your first U2 album

[financeguy]

And then you had to do "a sex change... then an oil change" right on those streets of Berlin.

Purely as a result of listening to the album, I went out and bought ten Trabants and dressed in drag for the whole year. Also, I took up cigar smoking.

 

[miss becky]

what was the first U2 record you bought, what was the occasion, and what did you feel after you finished listening to it for the first time?

Achtung Baby, on cassette. It was fall 1991, and I bought it because I had just agreed to go to the Zoo TV concert in March with my boyfriend. I thought I should familiarize myself with the music that would be played.

How did I feel? Like I had been poleaxed. I came away from that first listen deeply in love with all things U2. Totally, utterly, irrevocably in love. I was 17, a freshman in college, dating my first serious boyfriend. I was living away from home for the first time. I was discovering what I wanted to do with my life. And to listen to those songs about a man filled with doubt and longing, on a search for something he can never find...well, let's just say it really hit home. I connected deeply with it.

Undoubtedly the above is a major reason why Achtung Baby is my favorite album, and why it means so much to me.

 

[all_i_want]

This'll be the first time live for me. So hard to get those damn tickets.

all_i_want: Good thread, by the way!

thanks, good to see people enjoying it

 

[yimou]

Achtung baby,,, Some 14 years ago

I was 15 a the time, and bought it because of The Fly video.. Been hooked ever since... I used to listen to Metallica all the time before The fly opened my eyes to a weird looking guy in leather and sunglasses...

 

[Zoots]

I used to listen to Metallica all the time before The fly opened my eyes to a weird looking guy in leather and sunglasses...

So I'm guessing you're a fan of the rockier 90s!

 

[CTU2fan]

War (god I'm old)

I saw the Sunday Bloody Sunday video on MTV, from Red Rocks, and I just loved the song...so I bought War, and loved it. Then I got October & Boy, all on tape...my first cd was UABRS, my 2nd was JT when it came out. It's pretty amazing, I liked U2 when I was 12, and I still do...

 

[Saracene]

Best of 1980-90. The hilarious thing was that I bought it only because I thought that Mysterious Ways was on it. I had no idea at the time what the song I'd liked so much was called and could only vaguely remember the melody; so when I listened to it at the CD store I for some reason decided that the beginning of All I Want is You sounded just like the song I was looking for. Needless to say I was really disappointed when I got back home, but I really liked what I did get, especially Pride and Where the Streets Have No Name. It didn't make me a full-blown fan yet though; I didn't rush out to get their albums until after ATYCLB.

 

[Zoots]

for some reason decided that the beginning of All I Want is You sounded just like the song I was looking for.

That IS hilarious. All these stories are awesome! I love nostalgia threads.

 

[sue4u2]

War (god I'm old)

I saw the Sunday Bloody Sunday video on MTV, from Red Rocks, and I just loved the song...so I bought War, and loved it. Then I got October & Boy, all on tape...my first cd was UABRS, my 2nd was JT when it came out. It's pretty amazing, I liked U2 when I was 12, and I still do...

Uh, no you're not old But we won't go there.

War (on vinyl), the day after New Years day, which was the first time I heard New Year's Day.

 

[u2granny]

Guess you're all dying to find out why I bought War, right? Anyway, my future husband invited me to go with him to see what he said was "some Irish band" in Portland. He knew my grandparents were from Cork. It was 1983, we were in the third row at the Paramount Theater. I bought the tape the next day. I married him six months later.

 

[tiny dancer]

Here's where we show our age. Mine was War.

Same here u2granny.

 

[indra]

War (on vinyl), the day after New Years day, which was the first time I heard New Year's Day.

Yeah, my first U2 albums were on vinyl too!

 

[BluRmGrl]

The Unforgettable Fire is the first I ever bought. Pride & Bad were just soo amazing! Then along came The Joshua Tree as a gift from my best friend. At that point, I started buying all their past albums and I've only not bought a new one once. Pop just didn't appeal to me at first . I know, I know - that's a sacrilege to some here! The good news is, I got sooo desperate for "new" music from them about 2 years ago that I finally went out & bought Pop, completing my album collection of everything they've released so far.

