funny/ridiculous/stupid family views on U2

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Daveone

The Fly
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
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291
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A place called Vertigo
I'd just got in from work tonight as my mum and dad were going to bed and 'Pride' came on the TV. My mum turned round to me and said "I didn't know Bono was 44" (she knew this because of the 6-in-a-bed article in the paper yesterday, she loved the fact that he and Ali were childhood sweethearts). Anyway she said she thought he was similar age to her. My mum is 57 years old! I couldn't help but laugh, he does look older than 44 but 57 is going a little extreme. What was even funnier was that she said it in all seriousness and not merely mocking that Bono might look older than his age, she did truly believe he was entering his late 50s.

Whats even funnier is my dads unshakeable view that Bono is part of the IRA because of "something he saw on the telly years ago". Ever since i first really got into U2 around the time of the 2000-01 Brit awards he's constantly reminded me of his views. I just pity the damn dirty fool (as Mr T would say).

Anyway i was just wondering if you had any funny/ridiculous/ignorant tales of friends or family and U2? It's going to be hard to beat Bono's alliance with the IRA (he still doesn't listen to me when I play him Bullet THe Bly Sky from Slane Castle!).
 
My older sister was a HUGE fan of JT era U2. We're not very close and U2 is just about the only thing we have in common so I decided to try to do a little sibling bonding with her in anticipation of the new record, which had not yet come out when we had this conversation. She said that after JT they lost their creative edge because they all settled down into family life. I said, um, did you ever even listen to Achtung Baby?! Or Pop? Yeah, real boring records made by dull family men. I think she listened to AB a couple of times and dismissed it and the band. She missed a great decade.

Ok, that's not all that interesting I guess. :|
 
my father thought every U2 song was a cover of some famous and much better song written by a much better band from the 60's. he just didn't want to admit U2 were a good band or something.
 
Daveone said:


Whats even funnier is my dads unshakeable view that Bono is part of the IRA because of "something he saw on the telly years ago". Ever since i first really got into U2 around the time of the 2000-01 Brit awards he's constantly reminded me of his views. I just pity the damn dirty fool (as Mr T would say).

Castle!).
Click to expand...

Bono and the IRA....just play him the speech before Sunday Bloody Sunday on the Rattle and Hum film where he gives "the fuck the revolution speech" then ask your Dad what he thinks about Bono.
 
Wow. You also have an IRA Bono story? A very big radio talk show host in my area has condemned Bono for being a friend to the IRA, which I thought ridiculous. Even though I like this guy, he obviously doesn't have his facts straight.

Spread the news: BONO IS NOT AN ALLY OF THE IRA.
 
Yes, some friends I have think all U2 songs are like The Sweetest Thing and that Edge is a bad guitar player cause he doesn't do many solos. :| No matter how many times I show them songs like The Fly, Bullet The Blue Sky, Love And Peace Or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Gone, Vertigo... they still think the same way. Bastards!! If I didn't liked them I would totally kick their dumb asses!!! :banghead:
 
My moms is obviously aware of U2 because I'm such a huge fan, but she never saw them in action until the 2002 Super Bowl half time show. After seeing them, she said to me:

1) "Oh my goodness. They are so loud. How do you handle them being so loud? Oh well, you're probably used to it by now."

2) "Who's the young kid behind the drum kit?"

3) "You're right, Jenny. Bono is short."
 
My family loves U2, so no disparaging or funny comments there, but my best friend can't stand them. He says the lyrics are "corny" and always about love :madspit:

He's an idiot, obviously :mad:
 
I became a U2 fan when I was 13. My sister (3 years older than me) hated U2, basically only because I loved them so much. :lol: :mad: When I was 15, the Pop Mart Tour rolled around. Our parents got tickets for the nearest concert for all four of us to go. It was about a four hour drive to the concert, and my sister kept bitching about how she wished she could be back home doing something with her friends that is actually fun. For the majority of the concert, she sat on her chair with her arms folded across her chest, looking down. :shocked: :mad:

When ATYCLB was released though...she became a fan. :D
 
Most of my family thinks that I have a crazy obsession with U2. If I start to talk about the new album or quote some lyrics, they all just roll their eyes at me. I go out of my way to assist them becoming fans. I burn CD's for them, I forward articles, and I tell them when to catch them on TV. However, they still roll their eyes at me. They tell me that I'm crazy. I fight back and tell about all of us at interference.

I think if I wasn't so passionate about the band, maybe they would like them more. Who knows?

On a happier note, my brother is coming around. I think there is hope for him being a fan.
 
