Older U2 fans against younger...

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My uncle went to his first U2 concert in 1979 and is quite a big fan.
I have listened to u2 since I was 12 in 1997. When I talk to my uncle about U2 we have much the same views on them. :shrug:
 
I would love to meet one of "the originals" people who first got into U2 between 1978 and 1980-81. Is anybody here an "original?":)
 
Gorram Australian Invasion, lets take this place over :yes:

Ive been a fan since mid 90's, a while before Pop came out. Man that stuff was good.
 
I've read through this whole thread and I must say I am impressed with people's opinions. I find that most people got into U2 when they were 10-13 however and it was different albums at the time. I myself was 10 when I became hooked on WAR. I am an old timer according to Brownda7 list although I wish I was an original. U2 has impacted my life an made more influences in my thinking than anyone else (except maybe my parents). I walked down the aisle to them which I felt was more important than my wedding song that we danced too. They influence so many people young and old and I think that's amazing.

Going forward...please understand that I mean no offense ever if I post my opinion on anyone's thread. I just have a set frame of mind because of where and when my mind got influenced. However the bottom line is we all love them younger, older and newcomers.
 
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i became a fan in 2001 , after having the Boston Concert on Pay-Per-view.
It was awomse. i recored it to mp3s on the computer , and didnt know half the songs!!! :lmao:
i gave them such terrible names (note i didnt have Internet access at this time)

I've missed out on a lot of stuff...would have been nice to be old enough for Zoo TV ect haha i was only 6.
but maybe the best is coming over the next 2 years....
 
Hola amigos :wave:
I´ve been U2 fan since Joshua Tree, in 1987. Despite I´m a young man I´ve known U2 because my dad bought Joshua Tree on casette that year. I loved it and since that day I´ve been listening U2 :yes:
 
I'm 41 and have been a fan since I went to college in 1981. Honestly though, I wasn't a rabid fan and didn't embrace U2 as my generations version of the Beatles until the AB/ZooTV/Zooropa era. That era remains my favorite, not only is AB my favorite album but ZooTV has gotta be the best concieved and executed major rock tour ever.

I love the fact that there are tons of younger fans, gives me hope that you aren't all listening to rap.
 
I'm 24, became a fan when I was 11 after Achtung Baby was released. So I might be a younger fan, but now that I own all their records, I am impressed with all of them and love each and every one. One of my favorites is BOY, so I dont think it is about the age. Good music is good music. This will show with the new album and Vertigo, lot of new younger fans coming through.
 
I became a fan in 1981 when a friend of mine DRAGGED me to a show and exposed me to Boy and Octobler. I was very impressed by their performance that night - Mezmorized! and listened to them often after but really didn't get devoted to them til War came out ,then that was it. I Grew up in a college town, played that scene and the punk scene so I was always exposed to different alternative music. I was like the only one in my high school who even paid attention to them before War. It is my favorite album and will always be. I loved the 80's and following U2 and can relate to each album(from the 80s) as a stage in my life. It was kind of they followed me... hmmmm.... memories:sad: :blahblah: Oh, BTW I am very proud to be an older fan and still can't come to reality that there are 13 yr olds that love U2. I understand it though and it's great that U2 has such a variety of followers. Music always bring people together - it's a beautiful thing.:cool:
 
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Myself, 35, started liking them when I was 12. I've gone through so many different love/hate periods with them that it's hard for me to feel "superior" to any young fan. (Weird when I say "young." I look 10 yrs younger, and don't feel 35.) I can only compare it to marriage. Love is indeed amany-splendored thing; Complicated and ever-changing, but only as we change as people. But if you really sincerely love and respect the PERSON, if your relationship is built on a good foundation, you can weather the changes. It is only becuase U2 take themselves and their music so seriously, I respect and honor them, so that over the yrs, even as they've gone off in directions I may not have approved of at the time (like that cruddy stage show for POP) I could never gove them up. They've become like family.

