U2's "baby fans", "old timers", and in-betweens

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I have been a die-hard fan since 1985 when I was 12 years old. I remember my friend in the sixth grade talked about them and on the last day of school, he brought the Unforgettable Fire cassette to let me listen. Then in the summer of 1985, there was a channel on regular tv that showed music videos every Saturday. I didn't have MTV, so this was my chance to see music videos. Anyway, every week they showed the Unforgettable Fire video and I was so awe-struck by the video and song. Then at Live Aid, I saw these fans waving gigantic U2 flags and I was intrigued. A few years later when WOWY came out and the Joshua Tree album came out, my obsession took off. And the rest is history.

For the past 25 years, I have listened to a U2 album every single day. I love this band so much. They define who I am as a person. On my death bed, I will look back and say that this band gave me so much joy in life, despite all the sadness and the depression I have felt at times.

:adam: :larry: :edge: :bono:

:bow:
 
Mrs. Garrison said:
I ran into Paul McGuinness in Atlanta, in 2001, and i asked him why they haven't played in my state in sooo long. He rambled on a bit about how they played there back in 1980-something and so forth. I told him that wasn't good enough and they needed to play there again...and soon! Fast forward to last year, and you know, damn they played in my hometown and state for the first time in 26 years. It was an amazing night, under the stars and curious low flying planes and a cold, blowing wind. U2 rocked the stadium rich on football tradition and now all i can think about when i go past this big stadium emblazoned with all of our history and our National Championships, all i can think about is that night the irish boys came to town and brought their traveling roadshow / space ship along with them. What a special night....i honestly think...after all these years that i have been a superfan without wavering...i would follow these guys to the end of time.
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:drool: :love: Now you're making me all nostalgic! I still get excited when I see an OU sticker on a car, and I live in Kansas! I was there on that night and it's stamped on my brain like it was yesterday. It didn't seem cold to me, but I was standing in a sea of humanity; I think Bono was cold, though, since he needed a hot beverage on stage. :D
 
blueeyedgirl said:
It's probably why I don't always understand why someone in their teens now is a fan of U2. If I was 15 I'd be lusting after some 20 year old, not some grizzly dude of 50!!! I loved John Lennon when I was a wee lass, but the Revolver Lennon, not the Plastic Ono Band Lennon. :D

I can see that musically, U2 might have more to offer today's music fan than most of the crap out there, but again, if I was a wee lass, I'd probably be getting into MGMT or somesuch bands I don't know about cos I'm not down with the kidz.
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Without getting too personal *ah-hem*...I'm 20, and I love Bono. In every sense of the word :) Moving on quickly from that...

You are right, at least for me, about U2 offering a lot more musically than a lot of the crap out there today. That's not to say it's all crap, at all. But I think it can be agreed upon that there's a lot of crap. No band within a ten year age range of me offers me anything of substance. In fact, aside from U2, any other artists I listen to are not born of current times. I'll admit I know very little about new bands...I am also not, as you say, down with the kidz :wink:

I like to think myself mature for my age...which is probably a whole lot of wishful thinking, but hey. You might find me to be a bizarre little thing!

joerags said:
For the past 25 years, I have listened to a U2 album every single day. I love this band so much. They define who I am as a person. On my death bed, I will look back and say that this band gave me so much joy in life, despite all the sadness and the depression I have felt at times.

:adam: :larry: :edge: :bono:

:bow:
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joerags :bow: :love:
 
I'm 21, and growing up my dad had a few U2 albums that he'd play quite a bit...War, The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum to be exact. When I was little I always liked the songs from these albums but wasn't really musically aware to appreciate them. I became a conscious "fan" in 2000 when NBC used Beautiful Day as a promo song all through the Olympic Games in Sydney. From that point forward I started buying all their CD's and finally went to see them on the Elevation Tour with my dad in East Rutherford. After seeing them live I was hooked and have been ever since. I think the thing that really drew me to them in the first place was how they can write songs from so many emotional levels. It seemed like there was always a U2 song I could go to through my early teen years that perfectly fit how I was feeling. Whether it was an emotional high or low that I was seeking, I always felt like I could go to U2 and find it. :up:
 
I think I may have most of you beat and here is why:

I started liking U2 when I was six months old. My mother taped Amnesty International and had it on one day and noticed my attention was stuck on the TV only when U2 played, when they were finished I would go off and do other normal baby things. She decided a few times to put it on so she could take a shower quickly. I sat attentively in the few minutes she had to get ready.

