I'm not that old, so, I don't remember the 80's very well, in fact, I can't remember the 80's U2.
The early 90's too. I remember the Zoo era, singles on the radio. "The Fly" and "WHo's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" were better received by radio stations at the time than "Mysterious Ways" or "Even Better Than The Real Thing", here in Portugal. "One" was a massive hit in rock radios.
I remember very well that at the time, everything that radios aired was Guns'n'Roses, Bon Jovi, Brian Adams, 4Non-Blondes and some other stuff. That was what was hot here!
I remember hearing when Zoo TV came to Lisbon, but I didn't go to the show
By the Zooropa time, I remember listening massively "Stay" on the radio mixed with Nirvana, Green Day and Pearl Jam. "Lemon" didn't get much promotion here, but the "Numb" video was aired at every music TV show. It was pretty weird. Me and my sister, we used to poke fun of The Edge being tied, licking feet, etc...
I remember The Passengers era too. I didn't pay much attention to it - don't know why - but I remember that the album went #1 here, because "Miss Sarajevo" was always the last video to be aired in the countdowns.
The Pop-era... I remember the backlash, it was huge around here.
In Portugal there's a lot the cult of the JT/AB stadium anthems. Pop was the opposite to it.
"Staring At The Sun" was well received and IGWSHA was aired in radios too, but "Discotheque" was very criticized and I remember people poking fun at those gayish-U2. I can't remember LNOE, I think it was ignored here.
Popmart Tour here was huuuuuge, naturally
"Sweetest Thing" was sucessfull and the The Best Of 80-90 was the premonition of the "get back times old U2". "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" was a radio moderate-sucess, but the soundtrack was ignored and then...
It came ATYCLB. Here, I remember the explosion of "Beautiful Day" and the constant rumours of a Elevation show here. The Best Of 90-2000 sold very well here, as much as the predecessor, I think, much because of "Electrical Storm".
I didn't have to explain things especifically in my country after 1997 (when I became fan), but it was just to situate...