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

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secretly alone

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I searched six months back and saw nothing on this topic, so I felt it was safe to start this thread.

I saw a similar discussion on the @U2 forum, but I don't post there, and I really felt the need to discuss this topic! Since it hits close to home, after all.

I was wondering, for younger U2 fans (say, teens up until early 20s), what is it that draws you to the band more than other artists that are closer to your own age range? There seems to be this myth that younger people connect better with younger bands- which I suppose makes sense, but in the case of U2 is often not so.

Similarly, do you think age in any way effects our connection to the band? I ask this of everyone, because I have come across some people who have been U2 fans for many many years, and have a sort of condescending attitude towards the younger and/or newer fans.

I'm 20 years old, and I personally don't think that any other band will effect my life the way U2 has.

I was just wondering what everyone's ideas were on this...the relationship between our ages (and length of 'fandom', I guess) and our relation to the band.

I tried not to make this too huge of a post. Please discuss freely...and be gentle on me, for this is the very first thread I've ever started in EYKIW :wink:
 
I'm 22 and I started liking U2 when I was 13, almost 14. I heard a few of their songs, liked them, and then saw the band on TV and fell in love with them. I was having anxiety problems at this time and U2 just seemed to to be really soothing. There was just something about them that made me feel better.
 
I started liking U2 when I was 11(Zoo Tv Era), so I guess that makes me an in betweener. I'll be 30 in July. My brother introduced me to their music and I was hooked. Their music always helps me through bad times and makes me feel better when I'm sad. No other band has done that for me.
 
I'm a young'un. I'm seventeen now, and I was introduced to U2 when I was... oh, thirteen or fourteen. They've certainly been a major part of my wonderful teenage years.
 
Oh dear. I might be an old timer.

I first heard of them in the mid-80s - my cousins would come to visit from their bigger, cooler city and bring music I didn't know about. The Unforgettable Fire was one of those tapes they played for me.

I didn't become a massive fan until Rattle & Hum - I was 15 when that came out, and it's been crazytown fandom since then. :)

I might have misunderstood the topic, though. U2 was fairly popular among kids my own age when they got huge, so it wasn't out of the ordinary to love their music. If that's what you're asking.
 
U2 have helped me through, well, a rough spot...like Laura and Rachel said.

Cori...you've made me jealous :wink: We became "massive fans" at the same age...however, in 2004 the teen world was nearly a hostile place for U2 fandom, at least from my perspective. I've always felt stuck...wishing I'd been born earlier, because I feel a little cheated.

Through my teen years, I was surrounded by people who just didn't "get it". But then there's also the issue where you feel a little intimidated by the people who've been following the band since the beginning. A few have this superiority complex :huh:

I think that the fact that I didn't become a real fan till 2004 doesn't make me love them any less...U2 have been my life for nearly six years (does that sound creepy?).

I think I'm still stuck in the baby fan category...even if I'm not an actual teenager anymore :|

I'm a young'un. I'm seventeen now, and I was introduced to U2 when I was... oh, thirteen or fourteen. They've certainly been a major part of my wonderful teenage years.

I feel the need to give you one of these :hi5:
 
well my first exposure to the band was through golden oldies radio, so before i got into the band, i knew Pride, Still Haven't Found, WOWY, and i think that's about it. when i was 10, Atty Club came out, and i thought Beautiful Day, Stuck and Elevation were pretty great. then, when i was 14, Hutdab came out. i loved Vertigo so i got the album for Christmas. i thought COBL was the best song i'd ever heard.

then i joined this forum and within a year or so had every album and DVD. i posted first-listen reviews of each of the albums as i bought them, which people seemed to enjoy and also took the piss out of (i've only recently discovered who it was).

there's one or two people my age who like the band, which is nice, i suppose, as most people my age think they're pretty shithouse and enjoy paying out on them, but i've never cared about that.

why i became the fan i did i've got no idea. i've got no idea why their music connected, but it just did. everyone who isn't a fan is just missing that in my view, and some people get the same connection but from other bands.

i think it's important to mention though that whilst a four, five years ago i was a U2 fanatic, listened to their music and little else, i rarely listen to them these days, as i'm enjoying other music, from the 60s to right now. i've only listened to TUF and NLOTH this year, once each, and other U2 tracks in passing. so my life isn't U2.

that said, they're still and probably always will be my favourite band.

the end
 
I have to say...I saw someone say once that people are often surprised to find out eachother's ages around here...I'm surprised to see that we are the same age!