One thing that I still confess to feeling "superior" about though, or at least, wish that younger fans could still experience. That's the old shows, when U2 were not danceable, but the raw heavy-metal power of the music, its primal explosive energy and joy, had us wanting to relase our emotions somehow. SO we just stood there and clapped along...anybody remembers Bono's "Amazing Grace" during "Electric Co".....

The younger audiences in the 90's never experienced U2 totally in their improvisational guise, when anything and everything pretty much did happen at shows. Maybe at 2nd night San Jose. when it was so good, I've read, that Edge stood there crying onstage. Since ZooTV the show has always been tamed to coincide with a screen presentation. I've always felt the band held themselves back. Younger audiences have never experienced "unembellished" shows. I'm not sounding like a fogey here, or a Luddite. But even during Elevation, where people politely stood in the Heart, or didn't start the a cappella sing alongs...you started to feel it a little, but the emotional level of the show was a sweet sense of grace rather than primal power. Went nicely with the album, I guess. I remember just starting to clap during SBS, wishing for more of crowd response....Bono started at me for a second and I blushed (can you always tell "old fans" when they clap at shows? There's a reason...those early shows really changed us for life. Amybe b/c I was so young then. But I really feel the quality of live shows is deteriorating, and I've seen a lot of bands. Since the video screens came in these new acts feel they can cheat on their audience and not have the guts to engage them directly, and just hide behind a massive sound and light show. The only ines who didn't were Live, and I will never forget what the music biz did to that band. They were America's answer to U2 and when the Britney Brigade came along they were thrown aside.

That was the genius of ZooTV, I finally realized all these yrs later..that the video show was a challenge: for the band to play "over" it, and take the audience's attention AWAY from it.

Did they? Can't say. It will be interesting to see what they do with this simpler material. I'm feeling the primal energy will be back! "Vertigo" was written for the stage! It has that "YOU MAY LEAVE YOUR SEATS NOW BOSTON!!!" vibe about it, and I haven't felt that way in a LONG time! I'm shivering imagining this live!I can imagine it now...the crowd's parts (Bono: "Hello hello"..holds out the mike...us: "HOLA!"...Bono: "swaying to the music..sway to the music..." us: "WHOA, oh oh, oh oh..WHOA, oh oh, oh oh..." it'll be like the new "Pride" call!)
 
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Lara Mullen said:
My uncle went to his first U2 concert in 1979 and is quite a big fan.
I have listened to u2 since I was 12 in 1997. When I talk to my uncle about U2 we have much the same views on them. :shrug:
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:yes: My mom was telling her friends about when I met Bono and one of them said she's been a U2 fan FOREVER and even saw them play in our hometown at a local church in 1981. A lot of the guys I work with (30-mid 40s) are also huge fans and we like the same stuff, we talk about concerts we've listened to or seen on tape (or ones I've seen on tape that they were at since I wasn't born yet) and we all know what each other are talking about.

I don't think it matters one lick whether you've liked them for 5 minutes or 30 years. It really bugs me when people say "oh, but this means so much more to ME b/c I've been a fan way longer than you" like it's someone's fault when they were born :rolleyes: I mean, when your kid is born you don't say the child means WAY more to you 30 yrs down the road than s/he did the day you gave birth right? The younger generations are just as genuine and valuable. Even God said it's cool to have faith like a child!
 
