What's the average age of a U2 fan ?

[@lmighty DS]

I bought Boy in 1980 when I was 18.

Oh man, you're so lucky, wish I was alive back then.

Yea i knew someone that saw the Boy/Oct tours

[JTBaby]

I bought Boy in 1980 when I was 18.

Oh man, you're so lucky, wish I was alive back then.

You'd rather be 50 now ?

[dani_the_U2_fan]

Im 16 and have been a fan since i was 3 at the time my dad had just bought the album 'all that you cant leave behind' and he played it to me one day, and i have been in love with them ever since i now have a nearly full set of their albums and lots of other memorabillia as well, including a limited edition U2 iPod, which i love.

[_acrobat]

I bought Boy in 1980 when I was 18.

Oh man, you're so lucky, wish I was alive back then.

You'd rather be 50 now ?

Maybe to be alive during that time period 

[TheLarryMullenBand]

I bought Boy in 1980 when I was 18.

Wow, that's pretty cool, wish I was in your position haha.

[teacher_mommy_u2fan]

I'm 37. I've been a fan since I was 12, and The Joshua Tree was released. My oldest daughter is 16.5 and a huge fan. My 2nd daughter is almost 13 and a budding fan. I saw a lot of 20 somethings at the two shows I saw last summer.

[Allie79]

32.
Really started getting into U2 in 1992 when I bought Under A Blood Red Sky.

[Declamom]

I'm 45 and started listening to U2 when I was 15. Last show I attended there seemed to be a lot of other 30/40-somethings in the crowd!

[JonD]

40 years old.  I remember my older/cooler cousins buying war/red rocks and playing it all summer.  I saw live aid with them too.  I became a big fan with JT and RH (pre Internet so I never knew about its "poor reception".My friends and I in high school loved it.) When AB arrived they were cemented as my favourite band ever!

Jon

[So Cruel]

40 years old.  I remember my older/cooler cousins buying war/red rocks and playing it all summer.  I saw live aid with them too.  I became a big fan with JT and RH (pre Internet so I never knew about its "poor reception".My friends and I in high school loved it.) When AB arrived they were cemented as my favourite band ever!

Jon

That's the funny thing about Rattle & Hum. For fans who came on board in the last 20 years, they may think Rattle & Hum was failure and poorly received, but for those of us who were in high school or college in the late 80's (I was in grade 9 when it was released) it was absolutley huge! Desire was all over the radio and MTV. Same with Angel of Harlem.

[Nanda360]

thank you all who responded to this thread so far... Interesting to know that we have people from all ages here. When you have a chance, see the new thread that came out from your responses:

To the sons & daughters of U2-Pop: what’s your fav/least fav track?
http://forum.atu2.com/index.php/topic,20174.0.html

[NeverInTheDaylight]

46 years old and though i had heard their previous singles i wasnt a true fan until 1984 when i heard Pride. I was 18. It was different from most other music at the time, but i loved it and i still love that song(and many others, including Bad, also from TUF)..and as stated above, for the most part i was unaware of R&H being considered a critical"failure' at the time it was released....to me it seemed a natural progression...I loved most of the songs, and i really liked their version of Helter Skelter also...

[jw]

You could refer to @U2's comprehensive survey for information like average age.  3,530 people replied to that survey, so it's a pretty good sampling.

2012 U2 Fan Survey
http://www.atu2.com/survey/2012/

How old are you?
13-19  8%
20-29  19%
30-39  35%
40-49  31%
50+     6%

When did you become a U2 fan?
2009 - present  4%
2004-2008       10%
1997-2003       17%
1991-1996       17%
1984-1990       33%
1983 or earlier  19%

These are just two questions.  There is a lot more info in the survey.

[Nanda360]

interesting thank ya

[The Exile]

40 years old.  I remember my older/cooler cousins buying war/red rocks and playing it all summer.  I saw live aid with them too.  I became a big fan with JT and RH (pre Internet so I never knew about its "poor reception".My friends and I in high school loved it.) When AB arrived they were cemented as my favourite band ever!

Jon

That's the funny thing about Rattle & Hum. For fans who came on board in the last 20 years, they may think Rattle & Hum was failure and poorly received, but for those of us who were in high school or college in the late 80's (I was in grade 9 when it was released) it was absolutley huge! Desire was all over the radio and MTV. Same with Angel of Harlem.

This is so true, and one reason why the Internet and the excess of information it makes available can be bad things for newer U2 fans. I bought R&H on its release day, and yeah, it was massive (all over MTV and radio, etc). It wasn't until years later that I found out it was a quote-unquote failure.

Same with Pop. The internet was still pretty new back then, and many U2 fans (especially in Europe) would have had no idea that the album and tour were so supposedly awful until after they were over and Bono was running around apologizing to the entire planet for daring to have some balls.

There's just soo much Monday-morning quarterbacking and revisionist history-writing on Bono's part, and the ease of availability of all this stuff can produce preconceived ideas about some of the band's material that newer fans would know, if they lived back then, is mostly fabricated or false.