U2 bonding and being young and missing out

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Wed, 12 Aug 1998 09:10:39 -0500 (EST)

Ronnie (and others), I'm 20. I have all the major U2 releases and then some.
I listen religiously with wonder, and love U2's music with all my heart. But,
I was sitting one day listening to The Unforgettable Fire, when I realized
something kind of important: the sounds that I was listening to were 80's
sounds. They're completely different from today's sounds (I too think that most
all of today's music is a load of crap--please save us U2!!!) That was an
important realization though, because then I realized that times were very
different just ten years ago, and if a record like that were to open today, it
would stand out in some ways it shouldn't or might not even sell as well, even
though the music itself would be the same.

To anyone else around my age, do you feel like you missed out as well? I
didn't get to see word spread about how incredible The Joshua Tree is. I
didn't get to listen to War (or Boy or Gloria) and tell my friends "Hey, this
is more than just a band--this band is going to be the BEST!" In fact, I've
only had the chance to see one tour, which is how I understand
how they manage to winover their audiences with their performances. (Being
able to record an album and being able to perform it are two separate
things--the difference between being good and GREAT.) And most importantly I
didn't have the chance to hang on and wait for their next album, hoping that the
rest of the world would think "hey, this band is more than a passing fad,"
and watch the miracle unravel as the band came into their time.

In all fairness, maybe "bonding" wasn't the best word. But, we all do bond
with U2 in a very special way, some stories more exceptional than others.

And I do mean this last comment openly and sincerely. Think about this: if
we're fighting over the word "bonding," then what does that say about us?

In the name of love,
a fan who is seeing today's bands and staring at the sun

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Wed Aug 12 1998 - 07:46:41 PDT