Which albums would have converted you?

One of the albums converted you. If you were older or younger and had "met" U2 at a different period, do you think other albums would have converted you? Which ones? Do you think your experience would have been different in some way if it were another album that got you hooked?

I met U2 in the TUF/TJT era. I think if I had met them in the War era I would have been a fan. If I had met them in the Achtung Baby era I would like to think I would have become a fan. That's about it for me...any other album I would have just thought of them as like a Coldplay-like band, except Pop in which would probably not have been on my radar.

I was a fan right from the Boy era. A fan for life. I don't think they've yet made an album (yes, I'm including SOE in this statement...sue me) that would have failed to hook me.

Achtung Baby would have been a slam dunk. My experience would have been very similar, except I would have missed out on the delicious earthquake that was TJT -> AB. (As I did in fact miss the War -> TUF earthquake).

I think UABRS would have been another high potential conversion point. If I started there, it would have probably been weird to move to the studio stuff, but it would have been great to get the Red Rocks video. I think War could have done it, too, but UABRS moreso.

Finally, I think if I were younger, SOI would have converted me. I think Iris and Raised By Wolves would have gotten my attention and I would have gone from there.

Achtung Baby would have been a slam dunk. My experience would have been very similar, except I would have missed out on the delicious earthquake that was TJT -> AB. (As I did in fact miss the War -> TUF earthquake).

I think UABRS would have been another high potential conversion point. If I started there, it would have probably been weird to move to the studio stuff, but it would have been great to get the Red Rocks video. I think War could have done it, too, but UABRS moreso.

Finally, I think if I were younger, SOI would have converted me. I think Iris and Raised By Wolves would have gotten my attention and I would have gone from there.

Had I been a little older when Boy came out (hi Riffy!) I think it would have done the job.

Unsure about TUF though. TJT most definitely yes. And AB, naturally.

Quote from: laoghaire on April 28, 2020, 08:28:56 PM

Achtung Baby would have been a slam dunk. My experience would have been very similar, except I would have missed out on the delicious earthquake that was TJT -> AB. (As I did in fact miss the War -> TUF earthquake).

I think UABRS would have been another high potential conversion point. If I started there, it would have probably been weird to move to the studio stuff, but it would have been great to get the Red Rocks video. I think War could have done it, too, but UABRS moreso.

Finally, I think if I were younger, SOI would have converted me. I think Iris and Raised By Wolves would have gotten my attention and I would have gone from there.

Had I been a little older when Boy came out (hi Riffy!) I think it would have done the job.

Unsure about TUF though. TJT most definitely yes. And AB, naturally.

Hi! haha. Yeah, I was 26 when Boy came out...it hooked me through the gills.

I was a fan right from the Boy era. A fan for life. I don't think they've yet made an album (yes, I'm including SOE in this statement...sue me) that would have failed to hook me.

I don't believe this - and i'll tell you why....

Your liking of SOE is largely because it is a u2 album and u2 are your favourite band ever and you have built up this enormous amount of love you hold for them.

If it was an album by a band you had never heard of before and it was released at the point it was in your life then you would never have even known it existed and if it was an album released when lets say you were the age you were when Boy hooked you then it would have simply not had the effect Boy did....

How do i know this?  I know even you with your loyalty and love for u2 and how grateful you are to them, how much slack you cut them and how much they mean to you - still see SOI and SOE as records that represent a significant drop off from their best work and those same records introuduced to you as the first things you'd ever heard from u2 would not hook you, not in anything near the same way as Boy did...or what other album in the 80's really cemented things for you.

You are seeing SOI and SOE now through a filter that has nearly 40 years of colouring your thoughts.....

By the way this is not be being critical of you or anything snide - just me saying how i see it and i genuinely think i am right.

As for me.

If i had discovered Boy first it would certainly have been a record i'd be led to want to hear more of the band off the back of...

I'd have lost interest with October though and War would not have done anything to win me round.

War as a start would not see me look any further.

TUF would definitely be a driver for more, although i'd probably be pretty disappointed in TJT as round 2 so to speak - TJT as a start would leave me firmly in casual fan mode, keeping an eye out for them, Rattle and Hum would see me not wanting to know after whether it was first exposure or further listening.

No need to talk about the 90's....we all know the score.

No need to talk about the 00's - except to say if that was all i knew of u2 or all that existed of u2 then i would not be writing this now...

Quote from: riffraff on April 28, 2020, 08:09:30 PM

I was a fan right from the Boy era. A fan for life. I don't think they've yet made an album (yes, I'm including SOE in this statement...sue me) that would have failed to hook me.

I don't believe this - and i'll tell you why....

Your liking of SOE is largely because it is a u2 album and u2 are your favourite band ever and you have built up this enormous amount of love you hold for them.

If it was an album by a band you had never heard of before and it was released at the point it was in your life then you would never have even known it existed and if it was an album released when lets say you were the age you were when Boy hooked you then it would have simply not had the effect Boy did....

How do i know this?  I know even you with your loyalty and love for u2 and how grateful you are to them, how much slack you cut them and how much they mean to you - still see SOI and SOE as records that represent a significant drop off from their best work and those same records introuduced to you as the first things you'd ever heard from u2 would not hook you, not in anything near the same way as Boy did...or what other album in the 80's really cemented things for you.