 

[Nerfherder]

Hmm... Technically, the first album I bought was "Pop" in 97. Then I stole - uhm, BORROWED - Achtung Baby on cassette from a friend's house... I pretty much went on a U2-album-buying-spree after that.

 

[knox]

My first U2 CD was the Best Of 80s one. I bought it for my brother for Christmas (he was a U2 fan). He didn't come home for Christmas, though, so I was left with this music that was just going to sit there and go to waste, so I opened it and listened to it. It took me a couple years to really love it, but by the time I was a high school freshman, I was listening to it about three times a week.

 

[bathiu]

Here's where we show our age.

No we're not!

Mine first album was 'BOY' (bought in 1995 after hearing HMTMKMKM)

 

[trevgreg]

It was Achtung Baby, just because I liked Mysterious Ways that much. I remember listening to it one time through the whole thing, but I wasn't ready at the time, I guess, and really just paid attention to One and MW.

Then over time, as I got more into the band, I'd read about songs on the album. Eventually, I'd find myself listening to UTEOTW, then Who's Gonna Ride..., then EBTTRT, and.... well, you get the picture. One of the best albums I ever took a chance on for sure.

 

[cmb737]

First album I bought was Joshua Tree, but that being said it was in 1993.

I remember looking through the Zooropa cover before I knew anything about U2 and wondering who or what the hell Bono, Flood, The Edge were. Very confusing from the outside looking in.

 

[thrillme]

Here's where we show our age. Mine was War.

Not necessarily, the first U2 I bought with my own money, was "War", and I'm about a year older than that album.

The first U2 item given to me, was their best of 1980-90, "New Year's Day" was the one I liked almost from the first listen. As I'm listening to the "best of" I realize I've known a few of those songs for years.

"oh that's a U2 song, I know that one" had a few moments like that.

Then I heard "New Year's Day" on the radio that was longer, found out the version I have on the "best of" is not the original, then bought "War".

Any coincidence "War" is my favorite album?

Yes I even like "the Refugee."

 

[jacobus]

THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE its also their 1st classic album.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

First U2 album I brought was The Joshua Tree back in July of 2002. My family had gone to Sioux Falls to do some shopping, and I'd just started getting into U2 a couple of months before that, so I decided that this trip would be a good time to start on my U2 collection. I remember looking in the U2 section and seeing their 1980-1990 collection and The Joshua Tree, and I was debating over which one to get...even talked it over with my sister some. She suggested the best of, 'cause I knew more stuff off of there, but I was looking at the list of songs on The Joshua Tree, and I remembered hearing about how classic an album that one was-my family owns the vinyl version of that album-and I remember on some portion of a wall there was a big picture of the band looking the way they did in the Joshua Tree booklet picture, so I took that as a note to buy that one.

I remember the car ride home was a very windy one-it was a nice day and so we had our car windows down, and the wind was really whipping about that day. I say this about the wind 'cause I was listening to the U2 CD on my CD player, and I remember when it got to "Exit", I didn't know at that time that it started off so quietly, so I couldn't hear the opening with the wind being so strong, and I thought there was something wrong with the CD or my batteries or something, LOL. Once we got home, I played the CD again, and that's when I realized there was nothing wrong, that that's how the song was.

As for my thoughts...well, I loved the first three songs right off the bat, 'cause I remembered hearing them all the time when I was little, and I'd always liked those songs-it was particularly nice hearing "With Or Without You" again, as that's always been one of my absolute favorite U2 songs (still is). I remember that "Running To Stand Still", "Trip Through Your Wires", and "Exit" grabbed me right away-I even played "Trip Through Your Wires" for my sister one evening, 'cause I thought she might like it, considering some of the music she listens to. And I remember liking "Red Hill Mining Town" the more I heard it. The lyrics to "One Tree Hill" awed me right away, too, 'cause they were so poetic. And "Bullet The Blue Sky" really became one of my favorites upon seeing all the live performances of the song that I've seen thus far on TV-they do really cool things with that song live.

Okay, long post over now, but yeah, that's the whole story surrounding my first U2 album. I think it really says something about how much this one means to me that I remember that many details about it-it's my favorite album because it's the first one I'd brought. I love all their other albums, too-it was great discovering those as well, 'cause there's so many great songs on all of them, but The Joshua Tree will always be a bit special because of the reason I stated.

