How did you discover U2?

[clifedge]

For me, I had a college roommate three years ago who listened to Joshua Tree a lot, and I really came to love it. Unfortunately, I became a fan after the Elevation tour was already over, so I had to wait for Vertigo. Now I've been to three shows, and I'm looking forward to the time I can see them again.

 

[monke]

i kept going to afrinds house, and he loved the Elevation video because of the tomb raider movie, and i started liking it, and then walk on kame along, and i saw promise for the band, didnt became a fan fan untill the bomb

 

[Liesje]

In 2000, my best friend at the time gave me the Beautiful Day single for my birthday. I used to walk home from the bus stop alone listening to music, and I listened to it nonstop for months.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Rattle & Hum was one of the first CD's I ever bought, but I really only bought it because I was copying a cooler, older cousin (I was 11 at the time) and it wasn't exactly life changing. Then a few years later, a few years older and wiser musicaly, The Fly burst out through the airwaves and punched me in the head.

Hook, line and sinker.

I still clearly remember hearing Achtung Baby for the first time on a friends fathers mammoth stereo, the opening to Zoo Station coming for the first time at a huge volume. Track after track it kept punching me.

 

[annabelle]

1983
Driving - late one night
Gloria
On the radio
One listen
They had me!

 

[Lila64]

I worked in a record store in the early 80s (79-84/85). We were in L.A. and we imported all the new music, including U2. When they play here, they always mention remembering being played on the radio (KROQ and/or other stations)... The rest is history

 

[the tourist]

1996, when watching Batman Forever on VHS.

 

[Yahweh]

1989 or so listening to Where The Streets Have No Name on repeat in my friends basement after that I had to get every album and none of them disappointed been a fan ever since.

 

[trevster2k]

1983, my friend's brother had War and we played poker in his basement so I heard it quite a bit. Along with Under a Blood Red Sky and Unforgettable Fire shortly thereafter. Really got hooked after being an impressionable 16 yr old on a hot July day in 1985 after a band from Dublin, Ireland blew my mind with their live performance at a little show called Live Aid.

 

[tommycharles]

Spring 2003, saw a half hour special on "The Best of 1990-2000" on tv. Bought "Go Home". Picked jaw up off the floor. Didn't look back.

 

[Pero]

1.My brother used to play on his computer with or without you and one.

2.2003 spring - I wanted to buy ATYCLB because it had 4 songs that i knew(Beautiful Day, Stuck, Elevation and Kite because i saw Kite from Boston DVD) and a bit later came Walk On, new song.

3.19.08.2004.- my 15th birthday, a friend gave me whole u2 in mp3. I was a fan next month

 

[IWasBored]

a homeless man told me that the goal was soul, and i believed him. children are so naiive.

 

[Aardvark747]

a homeless man told me that the goal was soul, and i believed him. children are so naiive.

I wonder if that was the same hobo looking chap who started rapping 'Miami' to me all those years ago....

 

[IWasBored]

I wonder if that was the same hobo looking chap who started rapping 'Miami' to me all those years ago....

it's possible. i hear he's multi-talented as well as multi-hair-styled.

 

[Aardvark747]

 

[solar]

In 2000 (16 years old) I first heard Beautiful Day and i was blown away!!

 

[Bonochick]

When I was 13, my parents belonged to a music club and had 2 free CDs coming to them. They let my sister pick out one and me pick out another. I wasn't that big into music, so I was having a hard time choosing one. I saw The Joshua Tree listed as a choice and recognized the three songs it mentioned being on the album. I asked my parents if they thought that would be a good choice. They told me that they had that on vinyl, so I figured if I didn't like the CD, they could just have it.

Ha!

I now have their vinyl as well.

 

[1stepcloser]

saw a guy do a crap version of WOWY on a TV talent show, it inspired me to buy the 'best of 1980-1990'. it carried on from there.

 

[ZeroDude]

I heard the guitar player was called The Edge, I had to investigate.

 

[BEVERLY56]

My ex (who I thought had crap musical taste) bought Frank Sinatra Duets. I heard Bono singing "Under My Skin" and that voice just got its hooks into me, and I've never been the same. Stole my daughter's Achtung Baby CD, never looked back!

 

[BebeAutumn]

By chance...

Sitting in the living room flipping through the TV channels, I came upon a concert on Showtime...THE Red Rocks concert.

