Starsgoblue, I wouldn't flame you for that. I think that's a wonderful story and I relate to it in a lot of ways. I was at the JT concert in Tampa back in 87 and I felt something.... Now, I would call it spirtuality. I remember everyone walking out of the stadium arm and arm singing "40". That is a feeling I will never forget and it made me cry. I still remember the feeling now so I know that those feelings will stay with you and they will continue to help you when you remember them. Thanks for that story.
When/how did you first become a U2 fan?
- Thread starter wolf Q
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The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
starsgoblue
Blue Crack Addict
Bono'sDoll[/i] Starsgoblue--you might not believe this--but as I was reading your post--Walk On came on the radio. What a feeling! They have helped me spiritually as well--made me see that I don't have to be perfect said:
Thanks for liking my story. I'm shy about sharing it sometimes....
I would love to go to a concert one day and have them play '40' for the final song and have everyone chanting it long after the music stopped--how lucky you are.
Siren
Acrobat
This is a personal experience for me too:
I first heard U2 when I was about 9 or 10 when I saw the WOWY video. That's when my crush on Bono began. The song was stuck in my head for weeks. The thing is that I live in a neighborhood and come from a family who doesn't like rock music.
I wasn't able to get JT from any local record store (they only sold r&b and rap tapes) or borrow it from any friends. At that time I never even listened to other radio staions that was different from what was popular in the neighborhood. So for years after I didn't hear much about the band. I didn't start listening to rock music until I was 13 which I kept hidden from my classmates due to fear of being teased. Fate stepped in and Rattle and Hum was broadcast on television when I was about 16. I watched it and I loved it. I rediscovered U2. Rattle and Hum was the first U2 cd I bought. I had to go out to a major store just to get the cd (or rock music in general). I was hooked since then. Now I have most of their cds.
So I'm the only U2 fan in the family. I broke the cycle of rap/r&b fans.
I still get funny looks when I tell people what music I like. It doesn't bother me anymore.
I first heard U2 when I was about 9 or 10 when I saw the WOWY video. That's when my crush on Bono began. The song was stuck in my head for weeks. The thing is that I live in a neighborhood and come from a family who doesn't like rock music.
I wasn't able to get JT from any local record store (they only sold r&b and rap tapes) or borrow it from any friends. At that time I never even listened to other radio staions that was different from what was popular in the neighborhood. So for years after I didn't hear much about the band. I didn't start listening to rock music until I was 13 which I kept hidden from my classmates due to fear of being teased. Fate stepped in and Rattle and Hum was broadcast on television when I was about 16. I watched it and I loved it. I rediscovered U2. Rattle and Hum was the first U2 cd I bought. I had to go out to a major store just to get the cd (or rock music in general). I was hooked since then. Now I have most of their cds. So I'm the only U2 fan in the family. I broke the cycle of rap/r&b fans.
I still get funny looks when I tell people what music I like. It doesn't bother me anymore.
macphister
The Fly
I had always been aware of U2, but it took me a long time to understand them and really get into them.
The first U2 song I owned was "All I Want Is You" on the Reality Bites soundtrack...back around 1990, I was 13. I thought the song was okay....a little to instrumental towards the end for my taste at the time.
A few years later in '93/'94, a friend played me "Numb" and "Lemon" which I liked so much, I went out and bought Zooropa, my first U2 album. I barely listened to it.
A year or 2 later, I'm at a friend's house and a couple people are on the couch watching the ZooTV tape. I got there just as Mr. MacPhisto had mosey-ed out onto stage and I just didn't get it. I remember asking, "This is U2?"......I was thinking of JT-era Bono. I didn't watch very long.
Then in the summer of '97, PopMart comes to Philly. I was down at UPenn that night (the show was at UPenn's Franklin Field) and during what must have been Bullet The Blue Sky, these blue spotlights shot up from the stadium into the sky. I thought it was cool enough that I bought Pop.....and from that point on, I've been hooked.