I'm a little naive. I feel like I love all U2 fans (despite getting a few sour grapes over time). But it's exceptionally refreshing to find others who are around my age. Because like you said, there's a lot of the opposite opinion floating around. And actually, I do let it get to me...guess my personality is just like that.

I often wonder if I'll hit that "stride" so to speak...like you say, not listening to U2 nearly as often and listening more to other things. It hasn't happened yet :shrug:
 
I'm just beyond the age you were requesting (25), but I've been a fan since my high school days just under 10 years ago. I had always been familiar with a few of their songs on the radio (WOWY, ISHFWILF), and I even was one of the few people who watched their ABC special back in 1997 when Pop premiered, lol. But even though I thought they made some good songs, I never really took a shine on them until I found out they did Mysterious Ways (which I liked as a kid, but didn't know they did for a long time) and One after hearing it on a movie trailer. I bought Achtung Baby on a whim for those two songs, and eventually got around to hearing and liking all the songs off there. With Beautiful Day and Walk On kicking off around the same time, I realized they were pretty good and just ran off with it.

As for bands closer to "my age" at the time, it wasn't that I didn't listen to music by other bands or anything. In the end, good music is good music, whoever it's by. I think another factor for me was that I wasn't like a lot of kids I grew up with at school in terms of listening habits. I never listened to country, for one (which was huge for some reason). And though I listened to Top 40 like anyone else, I also paid attention to a lot of other avenues to discover music with. VH1, Hot AC and 80s-90s radio stations, the internet, and so on. It was never really restricted to what was popular with Clear Channel or what the older kids at school were listening to (grunge, pop-punk, etc.). Not that I wouldn't listen to stuff there either, but I would go out of my way to hear new things and discover other stuff as well. Plus, having two older siblings who would play all sorts of different music and CDs was also pretty good as well.

As for any "condescending" attitude for older fans, I've never really seen it personally. To be honest, I think a lot of us are here for the same reason in that we like the band and appreciate the role they've had in giving us some great music. I'm sure there are some fans out there who don't really want to talk or bond with people in that respect, but I think there are a lot of us who can appreciate other people who have a common interest such as this one.

Great thread, btw. :wink:
 
Secretly Alone- Excellent thread topic!:up::up:

My mom and aunt were always huge fans and my Dad was a casual fan at minimum. Mom, aunt, uncle had seen Joshua Tree, Zoo TV, Pop and Elevation, but all I had growing up were brief stories from these shows plus as COBL04 said, the classics on the radio. Add Sunday Bloody Sunday and Desire to Cobl's list, and that is about all I knew.

Then I became an instant fan with the Super Bowl halftime performance in 2002! I knew and liked Beautiful Day, but MLK/Streets? That was just so moving, so jaw dropping, it stopped me in my tracks right in the middle of an intense football game where my only thought 2 minutes before that was "get the Patriots back on the field and lets hold this lead and get our first damn super bowl, please!" So I have 2 distinct memories of that night when I was 14 years old- the 1st Boston sports championship of my lifetime and I became a U2 fan!

I was shocked when my aunt told me Streets was written in 1987. It seemed like it could have been written for the very occasion they were playing it for, the 9/11 tribute. Same with MLK.

Secretly Alone, I think the closest you will come to an answer as to why U2 connects with young people when there are other, younger bands out there can be found in that Super Bowl performance. Who else can convey emotion and speak to so many different people regardless of how they are situated in life to that level? That is why they are so timeless.

I did not become a huge fan until Bomb was released my Senior year of High School. After I saw my first U2 show on the Vertigo tour in Boston, 10/4/05, I never, ever looked back. U2 have basically defined my life since then!!

To the older fans who are sometimes annoyed at younger fans, you should view our love of U2 as validation of what you thought long ago after hearing 11 O'Clock Tick or Out of Control or I Will Follow for the 1st time! Think of your friends from High School or College who liked different bands in the early 80s. Can they say "yeah, my group is still going strong, relevant, packing stadiums and picking up younger fans with new stuff and getting them into the old stuff?" You can!