I grew to like them so much that on my 5th birthday my favorite present was the vinyl release of under a blood red sky. The kids thought I was nuts because I was walking around with it around the party!

I also wouldnt let the barber cut my hair unless I could hold the LP.

I knew all the words to bad at 5.

My mother video taped me of singing along with Bono and re-enacting his movements. My uncle always says i should send them video of me doing this.

I loved to mimic Larry when I was a kid. I owe my drumming skills to watching him and re-enacting what he did on my pillows.

At 24, still listen and love them to this day.

They are literally the soundtrack of my life.
 
Gonna Run 2 U said:
I think I may have most of you beat
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Well, it's not a contest, but here is a cookie anyway. Congratulations. ;)

cookie.jpg
 
My mother really loved the band during UF and JT. I learned to recognize the singles. I was reaally young.
However, I can clearly remember the first time I ever heard Mysterious ways on the radio. I was 9. I was in my best friends car on our way to a slumber party and I thought "woah!!" I had no idea it was the same band that sang in the naaaaaame of love...I loved what I had heard and it quickly became my favorite song.
My mom was a very conservative Christian during the 90s so she was one of the ones that lost interest during their super awesome years (IMO) I knew who they were and really liked them but I didn't keep up. I couldn't.
I didn't rediscover U2's music until my freshman year in college.
Beautiful day was the first video I downloaded off of napster :lol: I desperately wanted to go see them with no doubt, but I was a textbook broke college student.
I finally saw my first show during vertigo.

I went through a rough time during my early twenties and I felt like I finally "got" their music and lyrics. That understanding is something I just didn't get from other "my age" bands.
 
corianderstem said:
Well, it's not a contest, but here is a cookie anyway. Congratulations. ;)

cookie.jpg
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Hahaha. I didnt mean to sound arrogant, I'm just proud of my story. Thanks for the cookie :up:

I would love to share the photo of myself holding UABRS vinyl at 5 but Id rather hold onto it than risk it circulating around the net and some shmuck copywriting it like its theirs.
 
Gonna Run 2 U said:
I think I may have most of you beat and here is why:

I started liking U2 when I was six months old. My mother taped Amnesty International and had it on one day and noticed my attention was stuck on the TV only when U2 played, when they were finished I would go off and do other normal baby things. She decided a few times to put it on so she could take a shower quickly. I sat attentively in the few minutes she had to get ready.

I grew to like them so much that on my 5th birthday my favorite present was the vinyl release of under a blood red sky. The kids thought I was nuts because I was walking around with it around the party!

I also wouldnt let the barber cut my hair unless I could hold the LP.

I knew all the words to bad at 5.

My mother video taped me of singing along with Bono and re-enacting his movements. My uncle always says i should send them video of me doing this.

I loved to mimic Larry when I was a kid. I owe my drumming skills to watching him and re-enacting what he did on my pillows.

At 24, still listen and love them to this day.

They are literally the soundtrack of my life.
Click to expand...

:ohmy::applaud:
 
Shit, I'm almost 33 and I remember when War came out, thanks to my older siblings. They were into it. So by the time Joshua Tree came out, I was in 5th grade and everybody at school and in my neighborhood was wearing it out in their boomboxes and Walkmen.
 
Gonna Run 2 U said:
I started liking U2 when I was six months old. My mother taped Amnesty International and had it on one day and noticed my attention was stuck on the TV only when U2 played, when they were finished I would go off and do other normal baby things.

I grew to like them so much that on my 5th birthday my favorite present was the vinyl release of under a blood red sky. The kids thought I was nuts because I was walking around with it around the party!