My names:

--the "Boy" people
--the Zealots (that's me! for the openly "Christian" October...aka: the "Gloria" fans)
--the War Children
--The Unforgettable Fires
--the Joshua Tree Era fans (they'll always come from "that era")
--the Throttle and Scummers (My fond nickname for RAH: 'Throttle and Scum"..love the album, don't get me wrong! WHY did they never play "Love Rescue Me" live in the US?!?!That song was written for the stage! My highest personal compliment for a U2 song is that it is "written for the stage"))
--the Achtung Babies
--the K-Mart Generation (sorry, I'm a card-carrying "Pop" basher, though I lOVe Miami...it;s just that they finally went overboard and planned the stage show before the music)
--the "new fans"
 
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im a younger fan but a lot of poeple thought i was an older one for a while :wink: .
im only 18 but i would have to say i know more than all the older people i know (not here) about u2, and i appreciate all their older stuff, everything from the 90s until now. i like every style they have done because all of it is u2. i am a fan plain an simple. they have been my favorite band since i stole their cds out of my dads collection and never gave them back.
my wish would be that i could have been younger and seen them in the beginning, i feel like i missed out on a lot and had lots of catching up to do. ive never even been able to go to a concert because of my age but i think that will change next year *crosses her fingers*
do any of the older fans have tattoos relating to u2?
 
LivLuvAndBootlegMusic said:


:yes: My mom was telling her friends about when I met Bono and one of them said she's been a U2 fan FOREVER and even saw them play in our hometown at a local church in 1981.
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December 5, 1981 at Fountain Street Church. I'm amazed that U2 played there whenever I drive by it. It sounds like it was a very energetic show based on the recording.
 
Blue Room, I'm always when I was in college and I still live very close to the unviersity (SUNY Albany, NY) I sometimes walk across the football filed and I think, "My God, on the War tour, the band played a show RIGHT OVER THERE by the bleachers." I close my eyes and can see the stage. There were a lot of pics at the time of Bono kneeling down to a girl in the corwd and taking a rose from her.
 
Ok, you young pups, c'mon, c'mon, this geezerette is gonna give y'all a beating!!! :D
 
lol. i'm a young pup, and i honestly go through phases with my U2 patterns.

it's easier for me to get into the 90's U2, just because i was in the moment, being 23, and had just got into the band when Achtung Baby came out.

but it's the 80's U2 that really got me listening to U2 in the first place and influenced me to pick up Achtung Baby and love it, and be obsessed with U2's music ever since.

even though the older U2 fan may have more experience of living in the moment, i think i could hang with them any day. and i can drink them under the table.
 
I personally don't think people need "names" for whatever era it was that they got into U2. Sure, some have been around from the start and some have just found the magic, and the rest are everything you could possibly be in between... but shit, we're all U2 fans, aren't we? :shrug: And that makes us all special! :wink:

And not say that, y'know, everyone should have the same opinion or anything, but I think that's something more than whether you've loved U2 long time or just recently or wtfever. Opinion is something that definitely depends on the person you're talking about. I know people into U2 from every era who share a lot of the same opinions and dispute plenty of others.

It's attitude and opinion, my good friends, not era or age. ;)


Now I'll stop being all pretentious and go and sit in the corner and think about what I've done, okay? :wink:
 
U2 and I have always been in sync musically. U2 seemed to create the perfect song to match whatever I was feeling or whatever I desired to hear at a particular moment in my life. This has been true from 1983 to today. When I felt rebellious in my teens, U2 had "War". When I felt like pointing out the wrongs of the world in my 20's, there was JT. When I wanted something heavier, rocking, more fun - yet still sincere, there was AB. When I wanted experimentation, there was "POP". And when I felt the world needed a hug, there was ATYCLB. Now that I once again wanted to be rocked, there is "Vertigo". For 20+ years U2 has matched my moods perfectly. I don't love everything they've done, but I can relate to it all. I don't prefer 80's over 90's or the 00's over the 80's - it's all equal to me. The music suits me.

The one advantage I have of being an older fan is experiencing the sensations of new U2 music over the years - of hearing the albums the day they came out, of seeing the various tours. Additionally, over the years I was able to purchase some valued U2 items that are more difficult to find now. But I don't resent any new fans - I love the fact that U2 can get them! And this also helps me (and I'm sure U2) feel young! A 40 year old at a rock concert looks dorky, unless he is surrounded by fellow 40 year olds who are matched equally by teens and 20-somethings! ;) Then it's just cool. :yes:
 
Blue Room said:


December 5, 1981 at Fountain Street Church. I'm amazed that U2 played there whenever I drive by it. It sounds like it was a very energetic show based on the recording.
Click to expand...