Mofo and Please sucked me in, forced me to find my old Zooropa CD....and smack myself in the head for not realizing its genius years before. Got the rest of their albums and videos.....watched ZooTV again and now worship at the altar of MacPhisto and count All I Want Is You as one of my favorites....especially Edge's opening of the floodgates of sonic euphoria at the end that I hadn't liked the first time.
I'm making my first pilgrimmage to Dublin at the end of December.
The first U2 song I owned was "All I Want Is You" on the Reality Bites soundtrack...back around 1990, I was 13. I thought the song was okay....a little to instrumental towards the end for my taste at the time.
A few years later in '93/'94, a friend played me "Numb" and "Lemon" which I liked so much, I went out and bought Zooropa, my first U2 album. I barely listened to it.
A year or 2 later, I'm at a friend's house and a couple people are on the couch watching the ZooTV tape. I got there just as Mr. MacPhisto had mosey-ed out onto stage and I just didn't get it. I remember asking, "This is U2?"......I was thinking of JT-era Bono. I didn't watch very long.
Then in the summer of '97, PopMart comes to Philly. I was down at UPenn that night (the show was at UPenn's Franklin Field) and during what must have been Bullet The Blue Sky, these blue spotlights shot up from the stadium into the sky. I thought it was cool enough that I bought Pop.....and from that point on, I've been hooked.
Mofo and Please sucked me in, forced me to find my old Zooropa CD....and smack myself in the head for not realizing its genius years before. Got the rest of their albums and videos.....watched ZooTV again and now worship at the altar of MacPhisto and count All I Want Is You as one of my favorites....especially Edge's opening of the floodgates of sonic euphoria at the end that I hadn't liked the first time.
I'm making my first pilgrimmage to Dublin at the end of December.
macphistofreak
The Fly
I envy all of you that have been with them since the beginning!!!
I am a newbie compared to all of you. It was back in 2000, and I was 12 years old. With or Without You was on the 80s station my mom was listening to, and I asked her who it was and she told me it was U2. I remember asking her if she had liked them in the 80s. She told me they were ok, but she preferred Journey and Rush.
So time goes on and I heard their songs every so often on the radio. ATYCLB comes out (I didn't know that at the time) and I started hearing Beautiful Day on the radio and loved it.
Then in November of 2001 my mom asked me if I wanted to go to a U2 concert. I told her sure and then I made her buy me ATYCLB and The Best Of so I knew some of their songs. Haha, I didn't know about any of the other albums at the time. I was missing so much and I didn't even realize it. We went to the concert and I fell in love. I fell in love with a man that was 28 years older than me. And did that bother me? Not at all. That concert was 3 years ago this month and I am completely obsessed. I rarely listen to any other band. Why should I? U2 has enough material to listen to for a lifetime, yet they keep coming out with more! Go lads!
U2 has helped me through major changes in my life including my parent's divorce, moving to a new place, and having to leave my friends, my dad, and my memories behind. I am a stronger person because of U2. There is an album or song for every emotion and thought, so I am never alone. Bono has stood beside me during my highest highs and my lowest lows. He's gone on long car trips with me, kept me company when I was lonely, and has never failed to put a smile on my face when I most need it. U2 has given me things that those damn punk bands today never could. Thank God for U2. Wait... I thought Bono is God? That's what it says on my shirt. So does that mean I'm thanking Bono for himself? Sure, why not! Love you lots Bono, Edge, Larry, Adam!
I am a newbie compared to all of you. It was back in 2000, and I was 12 years old. With or Without You was on the 80s station my mom was listening to, and I asked her who it was and she told me it was U2. I remember asking her if she had liked them in the 80s. She told me they were ok, but she preferred Journey and Rush.
So time goes on and I heard their songs every so often on the radio. ATYCLB comes out (I didn't know that at the time) and I started hearing Beautiful Day on the radio and loved it.
