Question for all the older people

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BonoVoxSupastar said:
You always refer to the 90's as cool. :huh:

You said you didn't realize the "the facade" until later as well, yet you still refer to the 90's as the cool. I'm just wondering why faking cynicism would be cool...

Well, I didn't think they were particularly cool at the time. Achtung.. yes. Zooropa.. yes. But Pop, not as much. Now I feel they were cool throughout. :wink:

As for the 'facade' bit, maybe I should explain it this way. Music is a performing art like Acting is. So I don't see anything wrong in putting on a damn good show even if you're only pretending to be cynical. :shrug:
 
U2Man said:


i was in the record shop on the day it was released. but then again, i'm a real fan :shrug:

:madwife: I didn't have a real job till 2000 so couldn't scrounge up the pocket money to get it, alright? :madspit:
 
Zootlesque said:


As for the 'facade' bit, maybe I should explain it this way. Music is a performing art like Acting is. So I don't see anything wrong in putting on a damn good show even if you're only pretending to be cynical. :shrug:

There's a difference between putting yourself into a character and writing about what you don't know. And it's probably a thin line, but one allows you to expand your writing the other is just lying. I think Bono does a fair share of putting himself into other characters, but don't buy the facade theory.

I think it's much more believable to think he may have gone through a change of heart or was having a crisis of faith.
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:


There's a difference between putting yourself into a character and writing about what you don't know. And it's probably a thin line, but one allows you to expand your writing the other is just lying. I think Bono does a fair share of putting himself into other characters, but don't buy the facade theory.

I think it's much more believable to think he may have gone through a change of heart or was having a crisis of faith.

so you think the facade was a facade :hmm:
 
Chizip said:


so you think the facade was a facade :hmm:

Well honestly, I think both Zoo TV and PopMart tours had the facade of coming off as pure surface and entertainment when there was so much more underneath.
 
U2 first drew my attention in 1984 with Pride. I bought the LP and I was overly excited by it. U2's Live Aid set made me a FAN...
First concert was the JT tour in 1987, Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam. I cried when the intro of Where the streets... started.. an impressive and truly amazing experience. Four guys on stage with a Joshua Tree backdrop in broad daylight with little or no light and showeffects. The band blew me away.

Next stop on the line was Lovetown. I initially had tickets to the third Amsterdam show on 20 December '89. This gig was cancelled due to Bono's voice problems. The rescheduled gig, three weeks later also was the last Lovetown gig.

The 90s brought us Achtung Baby. Imho, their masterpiece. ZOO TV indoors (Ahoy, Rotterdam) was kickass, ZOOROPA outdoors so overwhelming that had to see multiple shows in order to take it all in (Rottedam stadium twice, Olympic Stadium Berlin and Nijmegen Park).

Then POP, still not one of my favourite albums, although it contains a number of gems... The tour, however, was a different ballgame; absolutely breathtaking, especially the Discotheque part where the entire stadium transformed into a dancefloor... Great... I saw two POP shows, one of them in front of the B-stage (Rotterdam stadium + Strahov stadium in Prague).

ATYCLB was playing it safe in my opinion. The tour was lovely. The Irving Plaza broadcast was something to look forward to. I saw 5 Elevation shows (3 X Arnhem, Antwerp, Slane). Arnhem 3 when I was in the heart is top of the list, followed by an absolutely going bananas crowd at Slane when Thin lizzy's 'The boys are back in Town' was played 15 minutes before the show started. Most impressive moment was that Bono sat down for a prayer and solemnly asking the Lord to get him through the show the day after his dad's funeral..

HTDAAB is an another playing it safe album with a few gems.. The outdoor tour again impressive. I watched the Euroepean premiere in Brussels from the enclosed section in the front. Great to see them again after a four years absence. I also went to all three Amsterdam shows. Amsterdam 3 being the most special one of the Vertigo shows I experienced ( Miss Sarajevo, OOTS with Edge on the guitar)....

What can I say about the band... man, I consider myself a big fan, but I am critical towards them. I really hope the band will look for new boundaries and cross them in order to take the music to new levels.. If one is capable of doing this, it's U2. Keeping the fingers crossed...

Whereas my age is concerned (I'm 35).. I'm an older fan, but I'm not old.. ;-) ...
I think it's kind of cool to see the band attracting a younger crowd who are into the music as much as the 'older' people are.. I hope to have the band around in good shape for another 10 years before they consider calling it quits....
 
DontExpect said:


It's funny. I'm still in high school, and the feeling is probably much different. While everyone knows U2 and the songs are pretty familiar, I am known as the only person in the school who is really crazy about them. Now I want to SHARE them with as many people as I can because it bugs me that most high schoolers think they are uncool.

Oh well, kids are funny :wink:

:yes: Same with me. There's a few kids and teachers who call themselves "massive fans" and so on, but I'm the kid who will bring them up given the opportunity. I will never pass up an oppportunity to talk about them.

