Society & Culture
U2 are a very serious band, with very serious songs, and they were inescapable in Ireland in the 1980's, when I was a child. While those uplifting, energised stadium rock tunes took over the world, they didn't catch on with 5 year old me. But In the 1990's as the focus of the world shifted decisively to Europe, so did U2's attention, and the change yielded something that really resonated with 10 year old me. It was a 1993 album called Zooropa, dashed off quickly, and mostly forgotten by all but serious U2 fans. U2, though, had done something that for them was very different. They'd forseen the future. And it had loops and synthesisers and effects, and it was good.