I had heard about U2 on and off for a long time before I became a fan. To me, they were this band that had toured in the 1980s. Everyone associated them with the 1980s, including me. I think it's because so many people look down upon the material from the 1990s. Like, people thought Achtung Baby was good, but that was it. I never heard much about the band again, until 2000 rolled around with All That You Can't Leave Behind. The song "Beautiful Day" pretty much turned me into a fan, because it was after I heard that that I went out and bought the first Best Of. It had my three biggest favorites from the 80s - WOWY, ISHFWILF, and Pride - and some other good stuff. Plus "The Sweetest Thing", which was cool.
I ended up getting ATYCLB for my birthday. Now, I know so many people who like the first five tracks of this album, but hate the last 6. I love it all, pretty much. Anyway, I got it for my 17th birthday - September 10, 2001. I listened to it once, before bed that night, hearing it, as I hear other albums for the first time, and times after that...you know how it is. But I never listened to it the same way again. Because the day after I got it, the worst terrorist attack in history happened. The music spoke to me after that...there are times when I feel that the album was written for the victims and the survivors of the destruction that took place that day, even though the album had been released almost a year before. Someone else must've felt that way, too, because there were some tribute montages put together after the attacks and two of the songs used were "Peace on Earth" and "Stuck in a Moment." "Walk On" may also have been used, but I can't remember right now. And even my mom made a comment once about the song "New York." We probably wouldn't have thought much of that title had the attacks never happened. But they did happen, and we seem to always make that association. The association with something so surreal to anyone who wasn't there. I actually sometimes wonder how it was possible that it did happen. I remember watching the footage on the news all day that day. It was like something out of a movie for me, but it was real for thousands of people. So horrible.
ATYCLB still speaks today. It speaks to me about 9/11, yes, but there's also everything that's happening now. The war, for example. Americans are still dying. In a sense, they're dying at the hands of terrorists as well. Iraqi rebels are about the same as terrorists. And they want us out. They don't want our help anymore. At times, I question if they ever did. It seems to me that the reason for this war is vengeance. Is that what the victims of the 9/11 attacks wanted? They want to be remembered, but would they ever want someone to pay for their deaths? Would anyone ever want that? In Shakespeare, yeah, but this is real life. And we're doing this while people are dying of AIDS in Africa. We had promised to help them, but now we seem to have put them on the back burner, so to speak. U2 has a song on this album called "When I Look at the World." I love that song, and think that people should listen to it. It's so relevant to today and it says so much. All of their songs do, I think. I probably wouldn't be where I am if I weren't a U2 fan. If I weren't a U2 fan, I probably wouldn't be as socially conscious as I am. This band has changed my life...and I thank them for it. My username seems to suit me, here, because I do have Pride. For. U2. Thanks for reading.