Then in November of 2001 my mom asked me if I wanted to go to a U2 concert. I told her sure and then I made her buy me ATYCLB and The Best Of so I knew some of their songs. Haha, I didn't know about any of the other albums at the time. I was missing so much and I didn't even realize it. We went to the concert and I fell in love. I fell in love with a man that was 28 years older than me. And did that bother me? Not at all. That concert was 3 years ago this month and I am completely obsessed. I rarely listen to any other band. Why should I? U2 has enough material to listen to for a lifetime, yet they keep coming out with more! Go lads!
U2 has helped me through major changes in my life including my parent's divorce, moving to a new place, and having to leave my friends, my dad, and my memories behind. I am a stronger person because of U2. There is an album or song for every emotion and thought, so I am never alone. Bono has stood beside me during my highest highs and my lowest lows. He's gone on long car trips with me, kept me company when I was lonely, and has never failed to put a smile on my face when I most need it. U2 has given me things that those damn punk bands today never could. Thank God for U2. Wait... I thought Bono is God? That's what it says on my shirt. So does that mean I'm thanking Bono for himself? Sure, why not! Love you lots Bono, Edge, Larry, Adam!
Bono's shades
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
I went to junior high and high school in the early to mid-1980s but somehow missed hearing any U2 songs at that time. Nobody I knew was into them, they were never played on the radio stations in the hick town where I lived and my family didn't have cable so we didn't get MTV. I went off to college, and then sometime in March or April of 1987 I was in my dorm room early in the morning, getting ready to go to class. I had the radio on like usual, and the DJ announced they were going to play a new U2 song after the commercial break. I was intrigued because by this time I had vaguely heard of the band and their tremendous reputation. Well, the commercials came and went, and the most beautiful song I had ever heard started playing. It turned out to be "With or Without You." It was like a door to a new world was opened to me that day.
AquariumDrinker
The Fly
My first exposure to U2 was buying the Mission Impossible Theme single by Larry and Adam (didn't know who they were until later). But that's not the real story:
Freshman year of high school ('96). An algebra project required me to take some statistics on the costs of something. So I ended up in a record store (don't remember if the project was specifically for albums or not). Anyways, I decided to buy the Joshua Tree when I was there. All of the U2 songs I had heard before I liked (at the time though, I could name only two: ISHFWILF and WOWY) and I knew the album was considered to be really good. So I bought it. And it took me a while to get into it, but I'm glad I did. A great sonic ride it has been and continues to be.
Freshman year of high school ('96). An algebra project required me to take some statistics on the costs of something. So I ended up in a record store (don't remember if the project was specifically for albums or not). Anyways, I decided to buy the Joshua Tree when I was there. All of the U2 songs I had heard before I liked (at the time though, I could name only two: ISHFWILF and WOWY) and I knew the album was considered to be really good. So I bought it. And it took me a while to get into it, but I'm glad I did. A great sonic ride it has been and continues to be.
Jack In The Box
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
with ATYCLB 
well, I was a little sad for these days, and my mom, without reason bought me ATYCLB (I still don't know why), I used to listen to another kind of music, very different, I played the album and I lay down on my bed, then magic appeared in my room, I felt something that pushed the sadness of myself, Beautiful Day was that song and with the whole album was the same... they saved in a very specific time in my life
and after listen to U2, I discovered a ton of new bands and new music... ah, yes, and I bought all U2 albums in half a year
that's my story
well, I was a little sad for these days, and my mom, without reason bought me ATYCLB (I still don't know why), I used to listen to another kind of music, very different, I played the album and I lay down on my bed, then magic appeared in my room, I felt something that pushed the sadness of myself, Beautiful Day was that song and with the whole album was the same... they saved in a very specific time in my life
and after listen to U2, I discovered a ton of new bands and new music... ah, yes, and I bought all U2 albums in half a year
that's my story
dano
The Fly
Staring at the Sun. I still remember the exact moment I heard it. I was driving back up Pacific Coast Highway after having taken my SATs and the song came on KROQ and I was hooked by the time it was over. POP was the first U2 album that I owned.
popsadie
Acrobat
Beautiful stories. I too have had experiences that reminded me of the love and logic behind this universe at u2 concerts. Seriously. Its strange, but tonight I broke down in tears toward the end of a church service. Surrounded by christians and seemingly basking in his love just 10 minutes prior....I suddenly felt low and unloved. Belonging has always been hard for me; and at that moment in time, memories of my past rejections came flooding back. Anyway, tonight- thanks to stars- I was reminded that it's not about me trying to be perfect and accepted, its about Him. You don't know how much I needed to hear that. Thank You.