It is utterly amazing to me that my 3 favorite albums of all time, Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby and War came out either before I was born or when I was too young to know! Whenever I get into conversations about U2, either with other fans at their shows or anywhere else, I'll start talking about say, setlists and tour dates on the Unforgettable Fire tour or how I Will Follow was big on college radio. Or how Bono used to climb the speaker stacks with his white flag. After a few minutes, they want to know my secret formula for looking 23 when you are really 40 or 45!! Everyone assumes I am older, because I am as likely to discuss Seconds and Two Hearts Beat As One as I am Magnificent and Moment of Surrender! These people are always floored when I tell them I wasn't born until 10 days after Joshua Tree was released!

I think younger diehards do, for the most part, make a strong effort to learn the back catalog. Its not like any of us would be annoyingly lost while you are ecstatic to hear U2 performing Gloria or An Cat Dubh or Two Hearts Beat As One, we would probably be screaming out every word along with you! I think some older fans with this mentality group us young diehards into the same category as the Elevation/Vertigo casual fans.

Another thing pretty unique to U2 is how all of us younger fans go through the back catalog, which is probably as diverse as any band's, and still love most or all of it even though the differences between say, Bomb and Unforgettable Fire, ATYCLB and War, Pop and Joshua Tree, are quite noticeable! U2, unlike so many other bands, has been able to change their sound so many times and still manage to hold on to nearly all of their fan base! I am amazed how many "since 1980" fans I talk to at the shows. If you are going theoretically, on paper, they should have lost a ton of fans with Unforgettable Fire, a good amount with Rattle and Hum, a ton with Achtung Baby and the rest of the 90s and maybe a few more for good measure with the 2000s direction! Somehow, U2 still has that base in tact. Probably because, despite the differences in style, sound, production across eras, you can instantly recognize it as the same band.

Bottom line, I have worked security at concerts of all types for 5 years now and can attest to the fact that no other band is enjoyed across age groups as much as U2 is! If there is a timeless band out there, it is them!
 
I'm just beyond the age you were requesting (25), but I've been a fan since my high school days just under 10 years ago.
Oh, no, I was not directing this at any age group...actually, I was asking everyone how they felt about this particular age issue :)

I never really took a shine on them until I found out they did Mysterious Ways (which I liked as a kid, but didn't know they did for a long time)

Funny, I loved MW as a kid too, and when I was "discovering" U2 as a teen, I was pleasantly shocked to realize that was their song!

Who else can convey emotion and speak to so many different people regardless of how they are situated in life to that level? That is why they are so timeless.

I'm sure people would argue...but in my opinion, this statement is about as true as it gets. That emotion is key, and I don't personally get it on that level from anyone else!


It is utterly amazing to me that my 3 favorite albums of all time, Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby and War came out either before I was born or when I was too young to know! Whenever I get into conversations about U2, either with other fans at their shows or anywhere else, I'll start talking about say, setlists and tour dates on the Unforgettable Fire tour or how I Will Follow was big on college radio. Or how Bono used to climb the speaker stacks with his white flag. After a few minutes, they want to know my secret formula for looking 23 when you are really 40 or 45!! Everyone assumes I am older, because I am as likely to discuss Seconds and Two Hearts Beat As One as I am Magnificent and Moment of Surrender! These people are always floored when I tell them I wasn't born until 10 days after Joshua Tree was released!

I feel like I wrote this paragraph :ohmy: It amazes me how something done before I even existed on earth could mean so much to me! And while no one has ever thought I was really 40 (at least not that I know of :wink:), I've been in the situation several times where people are surprised to have my young age linked to discussion of the show after which U2 signed their record deal, for instance. Which is nice...I feel validated in a sense. The early days are sort of my favorite era, though, which I think might be a side effect of missing so much of U2 history.
 
I feel like I wrote this paragraph :ohmy: It amazes me how something done before I even existed on earth could mean so much to me! And while no one has ever thought I was really 40 (at least not that I know of :wink:), I've been in the situation several times where people are surprised to have my young age linked to discussion of the show after which U2 signed their record deal, for instance. Which is nice...I feel validated in a sense. The early days are sort of my favorite era, though, which I think might be a side effect of missing so much of U2 history.

I feel the exact same way! We must be long lost cousins:lol:

The 1980-84 period really strikes a chord with me. The raw energy of early U2 combined with the epic rise to greatness must have made it an incredible time to be following them.

If U2 was listening to exactly what I wanted(which they wont, nor should they!) then the following two things would be in their immediate future.

