did you ever hear a U2 song before you knew who they were?

[phillyfan26]

Wait. You owned and listened to The Best of 1980-1990 and didn't know that it was U2?

My parents owned that one U2 CD. They mildly enjoy U2. That was my first U2 experience.

 

[Bug]

I don't have a lot of memory from pre-13 (I'm 22 now) so I don't really know.

I must have heard the Joshua Tree a lot though, 'cuz when I got the album to myself I knew all the words.

 

[LPU2]

Yes. There was a teen movie called Last American Virgin that featured I Will Follow. They actually play the whole song IN the movie. I remembered liking it, but not knowing who did it.

I don't post on this board much, but it's startling how YOUNG some of you are. Encouraging though.

 

[allbecauseofme]

i ended up buying the best of 80-90 in 2002 and at that point I never realized U2 sang "desire", "new years day", sweetest thing, or pride. It was a complete shocker to me.

 

[Galeongirl]

I have vague memories of HMTMKMKM... the first time I saw the video somewhere last year I was like *boing* I've seen this video/heard this song before!

kinda interesting, since I was six years old at the time it came out

and yea, I had heard beautiful day...I liked the funny guy with the sunglasses... but that was all....

 

[2861U2]

I remember hearing Cavity Search by Weird Al (parody of HMTMKMKM) and not realizing until later that it was U2.

 

[beLIEve_ZOO121]

I was already a fan by this stage, but when I switched on the radio and heard Vertigo for the first time, I thought it was some other heavy metal group! I
I only heard the last minute of the song with the "yeah yeah yeah"'s. Then the radio announcer said "That was U2 with their newest single, Vertigo" and Im like "%$#@! It was them! And I missed the first part of the song!"

 

[livviebway]

This thread describes my U2 concert experience. I was invited by my friend and only knew enough about U2 to know that there were sunglasses and they were big enough I shouldn't miss them. Didn't know COBL, but then they played Vertigo and I thought "Oh hey! I liked that song!" and then Beautiful Day and I thought the same thing. And there were several "Oh yeah! I know this song!" throughout the concert with Pride and Sunday Bloody Sunday and some vague recognition for WTSHNN and One. Mmm popular subconscious.

 

[schnumi]

First song i saw on tv was Last night on earth.

I was hooked to that song, everytime i came back from shool i would turn on the tv waiting for the clip to come and when it came i called my mum and she had to watch because i thought it was "super cool".

That's where my U2 love started, in 2000 i bought ATYCLB and i got more into them, then i discoverd that Last night on earth was made by U2!

 

[Bones58]

HMTMKMKM - I can vaguely remember that song when it came out when I was 5 and found many years later to my suprise that it was U2 that done it. In fact as I recall the guitar riff and the effects on Bono's voice used to scare me.

 

[Joey788]

New Year's Day

I had no idea it was U2 until I bought The Best of 1990-2000 about four years ago. After that, my mom told me that New Year's Day was U2. I listened to her copy of The Best of 1980-1990 and I've been a fan ever since.

 

[Pop Artist]

I was already a fan by this stage, but when I switched on the radio and heard Vertigo for the first time, I thought it was some other heavy metal group! I
I only heard the last minute of the song with the "yeah yeah yeah"'s. Then the radio announcer said "That was U2 with their newest single, Vertigo" and Im like "%$#@! It was them! And I missed the first part of the song!"

I remember the first time I'd heard Mysterious Ways, I was already a fan but at the time a bit out of the loop - I was busy temporarily living in another city and hadn't realized they were coming out with a new album. Anyway, the radio played MW without saying who it was at first. Remember, the AB sound was a huge departure from their previous sound, so I did not connect the sound with U2, but boy, did that song make my ears perk up in immediate love - I was so ready to seek this band out. They finally said who it was after the radio played another song, and it was like, no wonder! Anyway, the point is that if I hadn't already been a fan, I would've become one on the spot.

 

[U2jer]

Remember hearing what I later discovered was 'Your Blue Room' on the radio at a Starbucks, I really liked it when I heard it the first time, but never thought to ask who it was. When I got the Passengers album and realized what the song was, I was really happy

 

[thrillme]

The "Unforgettable Fire", back when MTV only played music videos.

Off-topic, I had nightmares of Peter Gabriels "Sledgehammer" video.



"Hold me...Thrill me", really it was the guitar lines about a minute into the song that got me, but it would be a couple more years before really taking a serious interest in their music.

Actually, now that I'm reflecting back, most of my exposure to their music was from their music videos.

 

[lady luck]

yes, of course -- it happened to me with Staring at the sun.
It was one of my fav songs and I never knew who sung it before getting into U2!!

 

[Smilla]

Ahhh my dear friends...you guys always make me feel olllllld!!

Same here--i remember hearing New Years Day when i was 6 or 7... and didn't know what it was.
Took me 6 more years to become a U2 freak

 

[Dahlia]

I remember listening to The Sweetest Thing on the radio but I had no idea it was U2. I always thought it was some Boy Band
I'm sure I heard some songs of U2 before but I really can't remember, but when I first listened to WOWY, it seemed familiar and so did Beautiful Day. Didn't know a band called U2 existed til 2004 tho ^^'

 

[digsy]

i remember hearing Zooropa as a kid - i was enthralled by the noise it used to make at the end!
it was about 3 years later that i discovered Joshua tree and a little while after that that i rediscovered Zooropa and actually knew what it was - everything else followed suit after that.

also my sister used to record videos off the tv and i only discovered years later when watching it back, that this one video i used to like was actually Wild Horses

 

[Meghan]

I remember hearing Sunday Bloody Sunday, around 2000-ish. I think my reaction was, "Wow, what a piece of shit. At least it's about something worth singing about though." (Because the dj explained what it was about after he played the song.)