Regarding first exposure to u2-
Well, my parents were old school fans, so I remember listening to sunday bloody sunday at the tender age of 5. However, I didn't become a big fan until my senior year of high school. As a graduation present, my father presented me with 2 tickets to the Dallas pop show. I bouight pop and war immediately after the show. I listened to those CD's all summer and when I started university at OU that fall, I borrowed a friend's copy of Joshua Tree. This set off a u2 fandom which reached madness after seeing them a second time that year in San Antonio. I've been a fan now for almost eight years, the longest I've ever been a fan of anything. Their music reminds me of my conscience and at times acts like moonlight when I feel like I can't handle the burning sun rays. Yes, u2 are more than a band for me too.
Regarding first exposure to u2-
Well, my parents were old school fans, so I remember listening to sunday bloody sunday at the tender age of 5. However, I didn't become a big fan until my senior year of high school. As a graduation present, my father presented me with 2 tickets to the Dallas pop show. I bouight pop and war immediately after the show. I listened to those CD's all summer and when I started university at OU that fall, I borrowed a friend's copy of Joshua Tree. This set off a u2 fandom which reached madness after seeing them a second time that year in San Antonio. I've been a fan now for almost eight years, the longest I've ever been a fan of anything. Their music reminds me of my conscience and at times acts like moonlight when I feel like I can't handle the burning sun rays. Yes, u2 are more than a band for me too.
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Heartland Kid
The Fly
Got into u2 when I was about 10. My brother and sister are both big fans. But I think I've turned into a bigger fan than both of them.
starsgoblue
Blue Crack Addict
popsadie said:
C'mere you!
popsadie
Acrobat
Thank You.
trevster2k
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2001
- Messages
- 4,330
I was introduced to U2 through my best friend's older brother. He made us listen to New Years Day on January 1st, 1984. Since then I have continued this tradition and it is the first song I hear when I wake up the first day of the year. My sister just had a baby girl earlier this year and one of the gifts I gave my niece was her very own copy of The Joshua Tree. Perhaps she will be writing a simliar thread saying how she got her first U2 cd when she was 3 months old. My sister chose U2 Greatest Hits 1980-1990 as music during her delivery so I'm sure my niece will be a U2 fan for life.
Peace out!
Peace out!
I want to thank EVERYONE who has had the courage to post your innermost thoughts and feelings about U2's significance in your lives.
It confirms for me what I have heard and seen and felt about U2 over the 23 (almost 24) years that I have been avidly following them.
Some people aren't comfortable with U2's very apparent spiritual nature and effect that they have on people. These people probably aren't comfortable in general with spirituality and/or themselves and so attack others because of their spiritual experiences, especially with U2 and their music.
But that shouldn't discourage people to SPEAK THEIR HEARTS about U2 - I'm sure the band appreciates our positive comments and would ENCOURAGE US TO KEEP SPEAKING THEM!
So, I will now post my own life experiences with U2 through their music and their lives - but I just needed to express myself on this subject.
It confirms for me what I have heard and seen and felt about U2 over the 23 (almost 24) years that I have been avidly following them.
Some people aren't comfortable with U2's very apparent spiritual nature and effect that they have on people. These people probably aren't comfortable in general with spirituality and/or themselves and so attack others because of their spiritual experiences, especially with U2 and their music.
But that shouldn't discourage people to SPEAK THEIR HEARTS about U2 - I'm sure the band appreciates our positive comments and would ENCOURAGE US TO KEEP SPEAKING THEM!
So, I will now post my own life experiences with U2 through their music and their lives - but I just needed to express myself on this subject.
shy
War Child
I saw U2 for the first time in 1983, NYD at Red Rocks on TV, I was 13
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U2 have been with me in my Heart, Soul and mind for nearly 24 years.
