[email protected]
Mon, 7 Sep 1998 15:52:47 EDT
Well, I can honestly say that I think all U2 songs are good!!!!! Excellent
actually!!!! I wouldn't be happy listening to only their greatest hits in the
car. It's whatever I feel for at the time, and many times it's a song besides
a greatest hit. Like right at this moment I think I'm craving "Spanish Eyes",
and earlier today I was feeling for "Wire", and before that it was "Lady with
the Spinning Head", and before that it was "Heartland," and "Surrender," and
"Walk to the Water" and I could just go on forever and ever with all the other
songs I have intense cravings for which don't happen to be Greatest Hits, but
I don't want to bore you. It would be a very long list--probably filling the
rest of your hard drive space and causing all your computers to crash, he he
he.
I actually didn't become a completely infatuated U2 fan until the winter
of '96. I have always loved the music since I was a little girl, but I guess
you could consider me one of the newer fans. Unfortunately I wasn't very
aware of many rock bands' names when I was a little girl so, it took me a
while to realize that all that great music I was in love with came from one
very awesome band---U2 of course :) I'm 18, and I know many others my age who
hadn't yet matched up all the great songs with the name. Since my
enlightenment, I've been letting all my peers know who to credit as the
masters of all the great tunes we've been hearing all these years. Like me,
most of them knew and loved the best hits and were familiar with the name
'U2,' they just needed to match the name with the songs.
So anyway, in the winter of '96 when I had just matched up the name with
the songs, I ran off to the nearest music store as fast as I could, and got
myself to the U2 section. At that point I was just looking for a best hits
album...I would have got that and that would have been it. I would have
stayed the same person I was before I even knew that U2 were the artists
behind the songs...I would never have undergone the life altering, spiritual,
and intensely emotional experiences that I've had during the past year and a
half, the period that I collected all of their albums from Boy to Pop, as many
singles that I could find in stores, rare stuff from other sources, and all
other U2 items that I have been able to get my hands on.
That first day when I was buying my first U2 album, I remember, hoping
that there would be a best hits album. I remember being overwhelmed, because
there was three to four songs on every album that I loved. And I couldn't buy
all of them, but I wanted to like crazy! I managed to only buy two albums,
that first time--War and Zooropa. But I was right back to the music store in
the U2 section again the next week, and couldn't resist buying The Joshua Tree
and The Unforgettable Fire. I was amazed to find that U2 albums were very
different from other albums I had bought in the past. Other albums I would
buy because I liked the hits on it. I'd listen to the whole thing and still
only like the hits I bought it for in the first place. But when I started
buying U2 albums, I was falling in love with every song on every album. In
discovering soooo many great new songs, I have felt emotions that I'd never
felt before. I could get such a natural high off U2 albums. It was
irresistible... So I kept looking for more and more U2. It kept on going and
going and going...it's still going (looking for all the rarest stuff now :))
But THANK GOD THERE WASN'T A GREATEST HITS ALBUM THEN!!!!!!! Or I would
never have become the fan I am today. Before I found U2, life wasn't nearly
this exciting! They provide a consistent joy in my life that keeps me going
and gives me strength.
I don't think that U2 is selling out, by putting out a greatest hits
album. I just think they are selling themselves short of what they deserve
and what their fans deserve. I just think it could deprive a lot of people
who "still haven't found what they're looking for," from ever finding the true
pleasure of discovering all that U2 has to offer. When there's a best hits
album people get lazy and stop there, thinking they're getting the best of the
band in one album. For some bands it's probably true, that a best hits album
would be the best of the bands work. However, for U2 it is definitely NOT!
The rest of their songs are as great as the designated "Greatest Hits" in my
opinion. Some bands put all their effort into making a hit and then throw in
anything to fill the rest of the record. But U2 never went about making an
album that way. They've always put their hearts and souls into all the songs
they've ever made. I would have been selling my self short without even
knowing it if there was a best hits album, when I set out to buy a U2 CD for
the very first time. There are soooo many people out there who have yet to
experience the magic that I and many other fans have been privileged to
experience. If U2 puts out a best hits album, people who haven't yet
discovered how great U2 really are, would buy the best hits album and stop
there. No one would ever reach the level of ecstasy that we have reached by
exploring them thoroughly. With a best hits album U2 would not only be
depriving themselves of gaining more die hard fans, but they would also be
depriving the unsuspecting masses of people out there of having the same
experiences we have had in becoming the fans we are today.
Despite all the great hits they have put out over the years, they are
not the kind of band who should put out a best hits album. They should make
everyone who likes their hits to have to buy everything because it's all worth
it in the end!!!!!
Sincerely,
Paula Hewson
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