Yeah, in a very strange church! (but cool building) Too bad that's like the only time they ever played GR. We need a bigger arena already...
 
Evalicious said:
Im a young U2 fan and i like that i learn something new every day from the old U2 fans here on interference.com


teach me i know im not a hopeless case.....:wink: :wave:
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Same here! :D:up:

I would be what someone called... an "elevator"?! :huh:
 
:wink: my name say's it all!

Seriously though, I'm 29 and my sister is 10 years older so U2 made an impression on me long before I became a real fan (like a lot of you with older siblings)

I remember liking Pride, New Years Day, I will Follow, and of course all of the Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum stuff throughout the 80's, but I never had any albums, I new U2 from the coolest F...ing radio station ever in the 80's/early 90's(102.1 "the spirit of radio" as it was known in the 80's, today its the Edge in Toronto BTW)

I even remember being mesmerized by Bono at Live-Aid... But I didn't actually buy an album until AB... as of November, 1991 had IMHO already been one of the best years I can remember musically... Nirvana-N, RHCP-BSSM, Metalica-BA, Pearl Jam-T, GNR - UYI1&2... but when I heard the Fly for the first time I was just floored at its "coolness"... when I found out it was u2 I was in shock, then I just figured they were being a bunch of poseurs .... when I finally bought AB (after first hearing MW) I played the first four tracks (One left me floored), and I then proceeded to play UTEOTW about a dozen times... over a couple of weeks I came to the realization that noone would ever make an album that is better than AB... then I bought JT : )) I've been hooked ever since... For me that Zoo TV era will always be my favorite because I was able to watch in awe waiting for U2's next move while at the same time moving backward's through the catalogue...

I have to admit that despite a handfull of stellar moments, ATYCLB just doesn't really do it for me... having said that I would never bash the album, while in its entirety its not my favorite I believe its "U2'ness" was compromised IMHO because U2 was on a mission to remain relevant and bring back some disenfranchised fans... it worked! And the album is still growing on me : )

Can't wait for HTDAAB!!!!
 
Headache: You're a riot. Love your site, BTW. You're a good reason to keep the stash handy (aka: try to get to this site daily no matter how busy you are..."blue crack" indeed..)

When I said I have "names" for eras of fans that's not putting down any group of fans! This is more of a private thing I go through when I am reading articles on the band. My mind clicks back and I have to go to "an era."

Sorry if it seemed otherwise. And what I said about Pop--
don't get me wrong. I DID NOT hate the music. It's just that I felt that for the first time ever, the quality of the music deteriorated because the band were too busy putting too much time and energy into planning the gaudy stage show..which itself had lost its way. The themes of Popmart were just ZooTV enhanced, and the band had never repeated themselves. The music itself eas taking second stage to the production, which anybody with a lot of money could have slapped together. I felt that idea-wise they had run out of steam. And there were some great songs on pop: Miami, Mofo, Please. The day the mask ever started sticking to Bono's face instead of just being a mask....

Beucase I am open-minded, I decided to give it the Teta Test: how does it play live? I went to a show and for the first time, I didn't get the shivers. That's all it took. The band couldn't even figure out how to play SATS live! I know a lot of fans left at that point, but I didn't. Because after all these years of being a fan I respected them too much. I knew that they took everything seriously they ever did, and knew they'd eventually see the light..that is, to get the focus BACK ON THE MUSIC. If the music was the best it could be, then they could bring a tiki ensemble on backup for all I cared. I can't stop ever being a fan, no matter what they do. But the late 90's, theband was on thin ice with me. It was like the Hansa sessions for AB.
 
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