"A Man And A Woman came on with that groovy, heavy bass, heavy as a hot southern twilight, and there was just something about it… I knew in that moment I had found an all-time favourite band. I was right."
Tell us something about yourself, who are you and what do you do for a living?
I’m a student at Amherst College in Massachusetts, but I live in south Alabama. I’m studying geology with a particular interest in vertebrate palaeontology — especially dinosaurs. I work at the college’s Beneski Museum of Natural History, which is home to some very historically and scientifically significant fossil specimens (including the largest collection of fossilised dinosaur footprints in any museum). My job basically entails me acting as a science educator to visitors — the liaison between our collections and museum guests who are often coming in at very different levels of understanding natural history and palaeontology. It’s a terrific job and the sort of thing I want to be involved in for the rest of my life.
(Matthew at the museum)
How did you become a fan of U2, tell us how it happened?
Apart from hearing The Joshua Tree album and the odd other song occasionally, I really had no connection to U2 until 2009, when I heard No Line On the Horizon. I didn’t know what it was — just the newest U2 record — and I didn’t hear the whole thing, but what I did hear was excellent. I wish I could say that that was my conversion, but it would be nearly a year before I got myself into U2. My first two albums, the ones I picked out in my dad’s CD collection and listened to of my own volition, were War and No Line On the Horizon; I loved them both instantly. The summer of 2010, I randomly hopped my way through U2’s catalogue, feeling a deeper connection to this music than I’d felt to any music before. Nowadays I’d be a little embarrassed by some of the songs I liked most, or actually some of the songs I DISLIKED most (I didn’t love Mysterious Ways for ages, can you believe it?!), but one thing that I’ll never be ashamed of is the song that turned me from ‘a guy who liked U2’ into a true U2 fanatic: A Man and a Woman. That song, believe it or don’t, was my conversion. Listening to How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb late one summer night on a portable CD player, and already loving it more than any other record ever, A Man and a Woman came on with that groovy, heavy bass, heavy as a hot southern twilight, and there was just something about it… I knew in that moment I had found an all-time favourite band. I was right.
Does anyone in your family or one of your friends like U2? If so, did they introduce you to U2, or did you "convert" them?
I sort of introduced myself, but my parents both like U2 and my dad has all their studio CDs, which is how I got into their music. Between my earliest recollections of ‘oh this is a band called U2’ and the point when I decided ‘let’s check out this U2 business for real,’ I heard a few of their songs through my dad’s listening (Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own is the most memorable), and it just sort of primed me for my own exploration. My younger sister has recently gotten into U2 because of my ceaseless obsession, but she still has a way to go before she’s a full-fledged fan. Volcano is her favourite U2 song, and I’m really quite proud to say that she, a middle-school kid in 2016, loves Under a Blood Red Sky. None of my friends are diehard U2ers, but my girlfriend likes them (favourite tracks: Discothèque and The Crystal Ballroom) despite her ire that Bono consistently messes up the lyric to Dancing Queen, and my best mate from high school listens to them occasionally, more on a song-by-song rather than album basis but always has high praise, he loved Songs of Innocence. In fact, virtually all of my friends have said that they thought SOI was a great album and they thought the way it was released was very cool, which made me quite happy.
You created a lot of U2 quizzes for the community. How did that occur to you? How was the creation process?
I’ve played quizzes on Sporcle for a while now, and I always thought, ‘there are a fair number of good U2 quizzes here, but there could be a lot more.’ So I decided to make them myself! Most of the quiz topics are pretty straightforward, like filling in missing lyric, identify songs played on each tour, which songs were longest and shortest, so they required just a quick re-listen or a brief bit of research on U2gigs. The complete song lyric quizzes are probably the trickiest, just because I sometimes wonder what lyrics to include (do mumbled background vocals or ‘ooh’s count? — I’m inconsistent with this), and even what the lyrics ARE. Usually listening to the song while having the album booklet, @U2’s lyric sheets, or another source open while I type is sufficient but there are many times where I find contradictions, or when the printed lyrics are obviously not the same as what’s sung. I usually go with a sort of in between for cases like these, where alternate answers will be accepted, but sometimes there’s still doubt. I had to actually cancel making one for Wire because the song was too indecipherable and none of the many sources I looked to seemed to match it well. Also, Sporcle has a 300-answer cut off on quizzes so that means a song must be 300 or fewer words long, something I sometimes forget to check. Imagine my frustration when I reach the limit and only had about four words left to go to make A Man and a Woman! I had to delete it and make one with a different song. I’m very pleased with the response U2start has given my little quizzes, and I’m always ready to make more… when I’ve got the time! They’re very fun to make; I think the One-Second clip quizzes are my favourites.
What do you think has been U2's defining moment and why?