1.)The 3rd leg of 360 would have a pair of 1980-84 songs every night- just Out of Control/Twilight or Wire/Bad or ASOH/Two Hearts Beat As One or Gloria/Electric Co, you get the idea!

2.)The ideas for the next album would come from 2 songs.

Two Hearts Beat As One- Listen to that one again. Great combination of classic rock, new wave and punk rock, with an overall fun vibe. Re write it? No, not what I am suggesting. But U2 should listen to it again(after playing it live on 360 of course:wink:) think about what went into it, what has been done with that sound since(duran duran, the waterboys, the killers??) and come up with some new, modern ideas loosely based on this.

Trip Through Your Wires-This one is really interesting if you think about it! First off, I absolutely love this song, one of the most underrated U2 songs out there. Great combination again of classic rock, blues, and 50s American rock influences, done in U2 style. Again, don't rewrite it, but go back and listen to it, think about the influences, what other artists have done with this type of sound(i am thinking a bit of Springsteen) and come up with some new , modern ideas based on the influences that went into Trip.... Think here of U2's love for Elvis!! He had that surging 50s rock sound that Trip has! U2 already is very fond of Elvis covers, why not listening to some of his early stuff and draw some inspiration. How awesome would it be to see a U2 song, with unique U2 lyrics and composition that gives you the same feeling as this video?!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jfWFEu66pc



So you have a unique track on War plus a unique track from Joshua Tree, both of which combined some influences that U2 dabbled in but never to a great extent. I love both songs, and I really think, with 20 more years experience with all kinds of music since they were written, U2 could do "this style" a lot better now and of course contribute their own unique and innovative ideas to it!

I can not tell you how much I would love for U2's new direction to be similar to this. I fear they are going for the mid point between ATYCLB and Bomb. Both albums I love, but they had their time and place and are not really worth revisiting. Take the ideas they scratched the surface of during the 80s and see what they can do with them now!

Would be accessible and radio friendly, and I have a suspicion, a lot more enjoyable than "All The Atomic Bomb You Cant Dismantle and Leave Behind 2011!"
 
I'm 21 and Beautiful Day was the reason that the first album I ever bought was a U2 record. Coincidentally, my father played "With Or Without You" to me in the car a couple of weeks after, and he told me how this was the greatest band in the 80's, yada yada yada, and I ask, what's their name? U2, he replied. That can't be, I said, you must be thinking of someone else. U2 is the band with Beautiful Day, Elevation and all that. And he said: It's the same band.

I was all :crack:

Then I began checking out the back catalogue, one by one, liking one more than the other. By the time Electrical Storm was released I owned every U2 record, except for Passengers and Zooropa. I got those in the following months, so when How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb hit, I was a megafan.

U2 is a huge part of my life and I suppose Bono's lyrics is what drew me in, but Edge's guitar playing kept me there. Greatest band ever!
 
I really got into U2 when I was 20, with ATYCLB. I don't know what that makes me - baby perhaps, though on the other hand that era was 10 years ago from now. As far as relating to the bands close to my age, in some ways, I've listened to the music backwards: when I was growing up I loved the music that my parents listened to from 60s and 70s mostly, and had very little clue about the contemporary bands/artists until my late teens maybe.
 
By some really weird and stupid twist of fate I guess, I actually bought BOY the week it was released, but never got to listen to it... then waited 25 years to buy another U2 album and only then become a true fan. It took HTDAAB to do that for me. I don't know why. So I don't know which of those labels that makes me! New-old-timer? :wink:
I think it's great that U2 still gains new young fans all the time. And I'm guilty of recruiting them. The day I realized I'd actually made true U2 fans of my (teenage at the time) kids was one of my favorite days ever. :)
One thing I know though is that finally finding U2's music had a hugely positive influence on my life, so I'm eternally grateful to U2 for that.
 
I first got into U2 with Achtung Baby, I was around 16 back then. Later I lost interest in them again and turned into other types of music :doh:, but I came back with ATYCLB and haven't gone away since then. So I guess I'm more of an "in betweener", not really young, but I love the fact that U2 still continues to attract new and young fans.
 
