Has your interest in U2 waned due to long gaps between albums?

[ChargedVT]

I think that with the massive gap between albums these days it can be quite easy to start losing a bit of interest. By the time this album is released it will be nearly 4 and a half years since the last one. You could argue by saying that they toured through 2005 and 2006, and that's fair enough, but the point is that in 2007 and 2008 there has been nothing. Two whole years with no new product at all from U2. I'm not counting the re-releases because nobody outside the die-hard fans cares about those, and well, everyone here already has 98% of the material on them.
Myself, there have been periods where I haven't listened to them as much simply because it has been a "dead" period, like early this year for example, but I was so wrapped up in watching LOST that it didn't matter so much! That's the key: have another interest that you are similarly obsessed with!

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

it is sort of because of the gaps, yes. i've been a fan since i was a kid but i became a hardcore fan in 96. so i mean pop was about to come out (i didn't even find out passengers existed until i started reading fansites online in 97) so i was in that whole "omg new album!" mentality. anyway, i was a raging U2 fan all the way up until 98, when the tour ended. i then went through lame phases where it seemed i tried to listen to as much crappy music as possible. and that just happens throughout life, you get burned out on a band and listen to them a lot less. i'd be shocked (and a little worried) if someone told me they listened to at least one U2 album daily for over 10 years.

i don't hate U2 or anything, though. after having not really listened to them at all since the vertigo tour ended in 06, i've started rediscovering their music, mostly the early 80s stuff. but i doubt i'll ever be at the point i was ten years ago where i listened to them constantly. i am pumped for the new album though, but not enough to where i was majorly bummed about the delay. and i have to admit...what's tied with the gaps between albums as to why my interest in the band has lessened, it's got to be their recent output. i don't like atyclb and htdaab. it's hard to stay fanatic about a band when they put out albums you don't like. part of me thinks the next album will be fantastic, another part of me is worried it'll be the same old same old.

oh and gg2, i love the avatar!

 

[An Cat Gav]

it is sort of because of the gaps, yes. i've been a fan since i was a kid but i became a hardcore fan in 96. so i mean pop was about to come out (i didn't even find out passengers existed until i started reading fansites online in 97) so i was in that whole "omg new album!" mentality. anyway, i was a raging U2 fan all the way up until 98, when the tour ended. i then went through lame phases where it seemed i tried to listen to as much crappy music as possible. and that just happens throughout life, you get burned out on a band and listen to them a lot less. i'd be shocked (and a little worried) if someone told me they listened to at least one U2 album daily for over 10 years.

i don't hate U2 or anything, though. after having not really listened to them at all since the vertigo tour ended in 06, i've started rediscovering their music, mostly the early 80s stuff. but i doubt i'll ever be at the point i was ten years ago where i listened to them constantly. i am pumped for the new album though, but not enough to where i was majorly bummed about the delay. and i have to admit...what's tied with the gaps between albums as to why my interest in the band has lessened, it's got to be their recent output. i don't like atyclb and htdaab. it's hard to stay fanatic about a band when they put out albums you don't like. part of me thinks the next album will be fantastic, another part of me is worried it'll be the same old same old.

oh and gg2, i love the avatar!

I agree with everything you say. I've been a hardcore fan since anout 1984, when I was 9! I reckon between then and 2000 a day didn't go by without me hearing U2 in some form or other, but like you said, ATYCLB and HTDAAB didn't really do it for me, so my fanatical interest decreased dramaticaly. The gaps between albums really doesn't help. We're waiting longer and longer for albums but getting output of a diminishing standard each time.

 

[Addicted To Bad]

If there´s a thread which U2 SHOULD read in order to feel the level of interest/passion of their fans - here it is !

I can be wrong but it seems (according to the most of opinions here) that U2 won´t be THAT rock band anymore...

 

[blueeyedgirl]

U2 have really dropped off the radar for me, I was a huge fan during the 80s, then they lost me about 1990, cos Madchester/shoegaze/baggy was more exciting. Achtung and Zoo perked up my interest, then U2 disappeared under the weight of Britpop during the 90s. Beautiful Day re-awoke the fanship, then ATYCLB killed it a bit, HTDAAB didn't exactly thrill me much but the tour made me a fan again. Since Nov 2006 I've only listened to WITS. Too many other bands/singers to listen to. But I'll buy the new record, even if I end up hating it.

 

[shaun vox]

u2 died 8 years ago!
lets just talk about the 80s and 90s when the music was good.

 

[Addicted To Bad]

u2 died 8 years ago!
lets just talk about the 80s and 90s when the music was good.

..Let it go
and so fade away...​

 

[RedRocksU2]

To answer the question, no.

I've been enjoying mostly b-sides and unreleased issues of songs and remixes.
I also wasn't as "upset" as some people here, I was dissapointed, but not upset.

I truly believe that this album will be a classic.
...and the tour will be great for gatherings, better than the Vertigo tour.