When I was 14 my best friend and I started a fund (pennies in empty pop bottles) to go see them when they rolled into Detroit during ZOO TV. My dad finally said one day he'd go get us tickets. :hyper:

He had gone out to get them, and I was anxiously waiting for him to come back. He returned, and told me that they had all sold out. I must have looked absolutely heartbroken because just then he whipped out two tickets and told me as I began to cry that he was just kidding!

What a dirty trick to pull on a teenager! :shame:

My mom, on the other hand, will ask me to make her mixes and make it a point to tell me if she likes one of their songs. I played HTDAAB on Thanksgiving day, and when SYCMIOYO came on she looked up from chopping onions and said, "I like that one,", lol.
 
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When U2 came here to Edmonton, during Popmart my father didnt know who U2 was. He was asking who that Bono guy is on TV and then I said I was going to the concert and he said where are they playing, the shaw conference center which only holds about 2000 people maximum....and then I stated no they are playing the stadium twice which had a total of over 120 thousand fans there...his eyes almost popped out of his head.

Since then hes got me to bring out my U2 CDs at family gatherings and other parties what I find in the gerneral public of "non hardcores" is that people either like them or hate them there is nothing in between.
 
Just a funny "Mom" story here. My mom always like U2 b/c they visited Graceland in Rattle & Hum (big Elvis fans in my fam) Anyway, my g-friend at the time had quite the crush on Bono and my mom became convinced Bono was the best looking singer since Elvis

Then they came to Hershey (30 minutes or so from my parents house) to rehearse Zoo Tv and my g-friend and I went to the HBG Hilton (where Bono & Edge stayed for the week) and got to meet them. Thing is, neither my g-friend or I realized exactly HOW SHORT Bono is!

Now, everytime U2 comes on the radio, my Mom still shakes her head and says, "Its just such a shame he's so small"
 
My dad loves U2, he was the one who got me into U2 in the first place, he loves the live version of ISHFWILF on Rattle and Hum. My mom on the other hand thinks that Bono is a huge egomaniac and rolls her eyes when ever a photo of B comes pops up in a magazine or he's on tv; however she does have a crush on Larry.
 
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My brother is a closet U2 fan, and he's been listening to them for as long as I have, but the only band he really loves is Metallica. My Dad likes teasing me about the band and how they're aging ( especially Bono), although I know he respects all of the guys as musicians. My Mom doesn't listen to much U2, but she likes their music and she'll sit down with me and watch the DVD's I have or even ask me to put some songs on her mp3 player. She loves "Stuck in a moment". :up:
 
starsgoblue said:
My 84 year old grandmother STILL calls him Boh-no after all these years....:rolleyes:

She does clip U2/Bono pics and articles when she sees them for me for though...so I can't be too mad at her!
Click to expand...

aww... that's so sweet :)
 
My dad had JT when I was growing up. I remember listening to it when we'd drive from Green River, Wyoming to Utah to visit family for Christmas and other things. I have to tell you that it helped that drive go by faster. He didn't really continue with them but I gave him a copy of ATYCLB and he really liked it.

My mom is clueless when it comes to any music past the early 70s. She also has no idea how the music industry works. Just the other day she emailed me and said she was listening to a song I had recorded with a band I was in and thought, "Boy, you should get that song on the radio." When it comes to U2, they might as well be the Pet Shop Boys because she has no idea. But I still love her.

My brother refused to like U2 while we were in high school--sibling rivalry, I guess. But, I bought him JT and AB for Christmas any way. He ended up liking them quite a bit. Just the other day he called and asked about the new album and if I liked it. Good kid.

I live in Salt Lake and went with a friend to Denver for the fist leg of the last tour. We stayed with my aunt and uncle. I felt so bad that my teenage cousins new NOTHING about U2. We had taken our guitars so we played a few U2 tunes. My cousin said, "Oh that's cool, but listen to this." He then played us "Bye, Bye Miss American Pie" and a few John Denver tunes. That poor unfortunate child. There was no helping him and I gave up.

The best was when one of my friends in high school swore that Bono was a cocaine addict. He said that in the Sydney video when he's dressed as McPhisto his eyes looked just like an addict's. I knew my friend had no idea what he was talking about. Then he bought Boy and War and loved U2.

Okay, so even better was another friend that honestly thought that, other than Bono, U2 was a bunch of lesbians because he had seen the One video. Then he saw EBTTRT and Mysterious Ways and quickly changed his mind.

Some people are so dense.
Some people can be helped and then
some people are completely lost.


