I'm old enough to remember the 80s and I never remember any U2 fans back then, much less now...

I'm old enough to remember the 80s and I never remember any U2 fans back then, much less now. It's a total mystery where the fuck their fans came from. Who is buying their albums? Who is attending their concerts? I couldn't even name any of their songs off the top of my head.

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The only time I've ever heard U2 was on Kidz Bop commercials so I have no idea.

It's the same answer to Lenny Kravitz.

Women. Older women. It's a huge demographic that we never hear or think about because their musical tastes are highly suspect.

Most country music is kept afloat by this. Also Pink.

U2 were an "alternative" college radio type band for most of the 80s. Of course you weren't gonna hear about them if you weren't hip to that whole thing and were fucking, listening to Metallica or Phil Collins or whatever.
The people who bought U2 records were the same people who bought records by R.E.M. and The Cure and Echo & The Bunnymen.

U2 didn't become mom-bait until 2000. In many ways the 90s were when they were the most hip among "cool" young people, both in terms of their sound and the whole overarching satirical concept that they were riding at the time.
You think moms listened to this sort of shit?

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Yes. My dad bought every new REM and U2 album when they were released. I wish he would've like the Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen though.

Can confirm, U2 was popular with the college rock crowd - what we now call "alternative". Big fan of Talking Heads, The Smiths and New Order, as well as Sonic Youth; but also of U2, for example. Hell, Radiohead in general are big fans of U2 and it shows, and they were part of that alternative crowd of Gen X.

So, did U2 got dropped from the "alternative college student in the 80s" pack that still exist because they lost their post punk sound? Got too popular?

I watched Live Aid on DVD today.
While Queen really blew everyone else out of the stadium (live with it), U2 are on relatively early and by the look of flags, home made t-shirts(!) etc. have the most committed fans infiltrating the general audience so I guess they were that kind of band at the time.

Bono's wardrobe is heinous and he's basically just sweaty the whole time. Edge looks just like Midge Ure. Adam Clayton looks like someone else.

I think All That You Can't Leave Behind was the turning point for them. They had been around for long enough that most 30-40 somethings got nostalgic about listening to them during their college days, but they were catchy enough that their kids also liked them.

Christians

U2 is Gen X's band of choice - that was their peak. It might not have been made by Gen X but it was enjoyed by Gen X mostly. So the 65-80 generation. Gen Y is 80-95 (roughly) and Gen Z is 95-????.

Then, when Gen Y was getting old enough to go to shows and stuff, they turned around and went to shit. So Gen Y knows U2 from Vertigo and South Park. Plus, U2 was still a big touring band. They never heard U2 on the radio between Sonic Youth and R.E.M, so they never knew of it as a cool band. Only as a band that guys in their late 20s and 30s liked and made awful songs and South Park took the piss off them. With some luck Gen Z might see U2 as a great band as the offspring of Gen X. That's my case, but that only happens because my dad's vinyl collection was stuff like Speaking in Tongues, and Power, Corruption and Lies, and The Queen is Dead, and The Joshua Tree, and Daydream Nation, and Ghost in the Machine. So I always saw them as a good band with very unique guitar tones rather than YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH.

Basically, a dramatic shift in the worst of moments possible lead a great band to be seen as a turd.

They were the coldplay just before coldplay

Nah, they were Radiohead/Pink Floyd of the 80's.

Oldfag here. Fuck you. I do remember the '80s and War was huge. I remember going to a party in High School where we all listened to Big Country and U2. I knew a guy who roadied for them before Boy. Get real. Get a life.

coldplay is actually great though, so your analogy is wrong

>ywn see ZooTV/Popmart-era U2 live

Why live?

youtube.com/watch?v=p-XgdWdbvRs
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> coldplay is actually great though
HAHAHHAHHA
> go to coldplay concert, 6th row
> big spenders with lasers and fog and pyro and lights and multiple fireworks
> really, ALL of the above, not just pick one.
> stage show is actually more cookie cutter than a random cover band.
> view obstructed by a hundred giant beach balls
so utterly disappointing that i didn't even bother asking my friends to pay me back for the tickets.

>Big Country

This is a tune.

youtube.com/watch?v=Gvtd7ZXQHMA

...

fuck bono

>Oldfag here. Fuck you. I do remember the '80s and War was huge.

The Joshua Tree was huge too. I'm in my 40s and they got a lot of play on MTV in the 80s

A lot of fans of The Police who had nowhere to go when the Police disbanded after their Sychronicity album started following U2.

Speaking of, The Police is criminally underrated here.

U2 is that band everyone loves to fucking hate on, but they actually had some damn good early stuff like war

This, you have to remember they started as a post-punk band and released many semi-experimental albums. Obviously they're dorky now, but if they hadn't embraced superstardom they'd be on the same level of most 90s new wave or somewhat artistic pop acts.
Not sure who's keeping them afloat though, no older fans would enjoy their new stuff and they're too uncool to attract many young fans (I liked Songs of Innocence though)

back in middle school this fat tryhard bitch used to shove in everyone's faces how U2 was the best band ever every time she had the chance to do it.

in high school I knew a dude who used to be only into really obscure hardcore bands, Coldplay and U2

>U2 didn't become mom-bait until 2000. In many ways the 90s were when they were the most hip among "cool" young people, both in terms of their sound and the whole overarching satirical concept that they were riding at the time.

Yep. Actung Baby was a facing huge album and people went crazy about their change of sound and look. It was a really good move because people had loved Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum but the if they had done another album like those it would have not done well because their sound on both of those was so well known by that point.

Actung Baby was as bigger or bigger, in pop music terms, as Taylor Swift switching from country music to pop music.

you live in a van down by the river

big time seconded. Zenyatta Mondatta is a masterpiece, and all the rest of their albums are at least worth listening to.

Also, Stewart Copeland a best.