I've been a U2 fanatic since I was 9-10, which was 1985, live aid was what done it for me. I'd call myself an old timer but I have some friends who were fans a few years before that, since Boy, but they have all fallen from the faith since then. They got through the shift in styles from Boy, TUF TJT, Zooropa, PASENGERS, Pop but none of them survived the 2000's Bomb in particular was the last straw, even my faith has been rocked considerably, but I am still hanging in there/
 
Rattle & Hum was actually the first CD I ever bought, sometime within the year of it's release. I bought it basically because a cooler older cousin played it continuously on an extended family holiday, and I also wanted to be cool. But I never really 'fell' for it. As I just hit my teens, the Fly was released and punched me square in the face, and that was that.
 
I'm 25 and became a fan when ATYCLB came out. Beautiful Day was huge here in Holland and I started discovering the band. My first cd was Best of 1980-1990.
 
I'm most definitely an old timer. I'm 39 years old and have been a fan since the War album.

I was into all kinds of music as a teenager, but it wasn't "cool" to like U2 in my circle of friends. Especially during the backlash in the late 80s. I only really shared my love of them with a selct few.

I have to say that one thing I love most about U2 is that they're constantly changing, every album different than the last. They've been a constant in my life since I was 12 years old and I feel like they've grown up and matured with me.

Every album attracts new fans. And I LOVE hearing about young teens getting into U2's early music as well as listening to the more recent stuff. That's one thing I love about this website. We're of all ages here.
 
Growing up in the country I didn't have MTV, so I wasn't exposed to cool music until I hit high school. I'd heard and liked various U2 songs not even realizing they were U2, but didn't really get exposed to the band until college. My roomie was obsessed with Edge, and was giddy when Pop was released. I still remember watching the premiere of the Discotheque video and being really, really confused. I also remember their press conference in K-mart. I actually tried to talk my Mom into letting me drive to LA for their show at the Coliseum that summer but was rebuffed.

I didn't get obsessed until ATYCLB and my first U2 show. That album helped me through a really tough time, and to this day if I'm having a really bad day, all I need to do is listen to some U2 and I feel better.
 
I was 14 years old. U2 was a band I liked, heard tons of songs, from the earlier Gloria, Two Hearts, etc and the NYD video in heavy rotation in the early days of MTV featuring the band stomping around in the snow ("I'm going to ride a horse along a snow covered mountain region, where's my bass and my gloves with the fingers cut off?").... to the JT songs which were absolutely everywhere in 1988.

But then.... I was at a movie theater (for what movie I can't remember), and the trailer for Rattle&Hum came on. The intro to Streets, red screen, 4 guys walking onstage... I was frozen. goosebumps.

They've been in my head ever since.
 
i got achtung baby on cassette when i was eight. don't remember specifics though. but i do remember going halfsies with my parents to buy zooropa on tape with some of my birthday money when i turned ten. i didn't become a huuuuuge fan though till 97, with pop.
 
The Fly from the Elevation Boston DVD.

i was 15. i had heard beautiful day and some of ATYCLB from my dad. he even played Joshua Tree once on a road trip and that really got my attention. but we were in Vegas at my aunts house, i was falling asleep on the couch, when all of a sudden this gigantic guitar and dizzying blast of light came from the tv. i sat up and watched in awe as The Edge played that solo that changed my life and Bono stuck to the video screen. after that i was absolutely hooked.
 
I first heard of U2 in 2001 when I was seven years old because my dad, who is casual fan, bought ATYCLB. I liked a few songs off that album (my dad played it alot inthe car) but of course I didn't really care too much about music then. When HTDAAB came out my dad also bought it and then I became fan. I went to a Vertigo show and I really liked it but I didn't really discover the back catalogue after that. Because of the long break between albums my interest in U2 and music in general decreased a lot. But then about a month before NLOTH I heard Boots and I heard about a new U2 album. Then I was really excited for NLOTH and I loved it. Since then I listened to all the other U2 albums, watched a few DVD's and joined this forum. So I'd say I'm a pretty big fan. I also started listening to other music because of U2 and NLOTH..

I don't really care about U2 being pretty old. Only the music is important. I also don't know anybody my age who likes U2 as much as I do but that isn't a problem for me.
 
I never really got into U2 bigtime until i was 20 (im 27 now),and even then it was when my younger brother bought ATYCLB. After i heard that i discovered there back catalogue and now own all there albums DVD's and a load of vinyl. Strangely my brother now hates them and is a huge guns n roses fan!
 
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