I first heard "I Will Follow" in 1980 on a local college radio station and immediately found myself somehow connected to this group and their music which has NEVER WANED OR BEEN DISAPPOINTED in these intervening 24 years.
I have always found in their music a REAL REFLECTION OF MYSELF - of the spiritual search for Truth and Belonging and of the social activism that I was involved with during the '80s (the anti-apartheid movement) up through today (the Global AIDS movement).
For me, U2 have always been more like my Brothers, my Compadres, in this lifelong journey on earth.
While I love them as musicians and cling to their music to comfort, soothe and encourage me during the difficulties in my life (and there are many), I see U2 as friends - maybe friends that I haven't come to know very much personally yet, but as friends nonetheless.
It helps me to keep the "fan" stuff to a minimum and to show them the REAL LOVE AND RESPECT THAT THEY DESERVE!
I will continue to follow U2 as they proceed into the future - whether as a band and/or as individuals because I TRULY FEEL AS ONE with them - the B-man especially.
Thanks for letting us all share.
YOU GIVE ME SOMETHING I CAN FEEL....
I first heard "I Will Follow" in 1980 on a local college radio station and immediately found myself somehow connected to this group and their music which has NEVER WANED OR BEEN DISAPPOINTED in these intervening 24 years.
I have always found in their music a REAL REFLECTION OF MYSELF - of the spiritual search for Truth and Belonging and of the social activism that I was involved with during the '80s (the anti-apartheid movement) up through today (the Global AIDS movement).
For me, U2 have always been more like my Brothers, my Compadres, in this lifelong journey on earth.
While I love them as musicians and cling to their music to comfort, soothe and encourage me during the difficulties in my life (and there are many), I see U2 as friends - maybe friends that I haven't come to know very much personally yet, but as friends nonetheless.
It helps me to keep the "fan" stuff to a minimum and to show them the REAL LOVE AND RESPECT THAT THEY DESERVE!
I will continue to follow U2 as they proceed into the future - whether as a band and/or as individuals because I TRULY FEEL AS ONE with them - the B-man especially.
Thanks for letting us all share.
YOU GIVE ME SOMETHING I CAN FEEL....
I dubbed someone's Joshua Tree and Unforgettable Fire tapes in 1987 when I was in sixth grade. I liked them a lot but then I really became a fan when I begrudgingly went along with some friends to see Rattle and Hum in the theater in November of 1988. That changed everything. It got me interested in their old stuff like SBS, etc. I bought several of their tapes, and my first CD ever was Joshua Tree (which I still have). I faked sick the day Achtung Baby came out so I could buy it first, and it's only grown from there.
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Party Boy
Refugee
U2 at Leixlip Castle (my home town) back in Ireland with The Police in 1980 (or was it 1979). The next day the whole town was a mess and I remember my mother (she was 24 at time) telling me about these bands.
I liked all the u2 songs in the 80's but never bought their albums though I had the singles it was listening to their live concert that was broadcast in new years night of 1989 that turned me from a casual listener to an obsessed fan.. after hearing them play running to stand still it just got to me emotionally and I remember wishing I was there at the concert...
then I watched rattle and hum late on tv late one night a few years later and went crazy realising these guys were something special, I got the rattle and Hum video in a second hand shop and constantly played Bad, where the streets have no name and with or without you.. really really loud.. we had just got surround sound in ..
got the husband hooked that when Popmart came he forgot about paying the tv licence money and went out and got u2 tickets instead.. I never thought I would get to see them live and it was a magical night etched in my memory.. and the rest is history
then I watched rattle and hum late on tv late one night a few years later and went crazy realising these guys were something special, I got the rattle and Hum video in a second hand shop and constantly played Bad, where the streets have no name and with or without you.. really really loud.. we had just got surround sound in ..
got the husband hooked that when Popmart came he forgot about paying the tv licence money and went out and got u2 tickets instead.. I never thought I would get to see them live and it was a magical night etched in my memory.. and the rest is history
HelloAngel
ONE love, blood, life
I was 14 when Achtung Baby saved my life.
