When/how did you first become a U2 fan?

[wolf Q]

I thought maybe this would be enjoyable to read and post when and how you all first started loving U2...

Mine is rather stupid, but I will tell it anyway. Quite a long time ago (I think I was around 12?) a friend and I used to record songs from the radio onto cassette tapes. We didn't have money to buy tapes and neither of us had a CD player so we did that instead. Anyway, it was around the time that Pop came out and we both fell in love with Staring at the Sun.

I know we recorded it onto a tape and listened to it all the time until my friend finally got a CD player and the CD. So then we listened to the CD over and over. I remember watching some special on TV about U2 and the Popmart tour and being completely fascinated by them, especially Bono.

My brother was a U2 fan and he was going to the concert.....I begged and pleaded him to get me a ticket...I was just a kid and couldn't come up with all of the money at once, but I would have gotten it somehow.... He wouldn't do it, and I'm still bitter about that. (I did get to go to 3 Elevation concerts, which were AMAZING so that does make up for it a bit )

Anyway, so Pop kind of started the obsession but it didn't end there. I soon got my own CD player and began the collection. When I had enough money saved I would visit one of the used CD stores and buy a (new to me) U2 album. In less than a year I had them all. I still buy any U2 item I find, I have a ton of singles, movies, etc. Achtung Baby became my favorite album, and so far (haven't heard all of HTDAAB ) it still is.

My love for U2 is always growing. Out of the few friends I've had that liked U2 and my brother I'm the only one that's still crazy about them.

Please share your stories!

 

[Bonochick]

I was 13. It was April 1, 1995...my parents gave me a copy of The Joshua Tree. I sat in my room and listened it to it 3 times straight through. I was mesmerized...totally hooked. I had never felt that way about music before. That's how I am able to remember the date. I remember knowing that this was gonna be an important date in my life, so I looked up at the calendar to make a mental note of what day it was.

 

[Lisa71]

Well, I was about 14 (1985) and my best friend made me watch "The Unforgettable Fire" Documentary over and over because I had a VCR and she didn't. Anyway, I used to hate them! But the more I watched it the more I secretly started to like them. Finally, I was able to be honest about how much I liked them in 1987. I've been a huge fan ever since. My friend has moved on from thier music but it's the best gift she ever FORCED me to have.

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

Let's see: The seeds were planted with "Staring at the Sun." I had a similar experience, taping songs off the radio, etc. But the time went past, and I never heard anything else of theirs. I just knew they had an album called the Joshua Tree and that my friend had a copy of "Pop" and the lyrics scared the bejeezus out of me.

So then a year or two later, I hear "Sweetest Thing" on the radio. Well, you know, that wasn't so bad. But I would not dare let my friends know I thought that. This was at the height of my metal phase. It was all Ozzy and Korn for me, so it took me a while to get around to buying the Best of.

One night at K-Mart, I had about 30 bucks, and I was gonna buy some CDs My mom was with me, so she coudln't know I was buying the Orgy CD. No no no. So I hid it underneath of the U2 Best of 1980-1990 I was buying on impulse. I bought my first U2 album to hide the Orgy CD from my Mom. She still found the Orgy CD, and thought it was strange. But then she saw the U2 and asked if it had "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" on it.

This was a good song. I liked it much better than "Sweetest Thing." The next day I "got sick" and stayed home listening to the CD. "Pride" through "I Will Follow" were all great. "Bad" would take some getting used to, but still great. I had a hard time listening to the rest, skipping "The Unforgettable Fire" to get to "Sweetest Thing" and not listening to the rest. The more I listened to it, though, the more I liked it.

My next task was to get the Pop album so I could have "Staring at the Sun." I bought it; I loved it. I then purchased "Rattle and Hum," probably because so many songs were still familiar. Then came "The Joshua Tree," then "Acthung Baby," then "War," then "Boy," then "The Unforgettable Fire," then "Zooropa," then "Under a Blood Red Sky," then "October," then "Wide Awake in America." The only two I found immediately accessible were "Boy" and "War." "Achtung" presented the most difficulty, but later came to be my favorite album. With the main albums out of the way, I picked up Passengers, and had a lukewarm reception to it. Still not my favorite, but good.