So many things took me in....Bono's energy, that sound coming from Edge's guitar, Adam's coolness, Larry's good looks, the white flag, Bono's rosy cheeks, the reaction of the audience, the chilling rain, the music, the lyrics...

When was that? '83 or '84?

 

[Nube Gris]

heard 'Pride In The name of love' back in 1986 on my uncle's cassette an I WAS BLOWN AWAY; i thought it was the best piece of music i had ever heard; then i asked another uncle who was travelling to the States to buy me some 'U2' not even knowing the name of the albums or so.....
She brought me 'Under a blood red sky' and it caught me instantly; however i remember when i heard 'New years day' and ' i will follow' that i had heard those melodies before. Maybe, but i didn't knew it was a band called U2
After that, in late 1987 at my school, there were some friends talking about how fascinated they were about U2; they were talking about 'sunday bloody sunday' and how incredible an album called 'War' was. i said "yeah Sunday Bloody Sunday, its fucking amazing, i have that live red cassette"
So i exchanged cassettes with one of those friends , i gave him 'under a blood red sky' and he gave me 'The Joshua Tree' . I had heard 'I still havent found what im looking for' maybe once, but it was ' With or without you' that became the soundtrack of my life since then. I recorded only these 2 songs at first, and then in 1989 as Rattle and Hum' was released i went to the movie and i can remember ' Steets', Running to stand still', 'Bad' , ' o.k edge play the blues (silver and gold) and 'All i want is you' totally blew my mind.
I recorded 'desire', and 'angel of harlem' from a friend's tape, which were getting a lot of radio airplay, in a time all the hair metal bands were infested all over the place
Then in 1991 i saw The Fly video and said 'what the fuck is this? U2?
Then 'Mysterious ways' was released, but it was when i heard 'One' on the radio that i decided to buy the Achtung Baby Cd immediately and decided that it was the greatest album ever. For about almost 3 years i totally burned it, listening to it every day, almost every time. I went to see Zoo TV in Mexico City and the rest is history
I remember i travelled with 6 friends to the north of Mexico(1993), it was like 12 hours by car (manzanillo beach) and we took only 1 CD: ACHTUNG BABY. We only listened to Achtung Baby the entire week in the house at the beach, and we still managed to listen to it in the car in the entire way back; its fucking amazing i cant believe it!!

 

[MsGiggles]

Since the 80's - I really liked NYD and Pride and then when JT was released, they had me hooked

 

[The OOTS]

1983.
Heard that intro to NYD on the radio.
The rest is history.

 

[Kristie]

2001, end of August

Finally got around to buying a cd from that band U2 because I realized I liked every song of theirs that I heard on the radio. Ended up with the Best Of 1980-90 and it did not leave my CD player for about a month.

 

[Mats Avail]

My best friend had a copy of 'Under A Blood Red Sky' which he played non-stop.

 

[Canadiens1131]

I heard Electrical Storm no the radio.

I mean, yes, Beautiful Day, Streets, I Still Haven't had all been heard before by me, but Electrical Storm came out as a single just as I was getting into pop and rock music in general.

The Best Of 1990 2000 followed, and the rest is history.

 

[joerags]

In 1985 when I was in sixth grade, my best friend told me about this Irish band who is really popular on college radio. On the last day of sixth grade (which to me was a big milestone), he brought in a cassette of the Unforgettable Fire. I listened to it and thought it was really weird (Remember, this was the time of Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince). Then in the summer that followed, I saw Live Aid and saw these big flags that said U2. Then during that summer, I always watched this music video show on regular tv (I didn't have MTV) and they kept on playing the video for the Unforgettable Fire and loved it so much: the snow and melancholy of the music. Then I saw U2 posters from the UF era and thought those guys look so cool. The rest is history.
So for me, my obsession for U2 has been going on since 1985.
Funny, when I heard that Bowling for Soup song with the U2 reference, I was floored, since 1985 was the here I fell in love with U2.

 

[GibsonGirl]

I became a full-fledged fan in 2000 when the Beautiful Day single was released, though I had heard U2 songs before then. I'd kill to have been born, oh...ten years or so earlier.

 

[angelordevil]

I heard them as a kid in 1987...they just magically arrived in the family car stereo, and I've been intrigued (my sister uses a different word) ever since.