Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
NPR Music’s All Songs Considered crew recently remembered some of the bands they’ve broken up with over the years and why.
They narrowed their picks to the following four categories: bands you swore off entirely and never looked back; bands you simply grew away from with age; bands you no longer follow, but you still remember the good times; and bands you’ll stick by no matter what.
In their recent poll, “of all of the people who wrote in, U2 was the most broken-up-with band. The worst boyfriends, at least among our audience.” - Daoud Tyler-Ameen of NPR Music.
The crew welcomes you to share your choices on the All Songs Considered blog here.
As a U2 fan of 30 years, I can proudly say I stick by my band no matter what!
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I simply agree with you StrongGirl
Not surprising considering U2s many experiments and stylechanges. Also they have a very large fanbase, and you cant please everyone all the time!
I would consider that a compliment if I was U2. fans have a tendency to want to hold you to your first few albums and the minute you change directions—they announce that you’ve “lost it”.
U2 have chosen the integrity to create from where they’re at instead of caving in to “fan” expectation.
I have broken up with the boys many times over the decades. I think I might have broken up with them as recently as last month, but I see us getting back together once they hit Mexico City. I don’t know how to say this but sometimes I do hate U2, even when I love them. I also, always love them, even when I am pissed off at them (hey Edge, you’re a jerk over that Malibu thing), I love them deeply. I am never not caring about them, one way or another.
I’m not a freak or stalker or psycho or anything, but so much of my life is knit together with U2′s songs, and vice versa. They are quite literally a part of my life, and many others’ lives that I know.
When it comes time to bury mom, we’re going to be playing “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” If I go first, then it’s “Kite” for me. How can I not care deeply, to the point of anger sometimes?
So, I will be breaking up and making up with the boys for the rest of my life.
I tend away from the guys every now and then, but still remember the very first time I heard them age 5. U2 is the soundtrack of my life, no matter what kind of music they were experimenting with. Even when I was strongly connected to other bands, U2 still were there. I guess, breaking up with U2 is what we all do from time to time, but the magic trick is - they keep us coming back.
I think this shows two things: U2 change styles frequently (which is why they’ve lasted so long) and people have short attention spans.
I’ve been a fan since the pre-Joshua Tree days and through R&H, but it was the Zoo TV era that resonates in me the most. And all through that time I’d do anything to hear a recent interpretation of any of the songs from the the Lillywhite trilogy.
But, after AYCLB the lyrics of the songs seem to have taken a worldier path and seem less personal to me as they once were. Even songs like Acrobat, Some Days Are Better Than Others, and Playboy Mansion are far superior to Moment of Surrender (I always cringe when I hear “I was punching in the numbers at the ATM machine…”).
Whenever I listen to one of the last three albums, I frequently find myself skipping through tracks and they do not stay long in the player - something I never dreamed of doing in a million years.
I understand during the Hansa recordings was a dark period for the band, and the world was going through a dark time during the Zoo through Pop eras, but the last decade had just too much sunshine for me, and I find it hard to relate to.
I’m glad the band is having such wonderful lives, and it reflects more often than not in their music, but I just can’t into it like I once did.
Even the music tends to be (at times) too polished for my liking. What attracted me so was the willingness to experiment, and even “get it wrong”. POP is a perfect example of this and why it’s my second favorite album.
The obsession, joy, and comfort I once felt for the band is gone. Call me selfish, but I liked them better when I felt the songs were written for me personally, and not the world.
Maybe after the band parts ways with Eno & Lanois, who knows?
And this is why we must break up until that feeling is recaptured (mainly in Bono’s lyrics).
U2 and R.E.M. till death do us part!
I’ve never really broken up with u2. Like any long term relationship, there have been peaks and valleys, but generally, u2 have grown and changed in ways that have fit my life trajectory. I got into them back during POP, and when I was in my late teens, I wanted music about doubt and tearing off the darkness, but now, my music tastes have changed to prefer songs about hope and the journey of becoming an adult..and strangely, u2′s path from the 90′s to now has matched mine…even though I am 18 yrs younger than Bono.
R.E.M. and U2 used to rock my world every day 24/7. U2 chose quantity over quality, i went with R.E.M. the problem is that Michael seems to have lost his passion for music and is much more interested in hard arts but, they are still true to themselves which is why i still follow them and have left U2 in the toy box.