So there I am, in 2000, anxiously awaiting new album news, when I discover Interference. Though I didn't register for a while, I lurked for a long period of time, finally registering a few months before the release of ATYCLB. I now have dozens of singles, a few videos, several DVDs, have seen the band a few times, have purchased lots of merchandise, etc. But I can't forget that without Orgy, I'd never have learned to love U2.

 

[bono_man2002]

Boston concert on Pay-Per-View.
November 24th 2001. It all started at about 8PM, and has not looked back since.

 

[jcool]

80s cassette tape, compilation of the British new wave...err..ABC, Ficton factory, General Public , Depeche Mode..oh!..my favourite!...and,,,,the last song on the tape was U2's Unforgettable Fire.

The first time I heard it....I thought it would be better without the lead singer vocal.

 

[Lemon Grrrrrl]

Wow this is so intensely personal a question for me to answer in front of cyber-strangers. However, I did it in Zootopia a long time ago so I know that I can do it for all of you now.

U2, literally, saved my life. I don't really remember when, except to say it was around JT times when I was in jr. high school. I had that pre-teen angst and was really depressed - I mean, seriously depressed, like I wanted to kill myself depressed. (It's actually quite hard to type that sentence now. I take that as a good sign.) Anyway, for weeks when I did the dishes I'd hold up steak knives up to my wrists to see what it would look like just before slashing them. One day my "curiosity" got the better of me and I decided I was going to do it for real that night. Somewhere in between that day and night I heard a U2 song on the radio. I don't remember what song it was though I know it was from JT. And that song snapped me back from that horrible black hole I'd found myself in. From then until AB I was kind of a casual fan, which is strange I guess, but for whatever reason it wasn't until I saw them live at Dodger Stadium on 10/30/92 (my very first concert ever) that I fell head over heals (misspelling intentional) for their music. Something just sparked in me, and I realized that the world was just a teensy bit better with U2 music around.

It was also at that concert that I realized Bono really resembled Robin Williams, but I was oddly incredibly attracted to him anyway (Bono, not Robin Williams!). And thus began this bizarre teeny-bopper obsession with this rock star with a silly name.

 

[beau2ifulday]

Wow this is so intensely personal a question for me to answer in front of cyber-strangers. However, I did it in Zootopia a long time ago so I know that I can do it for all of you now.

U2, literally, saved my life. I don't really remember when, except to say it was around JT times when I was in jr. high school. I had that pre-teen angst and was really depressed - I mean, seriously depressed, like I wanted to kill myself depressed. (It's actually quite hard to type that sentence now. I take that as a good sign.) Anyway, for weeks when I did the dishes I'd hold up steak knives up to my wrists to see what it would look like just before slashing them. One day my "curiosity" got the better of me and I decided I was going to do it for real that night. Somewhere in between that day and night I heard a U2 song on the radio. I don't remember what song it was though I know it was from JT. And that song snapped me back from that horrible black hole I'd found myself in. From then until AB I was kind of a casual fan, which is strange I guess, but for whatever reason it wasn't until I saw them live at Dodger Stadium on 10/30/92 (my very first concert ever) that I fell head over heals (misspelling intentional) for their music. Something just sparked in me, and I realized that the world was just a teensy bit better with U2 music around.

It was also at that concert that I realized Bono really resembled Robin Williams, but I was oddly incredibly attracted to him anyway (Bono, not Robin Williams!). And thus began this bizarre teeny-bopper obsession with this rock star with a silly name.

*love for you*



I became a fan two years ago this Christmas Day. Santa bought me the joy of liking U2, and it was the best present I ever recieved.