But I do cringe when I'm talking to a teacher about Melb I, and I hear, "I can't believe they didn't play Peace on Earth! That is one of their biggest songs! Haven't they played it at heaps of shows?"
 
Allanah said:


I know how you feel (I'm 24 and became a fan in 2005), but it is also kind of cool to discover them later in their career. No waiting years between albums; they're all on a shelf at the music store just waiting to be discovered. For me, it was like stumbling onto a goldmine.

Well yeah, there is that :wink:. I suppose there is always the chance that this era fans will appreciate U2 longer or stay mega-fans later because there is more music to discover. I mean, Joshua Tree celebrates its 20-year anniversary this year. I've had the album for about a year-and-a-half!
 
COBL_04 said:

I mean, Joshua Tree celebrates its 20-year anniversary this year.

dag, how is that even possible? 20 years? I know it's true, of course, but it just doesn't seem like it could possibly be right. :no:

I guess if anyone asks me why I'm a u2 fan, I'll say it's because the intro to Streets still gives me goosebumps, 20 years on.
 
The one thing that really sucks (and probably the only thing in truth) about becoming a U2 fan at the age of 14 in 2004 is that I have only seen one show, and may not get a chance to see too many more (PROVE ME WRONG!). I will never, EVER see Lovetown, ZooTV, Red Rocks live in person...:sad:
 
I'm always nostalgic for the old days so I'll weigh in on what it was like in NY in the 80's.They started out playing small clubs like the Ritz and Mudd club. They really weren't known at all. I wasn't into them at that time and I'm sure it's a rare lucky few that could say they actually saw those gigs. I remember really hearing of them in '82. There was a radio station here, WLIR (what you would consider alternative radio) they would constantly play u2. In 1982 A Celebration was a big song on that station, it was also being played in the dance clubs. I loved the song and whether U2 want to admit it or not that song was in heavy rotation here. After War came out in early '83 it was successful on the college circuit and MTV played New Yrs. Day on the video rotation. The album did well but I don't think regular radio had picked it up. In Sept. '84 UF came out and Pride was an instant hit. They also kept pushing Wire which was played endlessly on LIR. Their last so called small venue gig in NY was at Radio City Music Hall 12/84. I still had not seen them. This show was a disaster as people crashed the concert and hundreds of kids were standing in aisles with no seats and storming the stage. Cops were called in and there was an altercation with Bono and an officer brandishing a gun at him. It was all over the NY papers the next day. I remember kicking myself for not crashing with my friends. Next time they were back in NY was to play their first concert at Madison Sq. Garden. I finally got to see them there and it was incredible. It's a cliche, but it was a religious experience for me. I remember spilling out of the Garden and hundreds of people around still singing 40 on the sidewalks of NYC. Incredible. After that came Live Aid and U2's introduction to the entire world. So sad, but inevitable. All the rock station's in town were now playing u2.... they had arrived. We didn't hear from them much for about a year and a half till JT was released in 3/87. With or Without you just exploded. I remember going to see the premiere of the video at this club called Malibu and standing there mesmerized by what I was seeing. The music, the imagery, the total new look of the band. Amazing. The other memory of the 80's is seeing Rattle & Hum in movie theaters. We went to the opening at this huge screened theater on 45th and Bway. The movie floored us. Went back twice more to see it there. Those really were exciting times watching the band grow into superstars. The fact that they are still superstars is a testament that they deserve everything they worked for.
 
- First heard U2 on WHFS an alternative rock station in DC in Nov 1980 - I think they played I Will Follow
- Wanted to go to hear them at Bayou Club 12/7/80 but had finals coming up so bailed - still one of my biggest regrets hence the username
- The memory that sticks in my head - seeing Bono dislocate his shoulder at RFK during JT Tour (9/20/87) and still finish the set and encores - took alot of heart and that cinched it for me
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:


You honestly thought it was a facade?:eyebrow: Yet you thought that was cool?


The irony of it all never fails in this forum.

It was U2 accepting they are stars/human and loosening up about it - (thereby responding to the Rattle and Hum critics - so much for "U2 didn't care what anyone thinks" talk on that era). "Hypocrisy of my own heart" and all that.

Ever noticed how they did the ultimate cliche definiton of "cool" - the sunglasses, the leather clothes, spraying champagne on stage, driving around in a limo/airplane? This was their way of saying "right, you wanted a pompous egomaniac rock star, here it is." (Bono in particular) Obvious yet it still fooled many.
 
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My sister's boyfriend introduced me to U2 when I was a senior in High School (84/85). I still have all the original albums (scary how my kids don't have a clue what an album is!), tapes and videos--I even taped LiveAid. I've been to 3 of their concerts: 1 per decade.

I like to think of myself as someone who has grown up with U2. They are like old friends who you've known forever.
 
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