I fell off the U2 bandwagon with Rattle and Hum. As I sat watching it on video while getting paid for my plasma (starving college student-related), I couldn't seperate the two unpleasant experiences I was enduring and henceforth I have sworn off U2. It makes me dizzy even thinking about it now.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
I ride. F*ck all y'all. Bring it.
I saw them for the first time in 1980, opening for a friend's band. They were virtually unknown at that point, but I thought they were the best thing I'd ever seen in my life, and I told pretty much everyone I knew who was into music that they had to see this incredible Irish band who would blow their f*cking minds. At the same gig, I saw a Manchester musician I was acquainted with, who later became a radio DJ and a very vocal champion of U2. I asked him what he thought of them, and he described them as "shocking, absolutely awful". Less than a week later, I saw them in a now demolished club in Manchester which was about as big as a medium-sized Starbucks - Jimster will probably remember it; Oozits a/k/a The Beach Club on Shudehill - with Bono literally right up in my face, about an arm's length away. They were even better. Me, my younger brother and a bunch of friends ended up going to every U2 show we possibly could for the next three or four years. Along with the Smiths, they were the only rock band I was remotely interested in for most of the 1980s. I was a serious, hardcore fan and saw them at least twenty times during that period, and a few of us actually became pretty tight with them for a while. The thing I most remember about was the lengths to which they'd go to remain accessible to their fans. They'd hang out after shows for literally hours, answering questions, signing autographs, posing for pictures, gassing about music, the whole deal. They even let me and my brother crash in their hotel rooms on one occasion after we missed the last train home, and dropped us off by our nearest motorway junction the following morning.
I could tell some stories, and they'd probably all sound like bullshit to most of you, but there's one in particular which doesn't directly involve me, but which does explain why I'll always have a soft spot for them, even if I don't rush out to buy the records right away anymore. When The Joshua Tree came out, I'd quit working and gone back to college, so I couldn't afford to go to any of the shows on that tour. One of my boys from back then went to one of the shows in Scotland, and one of the guys from the crew (who we all knew) bumped into him and fixed him up with a backstage pass. Anyway, he's hanging out backstage after the show, and Bono sees him, walks up and gives him a hug. "K.., how are you doing?", he says "How are P... and J... [me and my brother] getting on?" Now remember, this is the lead singer of the biggest rock band on the f*cking planet, who were at what was then the height of their success. I hadn't even seen them perform, much less spoken to any of them for at least three years. During this time, Bono's been around the world a bunch of times and met all kinds of people, most of whom were much more important and famous than me and our kid will ever be if we live a dozen lifetimes, and the first thing he asks my boy is how we are. By name. You cannot imagine how big of a kick that was. For that reason alone, U2 could spend the rest of their lives making the suckiest records in Christendom, and I would not give a flying F*ck.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
Oh, by the way - the leak of that new U2 album has been traced to one of the servers at Universal Australia.
I only ever went to a few concerts of theirs and this was in the mid-late 80's. I've always wished I could have seen that concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre live.
First I ever saw them was off a show called the Tube.
Like I said above... Up to Joshua Tree I would have had zero problem calling them the greatest bands of the 80's. I just could never really get into the stuff that followed.
Who's got that remix for New Year's Day for me? With the extended pianos...
That News Day 12" is easy to find and a lot of copies have Two Hearts Beat as One on the flip--which is also a great song.
They seem to have a lot of songs available on 12". I always buy them even though I never play them out. Just to listen to them at home. On a full side at 45 rpm, the production quality really jumps out. I still can't decide if I like the Lillywhite or Eno/Lanois records better.
Zooropa does have some great songs, but it's very uneven. Pop. Wtf? I have to play Beautiful Day at weddings a lot. I've grown to like it, but the whole album has not reached me. I have not even heard the Atomic Bomb one.
Comments
I saw them for the first time in 1980, opening for a friend's band. They were virtually unknown at that point, but I thought they were the best thing I'd ever seen in my life, and I told pretty much everyone I knew who was into music that they had to see this incredible Irish band who would blow their f*cking minds. At the same gig, I saw a Manchester musician I was acquainted with, who later became a radio DJ and a very vocal champion of U2. I asked him what he thought of them, and he described them as "shocking, absolutely awful". Less than a week later, I saw them in a now demolished club in Manchester which was about as big as a medium-sized Starbucks - Jimster will probably remember it; Oozits a/k/a The Beach Club on Shudehill - with Bono literally right up in my face, about an arm's length away. They were even better. Me, my younger brother and a bunch of friends ended up going to every U2 show we possibly could for the next three or four years. Along with the Smiths, they were the only rock band I was remotely interested in for most of the 1980s. I was a serious, hardcore fan and saw them at least twenty times during that period, and a few of us actually became pretty tight with them for a while. The thing I most remember about was the lengths to which they'd go to remain accessible to their fans. They'd hang out after shows for literally hours, answering questions, signing autographs, posing for pictures, gassing about music, the whole deal. They even let me and my brother crash in their hotel rooms on one occasion after we missed the last train home, and dropped us off by our nearest motorway junction the following morning.
I could tell some stories, and they'd probably all sound like bullshit to most of you, but there's one in particular which doesn't directly involve me, but which does explain why I'll always have a soft spot for them, even if I don't rush out to buy the records right away anymore. When The Joshua Tree came out, I'd quit working and gone back to college, so I couldn't afford to go to any of the shows on that tour. One of my boys from back then went to one of the shows in Scotland, and one of the guys from the crew (who we all knew) bumped into him and fixed him up with a backstage pass. Anyway, he's hanging out backstage after the show, and Bono sees him, walks up and gives him a hug. "K.., how are you doing?", he says "How are P... and J... [me and my brother] getting on?" Now remember, this is the lead singer of the biggest rock band on the f*cking planet, who were at what was then the height of their success. I hadn't even seen them perform, much less spoken to any of them for at least three years. During this time, Bono's been around the world a bunch of times and met all kinds of people, most of whom were much more important and famous than me and our kid will ever be if we live a dozen lifetimes, and the first thing he asks my boy is how we are. By name. You cannot imagine how big of a kick that was. For that reason alone, U2 could spend the rest of their lives making the suckiest records in Christendom, and I would not give a flying F*ck.
I only ever went to a few concerts of theirs and this was in the mid-late 80's. I've always wished I could have seen that concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre live.
First I ever saw them was off a show called the Tube.
Like I said above... Up to Joshua Tree I would have had zero problem calling them the greatest bands of the 80's. I just could never really get into the stuff that followed.
Who's got that remix for New Year's Day for me? With the extended pianos...
They seem to have a lot of songs available on 12". I always buy them even though I never play them out. Just to listen to them at home. On a full side at 45 rpm, the production quality really jumps out. I still can't decide if I like the Lillywhite or Eno/Lanois records better.
Zooropa does have some great songs, but it's very uneven. Pop. Wtf? I have to play Beautiful Day at weddings a lot. I've grown to like it, but the whole album has not reached me. I have not even heard the Atomic Bomb one.
..those people have brains .... I like they they try to reinvent themselves over and over again....
Timbaland / Justin Timberlake Co-Pro.