I said to my mum yesterday that I get jealous of people on tumblr who post about stuff they've been into since they were a teenager (e.g. someone I like posts about Sailor Moon because she watched it as a teen and has loved it ever since). I said I didn't have anything like that, which is where the jealousy stemmed from.
Except that I totally do, and I've been tweeting and posting and thinking about it for a month now?
I think the problem with tumblr (apart from the blindingly obvious) is that most of the people I follow/used to interact with are 10+ years younger than me, and the ones who are getting into U2, are only just doing so (and some of them are still teenagers, so it's not the same? If that makes sense?)
(I've only got one problem with U2 fans on tumblr, because they genuinely seem like nice bunch of people, and that's great. Anyway. Most of them are into RPS, and I am very much not, and never have been, and that makes me nope the fuck out of there. Which is presumably one of the reasons I've never managed to find me a friend who's as into the band as I am*. Though I'm thinking of posting to addme_fandom for this exact reason). (And anyway, tumblr has never been a good resource for fannish interaction, as I'm sure we're all aware).
*I've never bothered with anything like message boards, either, in spite of there being a few around, but I think my interest in that tapered off when I was really badly depressed, and I never bothered after that? Because it's been the same with other interests since, so it's not even just avoiding them in the one case.
I'm possibly avoiding a lot of wank by not going on message boards anyway. I couldn't have been into them since their first album, since I was in utero at the time it was released (though admittedly, six month me was around when October came out, but whatever). I've never been to a concert because I've never been able to afford it/they weren't touring when I could/I'm a wuss who wouldn't want to go on their own/etc. Anyway, all this elitist bullshit makes me sick (in every single fandom, not just this one). So I'm probably saving myself a lot of aggro by not being present on them (also yes, not every fan is like this, I get that, but I bet U2 have their fair share of people who are. They're a popular band with a long career. I'd be more surprised if they didn't).
ANYWAY. Want to see my latest fannish purchase?
( one disembodied me below the cut )
Fifteen year old me would've killed a man for that shirt. Maybe two men. Although yeesh apologies for all the artifacting, that's gross. I don't know how to html image restraints to make that smaller so it doesn't look as horrible.
I also bought the book that Killing Bono was based on, and I am looking forward to reading it (though, on flicking through, I suspect I've read some of it as Mr McCormick's actual journalism. There's a story from 1997 about Liam Gallagher that sounds weirdly familiar. Though it's entirely possible I read it from a different source. WHO KNOWS).
~
Part of the reason behind my journey through U2's back catalogue (which concluded the other day with the second disc from the reissue of The Unforgettable Fire) is that I've spent a lot of the last ten years wondering when exactly Bono started sounding like a whiny bastard (sorry, Mr B). And the truth is that a) he really doesn't actually sound that whiny and b) he's always sounded like this. Even back in the early eighties. And c) the new stuff sounds like the old stuff and I didn't realise that because it's been ages since I've actually flat out listened to any of the albums, especially not all next to each other like this. Which was the other reason for this, *ahem*, musical journey.
And I have come to realise that the newer stuff is not as bad as I thought**. And I've found some songs off those albums that I like, and I've found stuff off older albums that I wasn't as familiar with but now like. And I've rediscovered tracks I'd forgotten about. IT'S ALL GOOD.
And, I think, I needed this. My offline life is not so good right now, and they've always been there for me when things have been decidedly Not Good in the past. And they'll be there in the future, even if they stop making albums (which they will. One day). I owe them a lot.
~
**Unless it's the album version of I'll Go Crazy, which is so fucking bland and boring. The Kick The Darkness remix is THE DOG'S BOLLOCKS, however.
Except that I totally do, and I've been tweeting and posting and thinking about it for a month now?
I think the problem with tumblr (apart from the blindingly obvious) is that most of the people I follow/used to interact with are 10+ years younger than me, and the ones who are getting into U2, are only just doing so (and some of them are still teenagers, so it's not the same? If that makes sense?)
(I've only got one problem with U2 fans on tumblr, because they genuinely seem like nice bunch of people, and that's great. Anyway. Most of them are into RPS, and I am very much not, and never have been, and that makes me nope the fuck out of there. Which is presumably one of the reasons I've never managed to find me a friend who's as into the band as I am*. Though I'm thinking of posting to addme_fandom for this exact reason). (And anyway, tumblr has never been a good resource for fannish interaction, as I'm sure we're all aware).
*I've never bothered with anything like message boards, either, in spite of there being a few around, but I think my interest in that tapered off when I was really badly depressed, and I never bothered after that? Because it's been the same with other interests since, so it's not even just avoiding them in the one case.
I'm possibly avoiding a lot of wank by not going on message boards anyway. I couldn't have been into them since their first album, since I was in utero at the time it was released (though admittedly, six month me was around when October came out, but whatever). I've never been to a concert because I've never been able to afford it/they weren't touring when I could/I'm a wuss who wouldn't want to go on their own/etc. Anyway, all this elitist bullshit makes me sick (in every single fandom, not just this one). So I'm probably saving myself a lot of aggro by not being present on them (also yes, not every fan is like this, I get that, but I bet U2 have their fair share of people who are. They're a popular band with a long career. I'd be more surprised if they didn't).
ANYWAY. Want to see my latest fannish purchase?
( one disembodied me below the cut )
Fifteen year old me would've killed a man for that shirt. Maybe two men. Although yeesh apologies for all the artifacting, that's gross. I don't know how to html image restraints to make that smaller so it doesn't look as horrible.
I also bought the book that Killing Bono was based on, and I am looking forward to reading it (though, on flicking through, I suspect I've read some of it as Mr McCormick's actual journalism. There's a story from 1997 about Liam Gallagher that sounds weirdly familiar. Though it's entirely possible I read it from a different source. WHO KNOWS).
~
Part of the reason behind my journey through U2's back catalogue (which concluded the other day with the second disc from the reissue of The Unforgettable Fire) is that I've spent a lot of the last ten years wondering when exactly Bono started sounding like a whiny bastard (sorry, Mr B). And the truth is that a) he really doesn't actually sound that whiny and b) he's always sounded like this. Even back in the early eighties. And c) the new stuff sounds like the old stuff and I didn't realise that because it's been ages since I've actually flat out listened to any of the albums, especially not all next to each other like this. Which was the other reason for this, *ahem*, musical journey.
And I have come to realise that the newer stuff is not as bad as I thought**. And I've found some songs off those albums that I like, and I've found stuff off older albums that I wasn't as familiar with but now like. And I've rediscovered tracks I'd forgotten about. IT'S ALL GOOD.
And, I think, I needed this. My offline life is not so good right now, and they've always been there for me when things have been decidedly Not Good in the past. And they'll be there in the future, even if they stop making albums (which they will. One day). I owe them a lot.
~
**Unless it's the album version of I'll Go Crazy, which is so fucking bland and boring. The Kick The Darkness remix is THE DOG'S BOLLOCKS, however.
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