Have we forgotten? It's been 25 years of U2

[Foxxern]

Yes, it's absolutely true. 25 years ago this month, the band now known as U2 got it's start. That month, Larry got bored and figured he'd try to start a band. So he posted a note at Mount Temple for a meeting at his place. Never mind the fact that there were originally seven boys at that first meeting. And never mind that the ones who stuck around longer had no songs and little playing experience. They somehow, against all odds, managed to become the biggest band in the world. Paul Hewson, that kid who couldn't do anything else, would become singer. Adam Clayton and his long Afghan coat would become bassist, with Dave Evans able to play a little guitar, and the kid who started it all, Larry Mullen, stuck behind the drum set. For the time being, they would just call themselves Feedback. Later they would move on to The Hype, until U2 really stuck as a name.

It's been a grand ride from the streets of Dublin, to the stage at Wembley for Live Aid, to the roof of a Los Angeles building, to a war-weary Sarajevo, and seemingly back home again to play at Slane. Somewhere along the way they managed to sell around 100 million albums, and play to millions of people live around the world. They met with athletes, writers, politicians, and other rock stars. They cried, argued, laughed, screamed, and got drunk at least a few times. If such a thing could ever happen again in a million years, I wouldn't believe it. Now that's a hell of a 25-year story.

Opinions, responses?

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Change is the only constant

[Bonochick]

That was said very nicely.

I would just like to say that I didn't give a two damns about music until I heard my first U2 CD. Now, I absolutely love music...not just U2 music either...and I couldn't imagine my life without it. Bono inspired me to sing...to write lyrics and poetry...which are my favorite pasttimes.

Thanks, U2...for everything.

[mocool12]

Awesome. Happy 25th Anniversary U2!! Thanks for being around this long and accomplishing what you have. You've given so much to us, and I'll always be grateful for it.






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"All right I'll eat your- eat your shorts?!!"

[popkidu2]

We've been so busy w/ the deathbears and "who's a whore?" questions, we forgot about U2!!!!

Wow!

Sit back for a moment folks and actually process this fact. 25 years. They've been together as long as I have been alive. I was born the same month, in the same year, that U2 formed. And I haven't accomplished half of what these guys have accomplished. None of us have.

In 25 years, they've gone from boys to men. They've carried their message of hope and love and peace and angst and everything else across the world many times over.

They've become wealthier than they could have ever have dreamed when they first met.

And yet they still push on, still keep searching for the dream, still find a way to be inspired by some mythical force that we can't even hope to understand.

As a band, they have altered the face of rock forever. They have changed how stadium rock shows will be viewed. The 1960's rock activism, rooted in the hippie story tellers strumming their acoustic guitar, is not lost on this band. They just amplified the sound and screamed across the world. In a time when being an activist was not "rock", they did it, and have continued to do it. Mixed medias at times, but they have never shied away from their messages.

Pushing the envelope, they have defied critics, continuing to create their own sounds. They haven't gone against the mainsteam, they've fucked with the mainstream, mocked the mainstream, given it the finger and run off laughing. Gospel singers in disguise, U2 has made it cool to be uncool.

And their still pushing the edge (no pun intended). Who knows what they will do next. Yet one thing is certain. They don't rest, and they won't ever stop. Sure, they may cut back on the music they make, the performances they do, but whenever they, U2, get together in a room, they will push themselves and those around them to continue to create that magic that makes their music unique, that thing that is U2.


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To use the old hippy saying, it ain't where you're from, it's where you're at. And right now. If you're listening to this CD, you're already watching the sunset in your mind, feeling the heat on your skin and whilling away the hours. Simply chilled. Best way to keep it, really. -Matthew Kershaw - Ibiza Sunset.

[NicaMom]

Happy 25th Anniversary U2!!!
You've come a long way!

Cheers!

Thank you for the Amazing Music, for giving us Soul and for the Beautiful Memories, you're unforgettable.

[This message has been edited by NicaMom (edited 10-02-2001).]

[unforgettableFOXfire]

WooHoo!!!

Now, just as much as ever, U2 rules as the greatest rock and roll band in the WORLD


*goes to party by doing some english homework *

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Thank you U2 for giving me lots of wonderful music and for being the 4 greatest rock and rollers on earth!!!!


Rock on, guys!!



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"I suppose I do everything in extremes-laugh a lot, cry a lot, fight a lot, make love a lot, eat too much, drink too much, try too much, cry too much. Pass the onion..." -Bono

~April~(AIM:POPLemonGirl)

*~The Official POP_Whore of Interference~*

[mikal]

Woohoo! Drink one to that!

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13 MORE DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SicilianGoddess]

Awesome Foxxern, thanks for posting this. I have loved U2 for 15 years and its not long enough!!