 

[Sonny Bono]

In 1982 I listened to some albums at my cousins home. Great records! Patty Smith, The Cure and hey... a band named U2.
Till that time I listened to bands like Kiss and Cheap Trick... don't blame me, I was 14
Boy and October were so different.... great voice, great music. In the same year I became a member of the Dutch U2 Fanclub and it took al long time to get their address. U2 was written all over my school stuff and I had to explain many many times... who or what is U2??? Damn, I was pissed that the concert in december 1982 in Utrecht was sold out. I remember that I cried.... My first U2 poster was in black/white, Matthew Star (US television series) on the other side, in colour of course... When War came out, I bought it the first day. I saw U2 for the first time in 1983, in Werchter Belgium. A festival day to remember, including Eurytmics and Simple Minds. One song I didn't recognize, but it sounded so great. The song was 11 o' clock tick tock..... Last year I copied the tape of that concert on a cd, still good quality The Unforgettable Fire tour came to Rotterdam in 1984 and again in Belgium 1985. Shows to remember. A lot of gigs followed and Slane Castle is the last show I visited. I remember the words of Chris Martin 'this song is not a rebel song, this song is....... Yellow'
When I see Coldplay live, I see U2 during the Unforgettable Fire tour. Now I'm 36 and I want to go to Croke Park

 

[ravenette]

It was back when I heard Hold Me Thrill Me in 1995 - I was 16/17 that year. The guitar riff to it got me hooked - i LOVED it to bits!!
About a week after falling in love with the song, I bought Rattle and Hum (b/c that was the only U2 album I was sorta aware of at the time), became addicted to that, then got hold of Under a Blood Red Sky - TOTALLY changed my music taste......within 6 months or so, I owned all their albums to date and some vids, was in love with Bono like no other musician in the past and lived my life for U2 - my OBSESSION ruled everything I did.
I'm still obsessed but I guess not in the absolute CRAZY way I was back in my teenage years...

 

[Boozyuzi]

I first got into U2 in 1982 when my mate gave me a cassette with Boy on one side and October on the other. They were glued into my walkman for the next year. First U2 concert was at the Edinburgh Playhouse on February 28th 1983 - the day that War came out.

 

[U2Kitten]

It was 1983. I had heard NYD and SBS on the radio and thought they were good, then I saw Red Rocks on TV and thought, wow, they're good, and they're cute! I was hooked (I was 13)

 

[youtwohearts]

I was 11 and I stole a mix tape from my sister's room to listen to outside while I laid in the sun. It had most of War on it. I was back in my sister's room by the end of the day searching for any U2 things she had. I was hooked. I had the albums by the end of the week.

 

[dandy]

ah, memories...

i fell in love with U2 before i was old enough to seriously appreciate music. i was 7 when i saw the video for 'sunday bloody sunday', i didn't care about music videos much then, but i stopped and paid attention to that one. my older brother got a copy of 'unforgettable fire' for christmas when i was 8, and he listened to it non-stop. i made fun of him, but i secretly liked it, a lot. 'bad' was mesmerizing even when i was that young. it's still my favourite to this day.

needless to say, i stole my brother's 'unforgettable fire' shortly after that, and i remember saving my allowance for what felt like forever so i could buy 'joshua tree' when i was 11. (happily, i now have enough cash flow to buy the bomb the day it's released.) i was too young to truly *get* what they're about, but i knew i was onto something huge. my favourite band since i was 7.

and yeah, bono was the first rock star i had a crush on.

great to see all the new fans on here! i love reading about all the lives the music has touched. glad you're still with us, Lemon Grrrrrl.

 

[mlrg]

December 1993 after watching the videoclip of "Lemon" and the ZOO TV concert in Sydney on television. Totally hooked since then. I was 15 at the time. "Zooropa" was the first album I bought with my own money.

After listening to Acthung Baby a few weeks laters I decided this was my favourite band.

 

[ponkine]

Despite I was just a kid at that time my father bought The Joshua Tree on Cassette in 1987. It was my first ever cassette later on 1992 was my first ever CD so I became U2 fan in 1987

 

[cardosino]

Heard "I wil lFollow" on BBC radio in the middle of a typically rainy Scottish Saturday afternoon.

First show was Strathclyde University in Jan 1981

 

[dougal55]

Well, for me, it all began back in 1984 when I first saw the video of New Year's Day on BBC's Top of the Pops but that didnt get me hooked as I thought the video was rather banal compared to the other amazing videos that was being shown to my now utter regret....