My family was falling apart, my father was a psychotic monster, and I had nowhere else to go but inside the music. The rest is redemptive history.
My family was falling apart, my father was a psychotic monster, and I had nowhere else to go but inside the music. The rest is redemptive history.
joaoricardo
The Fly
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2004
- Messages
- 63
i was in my home seeing live aid and i notest a lot of flags with u2 on it and i ask to myself whats that? some hours later jack anounced a band called u2 and i understand the flags but ask to myself who are they that they have so many fans in there and i never heard about them?then they begin to play music and alot more flags show up and everyone was sing it and i just couldnt think rigth i just felt joy and admiration. it was amazing
u2valleygirl
Refugee
My husband was dragged to a club in 79. NYC called the Rix I think, U2 was making their American Debut. He said the music was new and rivoting. Nobody had ever heard of the band then but he said everybody at the club was in awe.
It's kind of a foggy memory to him now...but I always tell him how lucky he was to be dragged to a club w/ his buddies and wittness U2 young and raw. He is a huge fan. Does not post here but I am constantly keeping him up to date on what's happening in Interference land.
I have been a fan since 86/87. High school.
It's kind of a foggy memory to him now...but I always tell him how lucky he was to be dragged to a club w/ his buddies and wittness U2 young and raw. He is a huge fan. Does not post here but I am constantly keeping him up to date on what's happening in Interference land.
I have been a fan since 86/87. High school.
blueyedpoet
Refugee
Can i add another heart-throb story here?
As a freshmen in high school my dreams quickly vanished. Having grown up in a conservative christian home, for some reason I felt that God must be punishing me. I didn't think this was very fair. Why would God give me a dream and then take it away, nothing I did was that bad. More and more I became an existentalist. I rejected God, as I felt he'd rejected me. Then on some sort of whim I bought Best of 80-90. One night while just wrestling with my own pain and just pain all around the world (why God is there so much injustice? aren't you all about love?) I also had that CD on. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For came on and stunned tears fell from my eyes. I realized that as a 14-15 year old I didn't need to have all the answers. There's beauty in mystery.
That's not to say I don't still battle with periodical episodes of depression, but sometimes just a U2 song can help pull me along. While writing this I was listening to City of Blinding Lights...there's something in U2's music that elevates the soul. Spirituality abound!
As a freshmen in high school my dreams quickly vanished. Having grown up in a conservative christian home, for some reason I felt that God must be punishing me. I didn't think this was very fair. Why would God give me a dream and then take it away, nothing I did was that bad. More and more I became an existentalist. I rejected God, as I felt he'd rejected me. Then on some sort of whim I bought Best of 80-90. One night while just wrestling with my own pain and just pain all around the world (why God is there so much injustice? aren't you all about love?) I also had that CD on. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For came on and stunned tears fell from my eyes. I realized that as a 14-15 year old I didn't need to have all the answers. There's beauty in mystery.
That's not to say I don't still battle with periodical episodes of depression, but sometimes just a U2 song can help pull me along. While writing this I was listening to City of Blinding Lights...there's something in U2's music that elevates the soul. Spirituality abound!
rjhbonovox
Refugee
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2002
- Messages
- 2,139
When I was about 16 and someone kept playing The Unforgettable Fire over and over again and it just grew and grew. I had heard New Years Day & Pride before, but that was when there music really clicked for the first time, 1985.
beegee
Neon Zebra
my parents were very serious christians when i was younger, so secular music wasn't allowed in our house. i convinced them that U2 was a christian band and they let me have UF. i got the cassette as a christmas gift in december of 1984. i was fourteen years old.
i still have that very same cassette.
i still have that very same cassette.
mdw3935
Refugee
For me it was 1984/85, I had been hearing New Year's Day on the radio and thought it was okay. Then along came The Unforgettable Fire with the song Bad on it. That was it, they had me for life and I have never looked back.
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