You are seeing SOI and SOE now through a filter that has nearly 40 years of colouring your thoughts.....

By the way this is not be being critical of you or anything snide - just me saying how i see it and i genuinely think i am right.

I do not see SOI as a drop off at all. SOE, however, is definitely not their best work, but still great stuff. There are probably seven songs on SOE that would have hooked me. Maybe not as strongly as Boy hooked me, but still hooked.
So, you may not be quite right, my friend.

Riff, I know an actual human being who got hooked by SOI, so thhbbbbbb to an tha.

Riff, I know an actual human being who got hooked by SOI, so thhbbbbbb to an tha.

lmao !

As for me.

If i had discovered Boy first it would certainly have been a record i'd be led to want to hear more of the band off the back of...

I'd have lost interest with October though and War would not have done anything to win me round.

War as a start would not see me look any further.

TUF would definitely be a driver for more, although i'd probably be pretty disappointed in TJT as round 2 so to speak - TJT as a start would leave me firmly in casual fan mode, keeping an eye out for them, Rattle and Hum would see me not wanting to know after whether it was first exposure or further listening.

No need to talk about the 90's....we all know the score.

No need to talk about the 00's - except to say if that was all i knew of u2 or all that existed of u2 then i would not be writing this now...

All the above assessment is bit questionable, Sir. (Not to mention very harsh on War...  )

Why? I think you omit Age as being very important in the equation. Were your musical tastes the same at 15, 25, 35?  Were you always at the same place, musically speaking? Honest question.

(My answer above reflects my thinking as if I were 16, like when the band came to me with the War release)

Quote from: riffraff on April 28, 2020, 08:09:30 PM

I was a fan right from the Boy era. A fan for life. I don't think they've yet made an album (yes, I'm including SOE in this statement...sue me) that would have failed to hook me.

I don't believe this - and i'll tell you why....

Your liking of SOE is largely because it is a u2 album and u2 are your favourite band ever and you have built up this enormous amount of love you hold for them.

If it was an album by a band you had never heard of before and it was released at the point it was in your life then you would never have even known it existed and if it was an album released when lets say you were the age you were when Boy hooked you then it would have simply not had the effect Boy did....

How do i know this?  I know even you with your loyalty and love for u2 and how grateful you are to them, how much slack you cut them and how much they mean to you - still see SOI and SOE as records that represent a significant drop off from their best work and those same records introuduced to you as the first things you'd ever heard from u2 would not hook you, not in anything near the same way as Boy did...or what other album in the 80's really cemented things for you.

You are seeing SOI and SOE now through a filter that has nearly 40 years of colouring your thoughts.....

By the way this is not be being critical of you or anything snide - just me saying how i see it and i genuinely think i am right.

How can you speak for someone else and carry the assumption that they actually think SOI and SOE to be drop-offs in quality?

For one I would consider October, War, HTDAAB, NLOTH as the albums that I would consider drop-offs by U2 standards - far more so than SOI and SOE.

I've met plenty of individuals who share this view.

If my introduction to U2 was SOI or SOE I would have actively avoided listening to U2.

Quote from: an tha on April 28, 2020, 08:52:53 PM

Quote from: riffraff on April 28, 2020, 08:09:30 PM

I was a fan right from the Boy era. A fan for life. I don't think they've yet made an album (yes, I'm including SOE in this statement...sue me) that would have failed to hook me.

I don't believe this - and i'll tell you why....

Your liking of SOE is largely because it is a u2 album and u2 are your favourite band ever and you have built up this enormous amount of love you hold for them.

If it was an album by a band you had never heard of before and it was released at the point it was in your life then you would never have even known it existed and if it was an album released when lets say you were the age you were when Boy hooked you then it would have simply not had the effect Boy did....

How do i know this?  I know even you with your loyalty and love for u2 and how grateful you are to them, how much slack you cut them and how much they mean to you - still see SOI and SOE as records that represent a significant drop off from their best work and those same records introuduced to you as the first things you'd ever heard from u2 would not hook you, not in anything near the same way as Boy did...or what other album in the 80's really cemented things for you.

You are seeing SOI and SOE now through a filter that has nearly 40 years of colouring your thoughts.....

By the way this is not be being critical of you or anything snide - just me saying how i see it and i genuinely think i am right.

How can you speak for someone else and carry the assumption that they actually think SOI and SOE to be drop-offs in quality?

For one I would consider October, War, HTDAAB, NLOTH as the albums that I would consider drop-offs by U2 standards - far more so than SOI and SOE.

I've met plenty of individuals who share this view.

I'll tell you how....because i've read e-mails from her where she says just that...

She is absolutely as I say seeing it (totally understandably) through a filter of being a mad u2 fan as it stands - it is hard of course not to, it is hard imagine what we are trying to here....no one can prove it either way of course, but i'll stand by my view on this.

As for those other albums you mention as drop offs - hey i never said they weren't - i agree with you, i think they are, massively so......but we weren't talking about those!