Some years back I read a book by Fr. Richard Rohr about spirituality "for the second half of life," and it got me thinking. Most of us (I assume) are in the second half of our own lives, and I'm curious where our fandom of U2 falls when it comes to this division.
For my part, I can finally say with confidence that U2 are the most important band for the first half of my life. I was born in 1973, heard NYD and bought War when I was 10, and have been a fan ever since. That said, though, U2's '80 & '90s material will always mean more to me than anything after, despite how much I enjoy some of their post-Pop output.
And when it comes to the second half of my life, the band that has become my favorite and most significant is, without a doubt, Radiohead. This doesn't mean I pit the two against one another or allow my love of one to eclipse my love of the other (as though this is some zero-sum game). I just recognize that what U2 was for me in my teens and twenties, Radiohead has become from then onward.
So given this rubric, where does U2 fall for you, and who, if anyone, has replaced them?