for singles if they have songs I've never heard before, or live songs. Remixes, I can do without them really. I haven't been a fan as long as you, but I don't really listen to U2...or any of my CD's all that often. In the past month, the only U2 songs I've listened to were ones that come on the radio. Mostly because I don't have a CD player in my car, I have one of those devices that play CD's on weak radio station signals but sometimes the weak radio station comes through so I don't use it that much.

I may be waning in being a music fan in general. Got 3 CD's I really wanted for awhile, but after I got them, listened to them a few times.

I'm just going through a period of boredom, bored with work, bored with tv, day to day life, lately I've just been going on the internet just to pass time.

Now that's just me.
 
Saints is worth buying because it supports Music Rising. But I don't go out of my way to buy U2 singles. I'd only rip them to my iPod and often downloads are cheaper, and it's easy enough to find free ones on the Web.
 
I won't order any of the singles...but...if I come across them in a store, I snap them up. :D I guess I feel less guilty about spending money if something just happens to be somewhere, as opposed to me seeking the stuff out.
 
I pretty much have all the singles from Achtung Baby onward. There are a couple of ones that are missing because they tend to recycle the same remixes over multiple singles.

The most irritating ones are from Zooropa: Numb was released as a VHS single (which is annoying but I have) and Lemon was released on Vinyl - which I saw in a used record store but was too stupid to buy at the time.:banghead:
 
gman said:
Been a huge u2 fan since 1981. I dread to think how many hours over the years I have spent listening to them. BUT.....am i the only one that doesnt seem to have all the alternate versions of this , that and the next one of all the songs? I have a few bootlegs here and there, the dvds, vids etc and most of the original 7 and 12" vinyls (ah the good old days) up until Achtung Baby days, then it was cd singles from then on. Stopped collecting them around ATYCLB days. But when you lot talk of mercy and alternate versions of songs, I dont have a clue really. I wonder if this is because I feel that musically, U2 arent the force they once were and i think most of this stuff comes after ATYCLB. Anyone else in my boat?

I'm with you Gman. I still buy most of the CD singles when they come out but not all 3 versions like I would have done one time. I also for the first time, declined to buy a U2 single recently, The Saints, basically because in my humble opinion it was shit. I love U2 as much as anyone, and like you i've been a hardcore fan since the 80's but I guess now I'm at the stage that I dont really need to buy something that I don't like to prove to myself that I'm a fan, but then again U2 never put out a single i didn't like enough to buy before.
 
Get in there Gav.Knew I could rely on you. We seem to be cut from the same cloth methinks in many ways when it comes to the two'ers. Totally agree about the saints single. Think its THE worst release linked to u2.
 
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