How long have you been a U2 fan ?

[Hanover]

25 glorious years....yep, I'm a veteran! I deserve a round of applause so I'm treating myself to one...Bono keeps reiterating "Thank you for giving us a great life"...well. I'll like to reverse that here and officially declare..."Thanks U2 for giving me a great life."

Nice post....interesting to know how long we've been into U2.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Originally posted by neutral
Wow lots of very long time fans here.

No kidding. Man, some of you saw them on the "Tom Snyder" show-that would've been quite interesting, seeing them back when they were just starting out. A question to those of you who've been fans since the early days: did you have any idea that they'd become as big as they are now?

Some of you also got to see some neat concerts of theirs, too...I can't wait until the day when I hopefully will have a concert story to share.

Also, to Reggie and Popmartijn's posts. Well said, guys. .

Angela

 

[Scarletwine]

Also a veteran - of 22 yrs.

1982 MTV - Gloria video made me go wow, but Red Rocks set me up for life.

 

[ylimeU2]

Unofficially 1987 (or somewhere around there) , when I was five! My brother got JT and Michael Jackson's Thriller, along with a record player for his birthday. I was scared to death of Michael Jackson (mainly because of a video), but I loved JT. I used to try to play it, and I ruined the record and very nearly ruined the record player. So, my parents bout my brother a new album and got a tape for me. They said when they played it in the car, or around the house, I would be quiet! I don't remember that, but I do remember trying to play the record. I became an "official" fan a year or so after Achtung Baby came out. My parents had recently gotten divorced and I heard UTEOTW on the radio. I identified with the feelings of betrayal in the song, and I got the CD shortly there after. Somehow, the songs made me feel like my feelings were okay like nothing else did. I have been hooked ever since.

 

[rivergoat]

voiceover: Welcome to U2 Anonymous. Why don't you give us your name and tell us a little about your addiction?

HI. MY NAME IS RIVERGOAT AND I AM A U2 ADDICT.

Polite applause

Ahem..
U2 has been my favorite music since I first heard New Year's Day on the radio back when it debuted - I was 11 years old. I got all of their albums and copied them to cassette (I still have those cassettes, my ex destroyed all my vinyl). I've since copied those cassettes onto my computer because I got so used to hearing certain pops and clicks from the records that the songs don't seem the same without them!

Shortly after I became a fan, I went through some truly awful experiences (when I was 12-13) and I remember just listening to their albums over and over and over and over again. I feel like I owe them my life, or at least my sanity. U2 became welded to my soul in that time period, and have been an integral part of my life ever since. Sorry, a bit heavy there...

A question to those of you who've been fans since the early days: did you have any idea that they'd become as big as they are now?

It's funny, I'll never forget my older brother (who was into bands like Rush, Ozzy Osborne, Styx, etc) saying things like "They can't play music! There's no real guitar playing! There's no real drums! Etc etc".. and my older sister laughing at me because I listened to "that crap - they're just like every other one-hit wonder out there" while she was listening to bands like Duran Duran and some other teeny-boppers whose names I forget.. hee hee.. Nowadays my sister gives me U2 CDs and DVDs - from her own collection.. Sorry, petty childhood triumphs, but I still laugh over all that stuff when I listen to them.

I can still get that 'new fan' feeling digging up old tunes like the Twilight single (O. My. God. that song is awful! No wonder I never kept a copy of it!) and catching hold of early concert boots. I had serious flashbacks watching the Slane documentary off the DVD - I haven't had a copy of that tape since my ex trashed it, sometime in the early 90s. U2 have been around so long (and my collection just keeps growing so much) that I seem to always discovering something new - or rediscovering it.

I guess I'm not your 'normal' U2 addict - I don't get into all the little details. I received all the books written about them over the years (my family seems to feel they're safe Christmas presents), but I never read them (they trade well at the bookstore though). I am into the music - I love the MUSIC. They say if you know how the magician does his tricks, it's not magic anymore - and I love the magic. }~ That's why I'll never pick up the Salome outtakes, for example. And maybe I'm old fashioned, but I just believe their private life is none of my business. I don't even think I'd ask for an autograph if I ever met them - I don't really know what the point would be. Maybe I'm just weird. }~

So I'll just listen to them in my car, have their songs running through my head while I'm working, listen to them on my headphones full blast while I'm at my computer (like right now).. forget the ice, forget the fruit juice, just give it to me straight up!

Okay okay, I'll admit it... I can't control my addiction.. y'all have a 12-step program or something?

goat

}8D~

voiceover: Thank you! A round of applause for rivergoat!

Polite applause

 

[Diane L]

I've been listening to U2 since about '81-82. "Gloria" was the first song of theirs that made a big impact on me. The first album I bought of theirs was "War."
I remember seeing a video for "Pride" on MTV at 6:30 in the morning and thinking "I have to buy that record NOW!!!" I was visiting a former boss of mine in L.A. at the time, and I was figuring out how I could get to Tower Records to do just that!
By JT, I would automatically buy any album of theirs right when it came out. And my best friend had great luck getting tickets to their shows, so I saw them four times.
The day after the 2002 Grammys, I just couldn't stop thinking about Bono. I started looking for U2 sites on the Internet, found Interference...and I've been a bigger fan than ever before ever since!

 

[Saracene]

I've been a casual fan since The Best of 1990-2000 came out, but it all kicked into overdrive in 2000 after ATYCLB came out. I can't say there was any single "wow" spine-tingling moment from which my fandom started; it's just that the more I discovered about the band - the music, the live shows, the mythology - the larger my interest grew.

 

[greety]

Way back, december 1980 my brother came home from uni and brought his latest new albums. I was 15,he was 20
I'd sneak through it to see if there would be something interesting.
I stumbled onto this beautiful, simple white-ish album with this nice boy on it... pulled it out of his collection and asked what it was as it didn't ring any bells
My brother said "put it on,you might know the first song".
I remember thinking " no way, that name and title, i have never heard.
Put it on and to my surprise I had heard it on the radio maybe once or twice. Needless to say I was immediately sold. That voice and sound!! WOW I taped his LP and listened to in my room many times until the next abum came along.
Sadly, I haven't been a fanatic fan over the years.
Back in 1980,hardly anyone in my (girsl)school knew U2. Then in the late 80's I was having my hands full with my kids
I heard them on the radio occationaly and still liked them but somehow didn't buy the albums.
Anyhow, with ATYCLB coming out, I started looking on the net and gathered more info on the band than I ever found in a magazine. (bandstory-bio's)
Since than I've been collecting everything I can get my hands on and now my family calls me a FREAK

 

[A_Wanderer]

Oddly enough when I got pop for my birthday I really liked what I heard then looked around and found out that all these songs I had heard on the radio for years that I really liked were JT stuff, I was a fan before I was a U2 fan.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I remember we got cable around the time of Sunday Bloody Sunday, but anytime I flipped on Mtv I thought, "Who are these weirdos?". Then, a couple of years later, at 9 years old, I saw the WOWY video and was hooked. The real obsession didn't come until 1992, with Achtung Baby at the age of 13/14.

 

[fah]

My brother bought 'Boy' when it was released. I listened and I was hooked. He wouldn't let me play his copy so I had to go out buy my own.