 

[Slapnutz]

I haven't listened to a U2 album since 2006. Shocking but true. I think that's partly down to the band's last two albums and their Manchester stadium show on the Vertigo tour being one of the worst gigs I've ever been to (never before or since have I felt so removed from the performers on stage).

 

[gvox]

...and the tour will be great for gatherings, better than the Vertigo tour.

 

[Carek1230]

a resounding "No, Never!"

 

[A stor]

My interest has decreased. The reason, I am here. I am trying to become excited again with U2's music. My favorite U2 decade was the eighties. And I didn't like their last album. So then, it would be almost nine years, for me?

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

Yes. I went through a long period during the Vertigo Tour when I was listening to little else besides U2, and I burned myself out on them. I think I've listened to a U2 album maybe two or three times since last winter. I've been discovering so much new music and getting into a lot of stuff that I don't think I would've liked a year or two ago--Sonic Youth especially, as well as Carla Bozulich, Nels Cline (in his many jazz and experimental noise rock projects), and some other artists. I honestly don't know if the era of my hardcore U2 fandom has passed, or if I'll get excited again when the next album comes out and the next tour starts.

I'll always love U2, I just don't know if I'm in love with them anymore

 

[LemonMelon]

u2 died 8 years ago!
lets just talk about the 80s and 90s when the music was good.

Let's just talk about life pre-July 2000, before that unfortunate day when a young man with delusions of rocking the fuck out decided to darken Interference's doors. I can only assume that those were good times, even if wasn't here to appreciate them.

I've already responded to this thread once, but I would like to reiterate that THERE'S OTHER MUSIC OUT THERE. I'm 17 years old and have 50+ years of popular music history to catch up on. As disappointed as I am that U2 has chosen to relax and pretend that their record company has no interest in them ever releasing another album, I'll get by.

 

[An Cat Gav]

Let's just talk about life pre-July 2000, before that unfortunate day when a young man with delusions of rocking the fuck out decided to darken Interference's doors. I can only assume that those were good times, even if wasn't here to appreciate them.

I've already responded to this thread once, but I would like to reiterate that THERE'S OTHER MUSIC OUT THERE. I'm 17 years old and have 50+ years of popular music history to catch up on. As disappointed as I am that U2 has chosen to relax and pretend that their record company has no interest in them ever releasing another album, I'll get by.

17 years old! The same age I was when the whole ZOO TV and Achtung Baby thing was in it's pomp, the height of my U2 obsession. I hope U2 produce something which the same effect on the 17 year old LemonMelon as they did for the 17 year old An Cat Gav!

 

[gvox]

17? That would be Joshua Tree, for me. I was a jaded pessimist by the time AB came out. They clearly lost the plot there, also.

 

[LemonMelon]

17 years old! The same age I was when the whole ZOO TV and Achtung Baby thing was in it's pomp, the height of my U2 obsession. I hope U2 produce something which the same effect on the 17 year old LemonMelon as they did for the 17 year old An Cat Gav!

You and me both! I'm an 00's apologist, but even I must admit that nothing U2 has released in the past decade has been groundbreaking or anything north of enjoyable. I'll wait as long as necessary for Irish Democracy (not that I have a choice) but I can't help that my expectations have been tainted a bit by their recent output. If it's above a "B" or so, I'll be pleased, and if it's a top 5 record (for longer than a month) within their discography I'll be absolutely thrilled. All I want to see from the fanbase is an open mind and the tiniest spark of hope...don't be like Shaun Vox, guys. Or, at the very least, record better U2 covers.

 

[U2girl]

Open mind ? Hope ?

Good luck with that here.

 

[major_panic]

Open mind ? Hope ?

Good luck with that here.

Most of us actually have both, it's just that we choose not to rush in with blindless optimism. (not aiming at you but more of a generalisation of the people round here)

 

[U2girl]

Well, considering the forum's opinion of the last two albums (make that the last 8 years) I just don't think there is, or will be, much of one or the other for this next album.

 

[lewis]

I think most of their albums can prove that they worth the wait. Actually, I appreciate U2 for spending long time on carving their works and making them real great. And Bono's lyrics are mostly timeless, which sometimes you can't get the whole meaning and feeling until you listen to them repeatedly for so many times.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Let's just talk about life pre-July 2000, before that unfortunate day when a young man with delusions of rocking the fuck out decided to darken Interference's doors. I can only assume that those were good times, even if wasn't here to appreciate them.

I've already responded to this thread once, but I would like to reiterate that THERE'S OTHER MUSIC OUT THERE. I'm 17 years old and have 50+ years of popular music history to catch up on. As disappointed as I am that U2 has chosen to relax and pretend that their record company has no interest in them ever releasing another album, I'll get by.

but i sti-oh...

even i wasn't around here then. interference, i mean. i think i started going to the chat sometime after the release of atyclb, and didn't register till 01 (as you can see from my reg date). i wish i'd known about the forums back then so i could have a cool 2000 reg date.

and i agree about there being more music. there's so much more out there than just stuff someone in U2 had something to do with. it'd be boring to just listen to one artist all the time for years on end.