No, it was a year later (a month after a college friend of mine went to see U2 live in Milton Keynes on "The Longest Day" which got me curious) when, on the afternoon of 13th July 1985, I saw this band come on stage in front of billions around the world and play only 2 out of the planned 3 songs cos the lead singer wanted to dance with a girl from the audience.....

Yes, Im referring to their now famous appearance in Live Aid which got me entranced by, not the music itself, but by the amazing lead singer, Bono who went down all the way down from the stage (remember it was quite a height above the stage in those days) and I thought what the heck is he trying to do as I had never seen anything like that before... it was only when I saw bono down by the audience and danced with a sweet girl that I realised what he was trying to do.... connect with the audience in a meaningful way. That gesture alone got me hooked so some time after the event, I went out and bought the album, Under a Blood Red Sky which blew me away with their raw and amazing live sounds...

Since then, I have now, proudly followed what I think is one of the greatest live bands in the world for nearly 19 years now and saw them live 15 times as well.... And still continuing......

cheers

dougal

 

[caylan]

I couldn't stand U2 in my early teens.
Thought they were too "Choose Lifers" preachers.

Then w/wout you came out in 1985/86. Freshman year in college.

Ever since then...

 

[Bono's Doll]

I liked the song Pride/In the Name of Love when they played on the radio back in 1984. But did not become a U2 lover until Joshua Tree 1987. I bought it on cassette & still have that tape sitting on my counter in the kitchen as kind of a decoration. U2 & I about the same ages (why do they seem young & I seem old) so I guess we have grown up together. Still crazy after all these years for U2.

 

[tiny dancer]

I live in a college town and they started playing U2 on their station in the early 80's.

 

[nurse chrissi]

at 27 I can't really remember a time when U2 wasn;t in my life - I remember as a kid watching the videos on MTV or that friday night video show (remember that?) - I was fascinated by the New Years Day video, I remember watching live aid with my parents, that my older cousins couldn't stop listening to JT and had their dorm rooms covered with u2 posters. It wasn't really until AB/Zooropa that I became a true - follow the band/news fan - probably because it was around the time I was 15-16 (good age to get into music)
I envy the fans that have seen the entire career from the start - but then again I guess I have grown up with u2 - not too bad

 

[MissMoo]

Well, back in 1981 I had just come back from living in Hawaii for a semester (year after high school) and was dating a guy who was two years younger and very into punk rock and he was really into the Cure but also played U2 Boy. However, I didn't get into the "fan" part of it until after college when my friend and I started a fan club and met Bono. She has a lot of the early albums (not cd's) and had seen them at Live Aid and at that time had been back stage so she was a lot further along than I was in knowing what the band was about.

 

[RademR]

To Become a fan = first listening to that album called "Achtung Baby."

To Become a fanatic = seeing them live in 2001.

 

[Folkelig]

I was 15, and a body of mine had a 90 min tape with In The City Of Light by Simple Minds, on one side, and Under A Blood Red Sky on the other. He was a U2 fan, and I thought they were crap. I really loved In The City Of Light though (still do), and wanted to borrow the tape from him. He agreed if I promised not to rewind the tape, but listen through the U2 side every time as well. Gradually they grew on me, and before long I really liked U2. Later that year “The Joshua Tree” came out, and I was hooked for good. My friend lost interest in U2 somewhat since, but when he heard How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb he said it was like having that U2 experience for the first time again

 

[starsgoblue]

Well, to be honest I cannot remember a time that U2 was not in my life. I was born in 1980 and my mother was a fan....I have many memories of spending time with my mother curled up in her lap and listening to music together, in fact she has a picture of me as baby with a pair of headphones on listening to U2. I always tease about U2 being my inheritance from my mother.