And I remember hearing/seeing Elevation on the Today show, (not a performance, just a snippet of the video clip) and thinking I liked the original version better. I thought it was a cover.

A few years earlier, I'd seen Sweetest Thing on Rage. I thought Bono looked like a pedophile.

And, kind of on the same note, I remember hearing Electrical Storm, and that it was by U2, but then thinking, "No, I must've heard wrong. U2 are heaps better than that."


And I guess I should add that I really like all of these songs now.

 

[Bug]

Pedophile?

 

[coolian2]

He wasn't wearing a rain coat, and he didn't have a big beard!

 

[Meghan]

I was nine. He just looked like the creepy guys my mum told me not to talk to.

 

[angel_28]

I was 16 i heard Mysterious Ways ...girls in my art class kept playing the song over and over...i liked it but never inquired as to who sang it...i also remeber seeing the video.
2 years later i bought Achtung Baby and was an official U2 fan...really don't know why i didn't do it sooner

 

[BoyStupidBoy88]

i heard Beautiful Day on some top 40 station back when it came out

Freakin' hated it......

But hearing 'Still Haven't Found some years later absolutely floored me.

 

[The Slow Loris]

In 1992, my little sister, who was in grade 8 at the time, asked for Achtung Baby for Christmas, and that's all she'd ever play every morning when we were getting ready for school. I thought it was another lame band that my sister liked (she also liked Roxette and Milli Vanilli et al)....and I'd even make fun of her for it (I was sheltered, obviously, if not entirely delusional). But then one of the guys on our hockey team would always play 'Mysterious Ways' in the locker room before games. I had to admit, it was great, despite my sister liking it! And then, THE MOMENT: 'Where the Streets Have No Name' came on the radio, and a friend of mine told me the name of the song and that it was by a band called U2. That's when I put two and two together, and I fell in love with the sound I was hearing. This was my music, and I had to get more of it...which I did.

I bought The Joshua Tree on tape, which was the first album I ever bought myself, and after listening to the first three songs, I knew I'd heard them before; they were part of my subconscious. Once I got into the other songs, I could not stop listening to the album. I remember it took me a while to get into 'Running to Stand Still'. Now it's one of my top 5 U2 songs.

And then I had to decide which album to buy next. After listening to the songs on The Joshua Tree, I knew there was this sound, this sound I'd heard before. Which song was it? Ah, it came to me at that moment: it was 'Pride (In the Name of Love)'....and so I bought Rattle and Hum since there were other live favourites on it I was told. But it wasn't the right version! So I bought The Unforgettable Fire. And soon after I bought my first ever CD -- Achtung Baby.

And so my introduction to great music had begun.

(My apologies to my sister. The irony is she listens to mostly hip hop now, and doesn't even have a U2 album! Though she can't get enough of 'In A Little While' and 'Wild Honey' whenever I play it.)

 

[2morrow]

The first time I was ever concious of hearing a U2 song was in the 1994(?) movie "Blown Away" w/ Jeff Bridges. It played WOWY and Still Haven't Found...I only knew it was U2 because my mom was all "Ew! Their playing stupid U2 songs!" I just remember thinking that Still Haven't Found was the coolest song ever. When I was in middle school, one of my teachers was really into music, and would let us flip through his cd collection. ATYCLB just came out, but I had somehow never heard Beautiful Day. I remember liking the black and white cover of ATYCLB.

But, I didn't become a crazy obsessed fan until 2004, when i saw the iPod ads and MTV Jammed. The Bomb rocks!

 

[mythikal]

some 15 or maybe more.., I hear one song called "stranger in strange land" thought it was different music......
later, the superb song from joshua tree.....changed my mind...

 

[Varitek]

I am a child of the 90s so I know I grew up hearing U2 singles on the radio. But one song sticks out, SBS, which grabbed me with the drumline and words and made me find out who u2 was. Then when I went out and bought a bunch of their CDs I realized how much of their music I already knew. But it was the songs I don't think I'd ever heard on the radio that have become my favorites - All I Want Is You, Whose Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, I Will Follow, Out of Control, Red Hill Mining Town, Running to Stand Still, The First Time...ok I'll stop now.

 

[moussy]

in the 90's (I was like 7) I knew of U2's existence, that they were really cool band, but at that time I didn't listen to music so I ignored them for a couple of years. The first song I heard from them and knew it was U2 was elevation (I liked it so much I recorded it from radio several times on one tape and ended up listening to this tape where 1 song was recorded 20 times...) Then I saw the performance of Lemon (ZooTV Sydney) on TV where Bono was macphisto and I thougt it was so funny...apparently I was the only one in the room who liked it. my mum asked if it was a transvestite show actually 'till today no one I know understands that mac stuff...
but when my friend lent me her ATYCLB cd I was really surprised when I listened to it - I expected them to have 1 or 2 great songs and not a whole album of incredible music. I was shocked when I realised that I liked some songs even more than elevation. ... I saw BD&One (bar version) video Bono was so damn hot there
when i got hold of JT, R&H, AB... I started listening to U2 all the time and became obsessed. So that's when I became a U2 freak

 

[OceanGirl]

I have memories from when I was about 7 of my older sister playing "All I Want Is You". I always liked it and knew it really well because she used to play it so much.

I never knew it was a U2 song until I started getting into them myself at about 16 or so.