Oh gosh… such a big question. There are several. Songs of Innocence and the i+e Tour has been one for sure, telling people they’re still here and they’re still the best… but I guess this might be kind of lame and broad but I’m going to pick the 1990s, all of it. U2 were absolutely on top of the world. They were pushing at the very edges of what they had been and what they would become, and the results were phenomenal. Two amazing tours, and three of the very best albums ever made, by any artist. U2 changed rock n roll in the 1990s, with the irony and sensory overload of ZooTV, and unabashed hammy awesomeness of PopMart. Even Passengers was a fun little detour, even if it was pretty insignificant (I’ve got lots of love for Elvis Ate America). Pop deserves to be revered as the tour-de-force it is, U2 at the farthest extremity of being U2 while at the same time being more genuine and intense, and more U2, than ever. Achtung Baby is quite simply the greatest record ever made. 1990s U2 was a band that wasn’t afraid of anything and knew they could do everything — and did.
In your opinion, what is U2's place in the music business right now? Do you see Songs of Experience as their last album or do you expect them to keep touring for years to come?
U2 are, it pains me to say, never going to be the huge chart-topping hits they were and they deserve to be anymore. But, they’re here. And they’re great. U2’s 2000s albums were all strong, but Songs of Innocence has blown those past three albums out of the water. I think maybe it’s time for them (and for Bono especially) to accept that they’re at the point where they’re the elder statesmen of rock and they probably aren’t going to be youth icons again. That said, I — and I think they — would hate nothing more than seeing U2 become a heritage act. Songs of Innocence and its tour have shown they can still be at the top of their game, looking back and looking forward. As long as there are people who like rock n roll music with heart and soul in it, there will be people who love U2. There are diehard U2 fans not yet born. They are going to last forever, even if they aren’t the hip young hitmakers of these days. I think even pessimistically Songs of Experience will be U2’s penultimate but not final album. Optimistically, we’ve still got another 20 years with them. Being realistic, I think U2 will be making new music for at least another 12-15 years. I’d say we still have AT LEAST three or four U2 albums left before they say goodbye.
What is your favorite U2 bootleg, and why? What makes it so special?
Difficult choice. Stockholm 1992-06-11 is a longtime favourite, it’s just so good. Every single song is a real smash. It has hands-down the best Mysterious Ways and Bullet the Blue Sky I’ve ever heard. I hardly even listen to other versions, even other live versions of those two. It has a strong setlist, the sound and crowd are loud and clear, and the band are having a great time. It’s a fun show. In the same vein — great sets, great performance, great crowd, and the band having fun — any of the Point Depot Lovetown shows (or probably any of the end-Lovetown shows, really) are very, very high on my list of favourite bootlegs.
If you could go back in time and attend any U2 tour of the past, which one will be and why?
Is every single U2 concert ever a choice?… If I had to pick, I would have to do a toss-up between Lovetown and ZooTV. i+e, I’m still holding out hope I’ll get to see, so I’m not counting that yet. Those two tours, the band really just gave it their all, and there are so many legendary performances to see there. Lovetown was the celebration of the end of an era, ZooTV was the celebration of the beginning of a new one.
How different is U2 compared to other artists that you like?
Not too different, really. I’m a rock music sort of guy, so many of the bands I like were either influencers of U2, or influenced by U2 — or maybe pretty direct contemporaries, like my second-favourite band, R.E.M., who were also a part of that college-rock early-1980s alternative movement. I suppose I get into prog rock a lot (Rush and Pink Floyd, mainly) so that’s an area where there’s not a lot of overlap. I think my problem is that I’m very good at making parallels between other artists and U2!
What are your hobbies and interests away from U2, musical or otherwise?
Musical: Like a said above, I’m a rock n roll music guy — alternative rock, post-punk, prog, I’m not too pick. I like R.E.M., The Beatles, The Police (Synchronicity was my first-ever rock album), Elvis, Rush, and so on. Recently (and largely due to U2’s connection with these artists/genres) I’ve really developed my appreciation of Frank Sinatra and Johnny Cash, and have been more keen to get into jazzy classic pop and folksy, country-rock/roots rock/Southern Gothic type music.
Other Interests: I’m a natural history buff, as a career goal and a personal passion. I love reading about and drawing wildlife, especially prehistoric animals. I have a blog on the subject, noahsravens.blogspot.com if anybody is interested. I also watch a lot of television programmes (Doctor Who and the original 1959-64 Twilight Zone are my favourites). My very favourite thing to do, of course, is spend time with my girlfriend — not an easy task when you spend most of the year 1,100 miles apart, but that just means it’s even more special when we are together. U2’s music has definitely helped me cope with the struggles of being in a serious long-distance relationship.
Thank you all, I’m very honoured to be fan of the month for my very favourite fan community! You guys are all amazing and I’m lucky to be among such great company.
(Matthew as MacPhisto)
Thanks for this interview CMIPalaeo!
Note: Our crew members choose the fan of the month, you can't sign up for it.
