Exactly what you were hoping for, give or take.

Two things that aren’t good for a person’s soul: 1 – feeling like you are the only one in the world who feels a particular way about something and 2 – getting an idea, the realization of which might alleviate the aforementioned feeling, but not acting on it.

I’m a total U2 apostate. I used to like ’em, up to around the Joshua Tree, I guess, but I don’t anymore. It didn’t happen all at once, but by increments. The first thing that happened was that ep with the duet with B.B. King, When Love Comes to Town. Piece of crap song that it was, it set me to doubting whether my faith was something that could be sustained in the face of it (kinda ruined B.B. for me, too), but then, someone or other made an offhanded remark about U2 acting as though they had discovered American R&B. Was it an accurate statement? I don’t know, but it produced an epiphanic moment of sorts for me: U2 did kind of come across like self-important dinks. Did I start hating them right then and there? Not really, but I did stop loving.

From there, and coinciding with the beginning of university for me, not caring evolved into a bit of a not-liking position that was mostly real (discovering the Replacements really helped) and partly just for show, which evolved further still, with my early volunteering experiences with campus radio at CJSR, into a bona fide recognition that there was all sorts of music in the world that I liked a whole lot more and I did not have to smell what these Irish farts were cooking.

Then came the Negativland incident. My transformation was complete, though U2 still seemed so dead-set on turning themselves into such an obnoxious spectacle that it simply would not suffice to ignore them as I could most arena rock yobs, or merely dislike them.

And so it’s gone on for lo these many years now. There’s not a goddamn thing those bastards can do right in my eyes, from advertising cellphones to, most recently, bilking their fans an extra 5o bones for the “privilege” of getting a slightly earlier chance than others to buy tickets for their new tour that are still going to be 30 miles from the stage, and “discounts” on their shit merch.

I’ve always felt a little bit alone in this respect. I mean, besides me, who doesn’t love U2 and put up with their self-aggrandizing, posturing crap? This is not good for my soul. I know there’s gotta be at least one other person out there in the world who feels, if not the same as I do, then similarly enough. I’m putting out the call, right here, right now. If you feel like me, please know that I share your pain, or if you know someone who does, please share this link. Why should we be apart when we can hate U2 together?