[email protected]
Sat, 12 Dec 1998 01:57:23 -0400 (EDT)
I got cut off the other day when I posted this, so I never got to
go farther that "I would be dead without them", so with that, I guess I
should explain.
I first heard U2 my freshman year of highschool. The next year
achtung baby came out, and about that time I started going through some
rough times at school. I was at a private school and was getting hazed
extreamly badly. U2 was one of the only things that got me through that.
Funny enough, but my dorm parent was a huge U2 fan as well. He was the
trainer for the sports teams, and had this huge Rattel & Hum poster in the
training room which I used to look at each day before my hockey practices
and games.
Through the rest of highschool U2 became an important factor in my
life. It wasn't however until college that I truly understood the power
that music has over a persons life. During my third year of college I was
co-hosting a radio show with my roommate on our college station, and one
of our friends called up crying. He was a freshman and told us that his
girlfriend had decided to break things off with him (this was during his
first semester at college). So Mark (my co-host) and I dedicated With or
Without You to him. Mark and I were roommates along with this guy named
Mike. Well, Tony (the guy who called us) went into our suite and curled up
on Mikes couch and cried his eyes out during WOWY, which we dedicated to
him. Mind you, Tony is an ex-football player who benches 400+. This was
NOT what you would expect from a football player. From that moment on,
WOWY bonded Mark, Mike, Tony, and I in a way that you cannot describe.
Others since have come into our small group, and we have all shared this
song. When we are together, and this song is played, we are suddenly
brought together, and feel one thing. It is very unique.
That year I dropped out of college for a variety of reasons. I was
lost, suicidal, and didn't know what was going to happend to me from one
minute to the next. In May of that summer, I was luckey enough (and I mean
lucky) to see U2 in Columbus. I remember standing there during ISHFWILF
with my arms around my sister and my ex-girlfriend, tears running down my
face, singing as loud as I could. The same thing happened when they played
WOWY. It was during this concert that I realized that I had a life to
live, things to achieve. Listening to U2 during that concert made me
realize that we all have fears, doubts, and sometimes never know where we
are headed or what may happen to us in the future.
That summer was a turning point in my life. I may quite well have
ended it all, or at least, taken a path which would have been quite
undesireable. I know that it was that night, that concert, that music,
which made me appreciate what I did have, and give me the strength to go
back to school and live life to the fullest.
I have one semester left of college, and thinking about graduation
scares the S**t out of me. But through it all, I've had the amazing music
that is U2. When I try and think what life would be like without U2, I
find just an empty hole.
I appreciate U2 for the music they make, as well as the people
that they are. I *try* not to pass judgement on them for their actions,
because unless your perfect, you have no right to criticize. I still fail
in that respect, but I do know this. Who they are, what they stand for,
and the music they make are what draw me to this band. The power that
their music has over me is unbelievable. I've never had the chance to meet
them, and I don't know if I ever will. While it doesn't really do justice
to what I feel, if I ever did meet them, the only thing I could say to
them is "thank you". I know that they have changed me in more ways that I
can describe, and probably saved my life at one point in time.
People do a lot of complaining on this list, myself included.
Maybe we should all step back for a moment, and think about why we are on
this list in the first place. Because in the end, it really is all just
about the music.
Nick Swogger
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Fri Dec 11 1998 - 22:57:53 PST