Keep the stories coming. I loved reading them so far.
 
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My family isn't really into rock music so usually they will hear U2 blasting from my heaphones, when I watch concerts on DVD, Rattle and Hum or The Best Of.

Funny/Annoying family moments:

1. My Mom dancing to Lemon. :lol:

2. My sister telling me "that guy you like (Bono) is on the news" during the Brooklyn concert. She thinks Bono is a solo artist. :rolleyes:

3. My sister saying "Does he have a brother because he is damn fine!" about Bono. :lmao:

4. The Boh-no comments :angry:

5. My 12 year old niece telling me "He's cute!!" as she points to Larry when I was watching the Best Of DVD. Now she has a crush on him.

6. My Mom "trying" to sing along to Beautiful Day when I was watching the Best Of DVD. :lol:

7. My Mom saying "That white guy can sing" after watching the Kirk Franklin/Lean on Me Video. :rolleyes:

8. My sister saying the lyrics in Lemon are stupid because it doesn't sound like Bono is referring to his mother. :angry: :scream:

9. My sister responding to me: "U2 is still around?! Isn't that the group that sung with or Without You?" :tsk:

10. Hearing my niece sing U2 lyrics.

11. Seeing my 2 year old nephew try to dance when I was watching the Slane Castle DVD. He really responds to music. He was jumping up and down for Elevation. :cute:



Edited to add:

12. Telling my niece Larry's age and seeing the expression on her face. Priceless.
 
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My mother was never a U2 fan, per se, but she was aware of them, and took something an interest in them because it was something I was big on.

Thinking back, I remember she mentioned once how 'gorgeous' Bono was in his pre-Joshua Tree phase (she dug the lion's mane hair he sported at Self Aid). And she went nuts over 'Miss Sarajevo' when Bono, Edge, and Eno performed it with Pavarotti (she was a big opera fan). And, she thought songs like 'Stay' and 'If God Will Send His Angels' were pretty.

Oh, and she commandeered my BOY T-shirt! That was funny. I think I wore it once or twice, and then, suddenly, it became Mom's shirt (she also stole my Dead Milkmen shirt). Which was probably not such a bad thing, because there's something vaguely pedophilic about a guy wearing a T-shirt with a young, shirtless boy on it.

But, Mom's taste ran toward the stuff she grew up with, like the Everley Brothers and Roy Orbison and Simon & Garfunkel and The Mamas & The Papas (she was actually childhood friends with Ellen 'Mama Cass' Cohen). The only modern bands she liked were Clannad and The Commitments (both having U2 connections).

With my father, the only reason U2 ever showed up on his radar is because I'm a fan. He couldn't have less interest in them, or the majority of modern music. He still clips out newspaper articles for me when he comes across them. But, I know if I ever tried to make him listen to a U2 album, he'd go nuts.
 
After 23 yrs, my family has learned to amusedly tolerate my obsession. My Mom understands it b/c she has a lifelong Elvis fandom. She has seen him live at the Comeback Special in Vegas.

She is really beginning to annoy me however. She used to be a fan (or so she says, but I never saw her buying a U2 album)...She thinks Bono is Bush's "drinking buddy and is kissing his a**." No matter how much I try to explain about the delicate balancing act he must play between the different political parties in the US in oder to advance the cause of DATA, she refuses to listen. She thinks U2 is a corporation who has "sold out" and and recently has actually begun to act hostile towards them. She and I have had arguments aobut this that have not always ended pleasantly. Once I yelled at her about why Elvis never sold Graceland and went back to live in a shack in Tupelo, and gave his fortune to feed the poor. Which made me feel awful, b/c I've read so much abou thim and he really was a kind and caring person who did so much for people..., inwardly I didn;t want to say that, that wasn't the example I wanted to use, but I am sick and tired of her comparing U2 unfavorably as moral example for others to follow, in comparison with Elvis. Elvis may have been just as good a person as Bono, but....Iwell, won't go there...sje refuses to educate herself mre about the band and Bono in particular, and she as a stubborn PARENT insists she is right.

I can't even bring up the band now without her making some smartass crack about how much "Bono is stealing from innocent people like you." I can't understand her hostile tone..it puzzles and dismays me. I didn't even tell her the Deluxe Editon even existed (she thinks there is only 1 version) and I dread telling her about the tour. "("Those money-grubbing corporate bastards, sucking from their fans.":sad: )

I feel so bad about this. Nothing I can do, no article I can show her, can change her mind. Not that I care about anything she says, becuase I'm the lifeling fan and she knows nothng more aobut them than what she reads in the mainstream media...
 