I also wouldnt let the barber cut my hair unless I could hold the LP.
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That is so sweet :cute:

Gonna Run 2 U said:
They are literally the soundtrack of my life.
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Mine too...in the literal and metaphorical sense :heart:
 
Wow!!! I :heart: this thread!!! There are so many wonderful stories on this thread. In my eyes, age should not matter since it is the power of U2's music that draws us all together...:hug:

I was introduced to U2's music in 1986 (I was about 12 at the time) when a local radio station played "Pride" occasionally on their rotation. I was mesmorized by Edge's guitar work on the song. Flash forward to 1987 when "The Joshua Tree" came out...I was hooked with all the songs (not to mention the four men:drool::D). I can remember everyone else in my class was listening to Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Poison, Debbie Gibson , and Tiffany at the time. But me? It was all about U2. I was dubbed "U2 lover" by my fellow classmates. I can also remember saving my allowance so I could buy U2 cassettes and posters at the local department store...

U2 and their music carried me through my high school and college years as well as my early work career. I will admit I strayed briefly after Pop came out, but when I heard "Beautiful Day" on the radio, I was hooked again and have been since. There is no words that can describe how powerful U2's music is in my life...:cute:
 
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i'm 72 years old, i remember when Boy came out, i was 42 at the time. my brother and i grew up on Thelonious Monk, so he was surprised when i said i loved the Boy record. i've been a fan ever since then.
 
:lol:

We had to walk 40 miles barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways, to buy the Boy album.

AND WE LIKED IT!
 
The barefoot uphill snow walking!

You lazy kids, with your shoes and your cars and bikes, and your downloading. You don't know how good you have it!

:madwife:

:wink:
 
Gonna Run 2 U said:
I think I may have most of you beat and here is why:

I started liking U2 when I was six months old. My mother taped Amnesty International and had it on one day and noticed my attention was stuck on the TV only when U2 played, when they were finished I would go off and do other normal baby things. She decided a few times to put it on so she could take a shower quickly. I sat attentively in the few minutes she had to get ready.

I grew to like them so much that on my 5th birthday my favorite present was the vinyl release of under a blood red sky. The kids thought I was nuts because I was walking around with it around the party!

I also wouldnt let the barber cut my hair unless I could hold the LP.

I knew all the words to bad at 5.

My mother video taped me of singing along with Bono and re-enacting his movements. My uncle always says i should send them video of me doing this.

I loved to mimic Larry when I was a kid. I owe my drumming skills to watching him and re-enacting what he did on my pillows.

At 24, still listen and love them to this day.

They are literally the soundtrack of my life.
Click to expand...

Very cool.
 
I love all these stories!

I first got into U2 when "Who's Gonna ride your wild horses" was on Much Music (when there was actually music) all the time. I was l1. Around the same time, my mother and her friend went on a girls weekend and stayed at the Four Seasons in Toronto. The day they were leaving, they came out front and saw all these reporters hanging around with cameras outside. They asked who they were waiting for, and they said "U2". My mom was like "What's a U2?". She came home and told me, and I was like "they're so great! I want their album for Christmas!"

That Christmas, I asked for two tapes (yes, those plastic rectangular things): Achtung Baby and some other guy who was popular that year. I never listened to the other tape...
I wore out my first tape of Achtung Baby in like 6 months, I didn't listen to anything else. Then for my bday, I got Joshua Tree and The Unforgettable Fire. I watched Zoo TV live from Sydney on Pay Per View and taped it on VHS, and I was completely hooked. By the time I was in grade 8, most of my friends were into Nirvana, Green Day, etc, and I was "uncool" for loving U2. In high school, I would always have my walkman, and listen to all my U2 tapes. I even heard the Popmart tour press conference on the radio while I was class lol.

17 years later, still my favourite band and will be forever! I think my parents thought I was just going through a phase... Obviously they were wrong!:lol:

So I guess at 29, I'm kinda an old-timer/in-between... maybe?
 
The Sad Punk said:
No kidding. I mean, it's great for someone to love something a lot, but I hope it isn't preventing you to check out other music, y'know? I'm not trying to sound like a jerk here, I just have difficulty comprehending that, honestly. I mean, they only have like three albums.
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Don't beat him up on it. :tsk:
 
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