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U2 / You Too

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    U2 / You Too

    So, based on a recent interview, Bono and The Edge apparently aren't too fond of their band name. Bono even alluded to the idea that it was perhaps a 'punny' name along the lines of The Beatles.

    I was alway invested in the early-'80s idea that U2 was a missile or a spy plane, which ... okay.

    Did anyone here ever consider that it was 'You Too' in disguise?

    #2
    I bet quite a lot of bands grow out of their frankly silly early names. The Police. The Who. Wham!. The Beach Boys. I bet it's only the Eagles and the Rolling Stones who grew into their names.
    Last edited by Rogin the Armchair fan; 19-01-2022, 15:25.

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      #3
      I always thought U2 referred to the spy plane and the whole Cold War thing. It went with their Army-surplus-coats-worn-ironically vibe.

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        #4
        It was originally stylised as U-2 like the plane, but suppose it could also have been a pun anyway,

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          #5
          I believed - perhaps erroneously, although they certainly seem to have said it themselves - that they're named after the Berlin U-Bahn line.

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            #6
            Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
            I bet quite a lot of bands grow out of their frankly silly early names.
            Well, I didn't think it was silly if it was indeed based on a spy plane, which was 'always the story'. But if it was intended as a pun of 'you too', then yeah. But I'd never read it that way.

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              #7
              Side note, I didn't read INXS as In Excess until I first heard it said on the radio. I knew them first as a 'video' band and just read the caption.

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                #8
                They use the signage for the U-Bahn in their stage show these days, but in context of their time in Berlin making Achtung Baby, so I think it's an opportunistic bit of back-fitting rather than the original source of the name.

                The first time I went to see U2 (on the Zoo TV tour), my mother told people I was going to see UB40. She also told me my sister was going to see Lever 10 around the same time, when she meant Mark King's merry band of yuppie funksters.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post
                  The first time I went to see U2 (on the Zoo TV tour), my mother told people I was going to see UB40.
                  I haven't liked anything U2 didn't post Signing On....

                  My mother, bless her, told me when the last of The Ramoses died. Joey...that one...

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by WOM View Post
                    Side note, I didn't read INXS as In Excess until I first heard it said on the radio. I knew them first as a 'video' band and just read the caption.
                    I first knew of them from record shop racks and thought it was said like "Inkses". I probably owned an album by them for some time before finding out the correct pronunciation.

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                      #11
                      Well U2 Is definitely better than the Hype. You have a man who named himself after a hearing aid shop, spent years giving free publicity to some pretty obnoxious politicians and ( allegedly) wears lifts in his shoes, so he has a lot to be embarrassed about before you get to the bands name.

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                        #12
                        Time for this classic, methinks:

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                          #13
                          Hmmm. Anyone still calling themselves Bono and The Edge should maybe keep quiet about silly band names.

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                            #14
                            U2 are basically crap. In my opinion.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                              U2 are basically crap. In my opinion.
                              Edgy.

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                                #16
                                I'm sure I read some place that the name was about them embracing their audience - "you too".

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                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                                  U2 are basically crap. In my opinion.
                                  I liked War, Boy and Rattle & Hum. Other than that....meh....

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                                    #18
                                    I've drifted in and out with U2. There's parts of their music throughout their career that's brilliant, and equally some has been crap.

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                                      #19
                                      I like Achtung Baby and most of their 80s output but beyond that, nope.

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                                        #20
                                        I don't really mind when a U2 song comes on the radio, but the idea of tuning into the U2 channel on Sirius gives me absolute fits. As Satchmo Distel will attest, even the cross-promotion period when they were launching was insufferable.

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                                          #21
                                          The music is definitely one of the less objectionable things about them.

                                          Surely we've already done bands that outright despise their name?

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                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by elguapo4 View Post
                                            I've drifted in and out with U2. There's parts of their music throughout their career that's brilliant, and equally some has been crap.
                                            Same.

                                            As mentioned on the other thread, people who sincerely believe they're the greatest band ever are one of my firmly held unfair prejudices.

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                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post

                                              I first knew of them from record shop racks and thought it was said like "Inkses". I probably owned an album by them for some time before finding out the correct pronunciation.
                                              I would imagine 'these days' their name would be styled something like In.X-S

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                                                #24
                                                They always claimed that the name (obviously in deference to the aircraft) was selected because it would look good on posters. Trying to disown it after the best part of half a century strikes me as a bit pointless and, dare I say, attention-seeking.

                                                Yes, I 'dare'.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Boy, War, Unforgettable Fire^, Joshua Tree^, Achtung Baby

                                                  ^ Parts

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