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Teta040 said:
After 23 yrs, my family has learned to amusedly tolerate my obsession. My Mom understands it b/c she has a lifelong Elvis fandom. She has seen him live at the Comeback Special in Vegas.

She is really beginning to annoy me however. She used to be a fan (or so she says, but I never saw her buying a U2 album)...She thinks Bono is Bush's "drinking buddy and is kissing his a**." No matter how much I try to explain about the delicate balancing act he must play between the different political parties in the US in oder to advance the cause of DATA, she refuses to listen. She thinks U2 is a corporation who has "sold out" and and recently has actually begun to act hostile towards them. She and I have had arguments aobut this that have not always ended pleasantly. Once I yelled at her about why Elvis never sold Graceland and lived in a shack in Tupelo. Which made me feel awful, b/c I've read so much abou thim and he really was a kind and caring person who did so much for people..., inwardly I didn;t want to say that, that wasn't the example I wanted to use, but I am sick and tired of her comparing U2 unfavorably as moral example for others to follow, in comparison with Elvis. Elvis may have been just as good a person as Bono, but....Iwell, won't go there...

I can't even bring up the band now without her making some smartass crack about how much "Bono is stealing from innocent people like you." I can't understand her hostile tone..it puzzles and dismays me. I didn't even tell her the Deluxe Editon even existed (she thinks there is only 1 version) and I dread telling her about the tour. "("Those money-grubbing corporate bastards, sucking from their fans.":sad: )

I feel so bad about this. Nothing I can do, no article I can show her, can change her mind. Not that I care about anything she says, becuase I'm the lifeling fan and she knows nothng more aobut them than what she reads in the mainstream media...
Click to expand...


:hug: :hug:
My family wouldn't know anything about U2
is it wasn't for me. My mother (and most people in my neighborhood) thinks rock music is loud garbage. I used to never tell anyone about my music taste because they would say some terrible things like: "Why do you listen to that crap" or "People like us do not listen to that type of music." :scream: :tsk:
 
My sister laughed at Bono's falsetto from the Zoo Europa bootleg (during "Can't Help Falling in Love"). :rolleyes:

Oh, and I'm another one who has family members who call him Boh-no, just to bug me.
 
Oh no...I just remembered a time when my mother sang a rousing rendition of Mysterious Ways....drunk as a skunk. I was drunk at the time too so it was hilarious and I fell over backwards off my seat. :huh: God, I love that woman.
 
Everyone I know says Boh-no to annoy me, but by this point I know what they are doing I I just ignore it.

My mom thinks U2 consists of Bono, Bono, Bono, and Bono. I have repeatedly told her that no, U2 is a 4 piece band who come up with their music creatively together. Her response: "But Bono runs the show". D'oh!!! I did try to play her HTDAAB, and she "listened to it" as she did things around the kitchen. I asked her about it and she said she liked SYCMIOYO. Wow, what a surprise, I thought for sure she would have said Love and Peace or Else. Another little story about my mom. We were on a car trip once, her and I, a couple years ago and this is when I was first starting to get big into U2, like I now had all the albums. I proceeded to play every U2 album in chronologcal order on the car cd player because I wanted her to hear them so badly. By the time I got to AB, so had had enough. She was ready for the A,M, dial to be truned on. Oh, and my mom keeps telling me that she is going to write a letter to Bono just to tell him how much I am obsessed with him (again, she doesn't know U2 are 4 people). I am like, ok mom, but he will never read it, let alone get the letter.

My slightly younger brother likes the edge and some of their music (I burned him all their albums), but doesn't care for Bono all that much because he isn't just playing his music like a rock star should. He thinks Bono had some alterior motive for his humanities work. I think he does it mostly to annoy me, though.

My Dad likes their stuff somewhat, i guess. He hasn't really heard their 90's stuff, but does like JT, Stuck in a Moment, and Yahweh.

I did teach my 4 little cousins, whom I see all the time, the names of the guys in the band. Everytime I go to their house, I quiz them and they do pretty well. My aunt e-mailed me once not too long ago:

"What's going on? I just had to let you know that all my kids (except Eamon, he only know Bono), know all the names of the guys in U2. Now I know what you guys do when I'm not around! It was funny and sort of impressive!"

Muhahahahahahaha! Eamon is was only 2, so I'll let it go this time!! :macdevil:

My grandma calls me whenever she sees Bono on t.v.

My best friend is the only one who understands. She got me into U2 and we both love them like no other band. :hug:
 
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