Angela

 

[Ellay]

I got given enough christmas money to buy 3 albums on cassette, and bought Pop - Erasures Greatest Hits, Natural History by Talk Talk and Achtung Baby by U2.

I was in the middle of doing my GCSE Geography project (and there was a hell of a lot of colouring to do)

I must have listened to those three albums a hundred times. By the end of it, Achtung Baby was ingrained on my psyche.

 

[Sken]

I loved U2 since the Joshua Tree, but being a student at the time I couldnt afford to by their cd's. In 1992, my friend bought for me for my birthday, UF, JT, R&H, and AB. What a great surprise.

And then came ZooTV, so I returned the favour and bought us tickets for the Adelaide concert, and what a memorable night it was. I never saw Lovetown, but I have been to Pop in Melbourne and Elevation in Manchester, and although they both were awesome, for me ZooTV was still my ultimate U2 experience.

Sken

 

[Aardvark747]

Achtung Baby - bought when Discotheque first came out - cos that was the only cd of theirs that I found in this record shop

(Pop was purchased soon after)

What I remember when listening to AB, was that I could recall some of the tracks on there, like Wild Horses, One and The Fly (especially The Fly, cos it was responsible for knocking Bryan Adams off no.1 after a zillion weeks)

 

[AdamsPoptart]

My first album was JT that was 1988 ,A few months later I bought R&H on cassette.As years went on I bought the rest of the albums on c.d. Geez,I feel kinda old amongst all these kids.I think to really know the band,get their early stuff because it's awesome music...

Hmm...are we in a time warp?

 

[greety]

Here's where we show our age. Mine was War.

Speak for yourself

First time I discovered was Boy actually, found it in my brother's collection (yes in the year 1980 )
I listened to it, loved it and taped it
Later on I got October from my boyfriend (husband to be), so you could say the first album I actually bought was War

 

[Popmartijn]

Hello,

It took me a while before I was fully converted to U2 fandom. I remember seeing the Pride video in 1984 and not really liking it. I also got it confused a bit with Prince's Purple Rain (as both videos are performance based), a video I did like. Hey, I was 8 at that time! So that's the first time I heard of U2, I think.
When With Or Without You was released in 1987 I still didn't think much of U2 (didn't really like that song). I was happy that they only got to #2 in the charts (thus not reaching the top position). Well, I've long since forgotten who was #1, so that should say enough.

Until then I wasn't really that much interested in music. That changed however when I got a CD player in December 1989 (are my parents still dreading that gift considering the huge CD collection I have now?). I started to listen to more music and also buying more music. So I think it was somewhere in 1990 that I borrowed The Joshua Tree from some neighbours across the street. My first U2 album... and it didn't do that much to me. I liked a few songs, disliked some others and that was it. I gave it back soon after. Can't even remember if I taped a few songs or not.

My musical preference now started to take shape. I listened to (and bought) a lot by Dire Straits and Queen. And the pocket money I got from my parents was such that I could buy a CD every few weeks. Being interested a lot in Dire Straits I gradually bought their whole catalog, up until their release of On Every Street in September 1991. A few weeks later I had again the money to buy another CD (have I mentioned yet that I'm addicted to buying CDs? ) and was looking for a new band (new for me that is). Somehow I went for an U2 album. Since it was the longest, I opted for Rattle And Hum. I liked what I heard, a lot. So U2 it was. A few weeks later I borrowed Boy from the library, The Fly was released and I was hooked. Bought Achtung Baby in December and by Christmas the next year I had every U2 album (the Christmas gift of Boy was the last one), plus all those CD-singles that were re-released just then (from Fire to All I Want Is You). And I haven't looked back since.



C ya!

Marty

 

[phanan]

Mine was The Joshua Tree.

 

[bedouin fire]

rattle and hum in '89

but i consider uabrs my first u2 record, because i had it recrded on tape since 86 and i think i didn't liste to anything else from 86 to 88.

 

[D'oh!]

I got the best of 80-90 CD when i was 13 years old, both me and my twin really liked 'I Still haven't found......'. Soon i recognised alot of the songs like New Years Day, Pride, Bad and SBS.

The first studio album i bought was All That You Can't Leave Behind and i really LOVED it..... while it is not my favourite, i consider it to be one of their best albums.