When I was 22 years old, I had no idea what love was – I’m sure that I’m not alone in that – but I did have a good handle on lust. I don’t just mean sexual lust either. The main difference between love and lust, I’ve learned, is that lust is entirely selfish, while […]
Read MoreU2101 – The Fly
I know that a lot of you are probably groaning to yourselves after reading the title up there “The Fly?!? Oh, man! I hate that stupid song!” while just as many of you (I’m looking at you here, Joe) are jumping up and down with joy. My first experience with the song came right after […]
Read MoreU2101 – Slow Dancing
As I matured in my U2 fandom, there was a period of transition from collecting albums to hunting down more obscure tracks, like one-offs for soundtracks and collaborations with other artists. One of my favorite discoveries from this period was the 1993 B-side, from the Stay single, “Slow Dancing“, which was originally written by Bono […]
Read MoreU2101 – Vertigo
I’ve written a lot in the past about some of U2’s more obscure gems, deep album tracks like “Running to Stand Still” or “Electric Co.”, but today I want to celebrate one of U2’s best-known songs, “Vertigo”, from 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (HTDAAB) album. “Vertigo” is, in my experience, one of those […]
Read MoreU2101 – Electric Co.
If you don’t know, “Electric Co.” was originally recorded and released back in 1980 for inclusion on U2’s debut album, Boy. Bono has explained the song by saying that it’s about a friend of his who suffered from some mental problems and was subjected to electric convulsive therapy, which, in Bono’s view “made him worse.” […]
Read MoreU2 101 – Live and Rare
I thought that for our U2101 chat this week, we might do something a little different, and talk about a few of the songs that U2 have played live but which have never seen an official release. It hasn’t happened too often in their long career – it seems that the band prefer to rely […]
Read MoreU2 101 – Sunday Bloody Sunday
“Sunday Bloody Sunday” is one of those songs that a lot of U2 fans seem to have mixed feelings about. I hear a lot of talk about how it’s one of those “warhorse” songs, like “One” or “Pride” that the band’s been playing regularly for too long, and how it’s time for the song to […]
Read MoreU2 101 – Elevation
Its funny, but I still tend to think of All That You Can’t Leave Behind as “new”, even though it’ll celebrate its 14th anniversary this year. I still remember that, back before that album came out, “Beautiful Day” was being played on the radio, and it was getting plenty of love – rightfully so – […]
Read MoreU2 101 – Running to Stand Still
I often think back to when I first became interested in U2’s music. I was a student at a boarding school, and one of my classmates had a pretty extensive collection of U2 CD’s that he lent me. I was awkward as a kid, didn’t have a lot of friends, and I felt out of […]
Read MoreU2 101 – Out of Control
This week, we’re going to take a look at one of the oldest and dearest U2 songs – “Out of Control”, which was, according to legend, written nearly 36 years ago, on Bono’s 18th birthday. Although the lyrics, like those of many U2 songs, are open to different interpretations based on the listener’s own experiences, […]
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