You know how they say that smell is the sense most connected to memory? Music has the same effect on me.
U2 used to be my favorite band back in high school. I didn't discover them until Achtung Baby, but then I backtracked and found Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum and the others. My best friends, Dan and Rob and Ballard, all got into it at the same time. Come to think of it, I think it was my sister Marci who introduced us to U2. She got me and Rob to listen to it, and then Rob made a tape for Dan and Ballard or something like that. U2 became part of our identity for a while - me and all of my friends.
We used to hang out in Rob's basement every day. I was always jealous of Rob because his basement was for him and his brother alone. His parents practically never ventured down there. He had an expensive stereo system and nice TV, so all of us would hang out with incense burning (not for the reason other people burn incense), playing role playing games (RPGs) and listening to U2.
Because we were rebellious teenagers at the same time, eventually my parents equated U2 and RPGs with our rebellion. I remember one Saturday when the local theater was doing a midnight showing of Rattle and Hum. Marci, Rob and I really wanted to go but my parents were afraid we wouldn't get up for church on time and didn't much like the idea of us being out that late on our own, Saturday night. There were a lot of trust issues going on. We finally convinced them to let us go with my dad chaperoning. He fell asleep in the back of the theater - somehow - despite the noise. It was the closest thing I've had to attending a real U2 concert.
Soon after, I split ways with U2. They came out with Zooropa, Passengers, and Pop and I thought they had moved too far away from their roots. Rob and I became somewhat estranged about the same time, so it was an almost natural progression.
I still respect U2. I think they've done some incredible work. I even like some of their new songs. In the same respect, I wish I had kept better ties with Rob. He's always pursued his passion, be it U2 or martial arts or deejaying. I respect that. Dan managed to forge his own path and remains a U2 fan to this day. He's gone to a number of concerts and once asked me why I don't join them - now that I'm over myself and admit that I like them again. I don't think I could, though. U2 is a part of my past. It's part of who I was ... not who I am now. To listen to them again just seems a bit odd.
Maybe that seems strange. I don't know. I think there's something in my past that I haven't resolved yet. Maybe that's what's going on.
7 years ago
2 comments:
Music definately evokes memories in a similar way to smells. Soundtracks for our lives.....
for example, here are some of the bands that recall various times in my life:
age 2, 3, 4: Neil Diamond, Elvis, The Carpenters
age 7: Michael Jackson
age 9: Belinda Carslile, Janet Jackson, Jackson 5
age 12, 13, 14: REM, Toad the W.S., The Proclaimers
age 15: Counting Crows, U2, Chili Peppers
age 16: Weezer, Greenday
age 17: Pearl Jam, Blur, Garbage...
age 18: Squirrel Nut Zippers, N.Cave, Niko (ahhhh)
oh well that's enough...gag....
and oh....the basements... Brandy strumming her bass... dust bunnies...x96 kids....
We saw U2's Rattle and Hum (VHS) as our first experience with the boys in 1991 (it could have been as early as the fall of 1990), it had to be sometime before November 19, 1991 none-the-less (Achtung's release date). We were at Smith's in Farmington perusing their now extinct rental area with Marci and she said, “I hear this is really good,” picking up a copy of Rattle and Hum from the New Release rack. We then saw it again on the big screen as you mentioned (it felt like we had been fans for awhile by then, but never trust a youths sense of time, especially mine), as I recall the screening of the film was part of the "hype-engine" for Achtung. Good memories all!
Rob
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