U2 has always been in my life but it was this last tour where they had the largest impact on me....I'll be brave enough to share it here because of LemonGrrlll's bravado hug: for you)----> For the longest time I wanted to believe in God. I might get flamed here but a large reason for my resistance was most likely geographical. I think for the most part the American church is guilty of either it's own greed or it's irrelevance. God is among the poor and the needy--and most churchs have thier doors locked up with a deadbolt. I could accept the idea of God but it was religiousity, or man-made images of God, that I couldn't swallow. I had seen to many bad things done in God's name. I couldn't seem to find a balance between the two so I just threw my hands up and figured if there was a God we had killed Him a long time ago.

All that changed at that one particular concert. Seeing the bullfight of Until The End Of The World acted out on stage suddenly struck me. I could see the own dichotomy raging in my heart--the need to choose between darkness and light. Everyone always tends to villanize Judas, when you think about it how different was he from Peter, a man who denied Jesus three times and warmed his hands over the fire beside the Roman soldiers? There was one difference: Peter acknowledged his pride. It was then I realized that I had been arrogant in telling God I didn't need Him.

Bono paraphrased Psalm 116 at the intro to Streets. "What can I give back to God for the blessings he's poured out on me?" Tears sprang to my eyes at seeing this man, who I had always seen as larger than life, being humble and raising his hands in supplication. "I'll complete what I promised God I'd do, and I'll do it together with his people" It was then the house lights went on and I could see the thousands of fans around me. I was seeing them all in a new way, I was seeing them the way God did--as one of His own. I felt as though my heart had exploded with light. The sense of joy that suddenly washed over me was so powerful I felt as though I would be consumed if it continued.

Finally during the finale of "Walk On" everything just came to a sense of convergence. I can't tell you how many times I had heard this song before that night but it was only then that it's true meaning smacked me in the face and left a permament welt. "You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been," Bono sang, his eyes closed and face tilted upward. "A place that has to be believed to be seen." I began to cry like I would never stop. I believed. I believed with my whole heart. By the times the 'halleluiah's' came Bono had everyone singing along and I was singing them as loudly as I could...

At times I know it might sound odd to say this is the cause...but so many things changed for me after that concert. My whole outlook on life changed dramatically and so many things in my life were affected.

Yes, I love U2...they will never be "just a band" to me. I truly believe thier music is from above and that the reason they have lasted as long as they have is because their music touches something in everyone. I think everyone-even non-believers, whether or not they realize it, connect with U2 because it addresses something in everyone's heart, the desire to relate to thier spirit. U2 has given me a wonderful gift. They've given me something I will never have to leave behind....

 

[Bono's Doll]

Starsgoblue--you might not believe this--but as I was reading your post--Walk On came on the radio. What a feeling! They have helped me spiritually as well--made me see that I don't have to be perfect, I just have to be human.

 

[isabelle_guns]

I got "Zooropa" for christmas and was instantly hooked on the band

 

[coach]

I became a fan on a Sunday in '97. I heard where the streets have no name for the first time back then. Everything just made sense to me. Something else came out of those speakers that day. I got PoP and worked my way backwards. Amazing

 

[BluRmGrl]

Since then I... saw them live 15 times as wel[/B]

Dougal - you. are. my. HERO!!!

I DREAM of seeing them that many times live! I've said it here before and I'll say it again - this tour's the one for me. I just have such a sense of urgency that if I don't MAKE it happen this time, I won't get another chance. So my goal is three shows - one in my home state, one on the east coast & one on the west coast. Wish me luck!!!

As for my "how/when": January 1984, while listening to my new AM/FM cassette/radio I'd gotten for Christmas. I was hanging out in our back yard, wasting time, when I heard the most amazing sound coming through those speakers. It was New Year's Day & I was hooked! I grew up in a rural area & didn't earn an allowance, so it was a while before I got to actually SEE the guys or purchase any of their albums, but it didn't stop me from trying!
I remember months later, being at a sleepover where they had cable TV. I had a conniption fit when the NYD video came on MTV and then sat there mesmerized for the entirety of it. I think I scared the other girls...
I didn't care back then who I scared with my obsession & I don't care today. U2 is the only band that I literally FEEL while listening to. They've never disappointed me, and in fact have only become MORE beautiful humans as I've grown and aged with them. I'd no more give them up now than my husband, my fur-babies, or my right arm!