HAPPY ANNIVERSARY !!!!





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I Hear Voices, Ridiculous Voices

[SkeeK]

Curses for missing the first 8 years of U2's career due to being unborn!

They certainly have staying power no?

The first day of U2 or Feedback was on a Saturday at Larry's parents house. I know it was the fall, but I don't know if it was actually during October. It might have been the last Saturday in September 1976. But it was on a Saturday in the fall of 1976. I got that from a really long interview tape from 1982. It was great and very informative about U2s early days with interviews with the band, their parents, friends, teachers at Mount Temple, Journalist and others.
25 years since Feedback, 20 years since the start of the October Tour, a little over 15 years since the Amnesty 86 tour, almost 10 years since the release of Achtung Baby, 5 years since what became the postponed release date for POP, almost a year since the release of ATYCLB!

[z edge]

Definitely the most gracious band as well as best band on the planet. They seem to care as much or more about us than we do them. They feed off of our energy and love for them with 'mad ambition' and great songs. Amazing, I actually have posters of them over my bed-chicks dig that

[DebbieSG]

A quarter of a century! Some will say there have been miss-steps, but what a magnificent ride they have taken us on! The music industry goes through its trends and U2 just keeps barrelling through it all, producing the best rock and roll by a country mile. No fan will deny the music speaks to the soul and expresses the yearnings of the human heart. So universal. They're great and getting greater, because they care about each other, the fans, the world, the music and they are just plain fine musicians. They can reach out to a concert audience like no other. It's utterly amazing. We are so lucky to have them filling our ears and minds. God bless!

Happy 25!! Keep kickin'!

[~LadyLemon~]

I will drink to that!!

U2 has brought so much happiness to my life.
Their music makes me smile, dance, cry, laugh, and just rock out. Here's to another great 25 years!!!



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Goonies never say die!

[scatteroflight]

25 years...that is amazing. They were together three years before I was born. I'm pretty sure that out of all the major bands in rock history, they are the only ones who have stayed together that long without ever breaking up and never had different members. I haven't always agreed with what they've done...like much of the mid 90's...but I respect their urge to experiment and I realize that even some of the stuff I didn't like was a sign that they didn't want to stagnate. Without that mid 90's period I'm not so fond of, who knows, they might not be together now, and they might not have released one of my favourite records in ATYCLB. Thanks, guys, for all the pleasure and beauty you've brought into my life.



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"I am so amazingly cool you could keep a side of meat in me for a month. I am so hip I have difficulty seeing over my pelvis." -Zaphod Beeblebrox

[follower]

Yes, 25 years. And I missed the first 9, not because I hadn�t been born yet, like SkeeK, in fact I was already a grown-up when U2 and their oustanding music arrived in my country and in my life, in 1985. I have been with them since their beginning here. And most important than that, they have been with me, always, whether is a moment of joy or sorrow, I have always found shelter in their songs and message. Couldn�t expect more than music. Thanks U2.

[melon]

25 years of U2.

Been a fan for 14 years.

How fun is that?

Melon

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"He had lived through an age when men and women with energy and ruthlessness but without much ability or persistence excelled. And even though most of them had gone under, their ignorance had confused Roy, making him wonder whether the things he had striven to learn, and thought of as 'culture,' were irrelevant. Everything was supposed to be the same: commercials, Beethoven's late quartets, pop records, shopfronts, Freud, multi-coloured hair. Greatness, comparison, value, depth: gone, gone, gone. Anything could give some pleasure; he saw that. But not everything provided the sustenance of a deeper understanding." - Hanif Kureishi, Love in a Blue Time

[MysteryGirl]

WOO HOO!!! Time flies when you're having fun. They'll be winning new 15-year-old fans, 25 years from NOW!! U2 is the new Fab Four. Boys to MEN!! Eat your hearts out, all you boy bands! HEH!

:::wonders how many current "boy bands" will be around in year 2026:::

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"You're dangerous...'cause you're honest"

[cass]

Cheers U2, couldn't have done it without you, seriously. Thanks.
We're celebrating 30 years in the business(silly business, monkey business?) this week end. I remember hearing Mick Jagger had turned 50 and thinking, that is fecking old. No it's not!!! Just getting warmed up

Here's to another 25 and the continued health and happiness of Larry, Adam, Edge and Bono.....slainte

[raincloud]

Wow 25 years...I was blind for 23 of them...now I see the light and have alot of catching up to do...

Thanks, U2, for all of the stories, pictures and life changing music.

Any less of a band wouldn't warrant the obsession that I see in so many of us...including me!!

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"you know we got a stormy kind of love..."