LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, FROM DUBLIN...

I'm an unabashed fan. U2. Bono. The Edge. Amazing.

The irony was that I was on board really late. I remember in late junior high and early high school that many of my friends (Lonnie, Karlen, Tammy and Stacy in particular) were pretty hard-core about them. I was much more into weenie 80's pop confection at that point. U2 didn't do it for me.

At what point that changed, I can't be sure. However, if I had to take a stab, it was probably during their Zooropa and Pop phase, when I was asking myself "why the hell aren't they doing stuff like they did in their heyday?"

No one will top the Beatles. What they accomplished and the evolution they underwent from early 1964 to their breakup in 1970 was mind-blowing. While U2's career is much more stretch out, though, the twists and turns they've gone through musically are no less impressive.

First it was the unabashed Christian element, beginning with "October," followed by the blatant political overtones of "War"...these themes have continued to run through their music to this day. Early on, there was a definite punk feel mixed with New Wave sensibilities.

Then came their Joy Division/atmospheric quality in the mid-80's, followed by embracing all things American Southwest, an undercurrent that defined "The Joshua Tree" and "Rattle and Hum." Rather than stick with The Formula (see: Beach Boys, minus "Pet Sounds"), they embraced a quasi-German industrial rock feel with "Achtung Baby," then off the deep end with their techno-inspired forays in the mid-90's. Their most recent two albums since 1999 have mixed bits and pieces of many of these forms.

It's really tough, if not damn near impossible, to name another band that has kept their original lineup for going on three decades, remained relevant, had massive popular success as well as critical acclaim, on top of which they are the most amazing live performers I've ever seen (and that includes the Rolling Stones and Prince).

For your video pleasure, in chronological order:
I Will Follow
A Celebration (warning, the audio and video aren't synched correctly; never released tune)
Gloria
Sunday Bloody Sunday
New Year's Day
Two Hearts Beat As One
A Sort Of Homecoming
Pride (As well as the more famous clip from the Slane Castle sessions)
The Unforgettable Fire
Where The Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
With Or Without You
In God's Country
Spanish Eyes
Desire
Angel Of Harlem
Even Better Than The Real Thing
One...and a second version...and then the version with the buffalo
Until The End Of The World
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
Love Is Blindness
Numb
Lemon
Stay
Discotheque
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
If God Will Send His Angels
Staring At The Sun
Last Night On Earth
Please
The Sweetest Thing
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Beautiful Day
Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of (and the American football version)
Elevation
Walk On
Electrical Storm
The Hands That Built America
Vertigo
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
All Because Of You
A Man And A Woman
Original Of The Species
Yahweh
Window In The Skies (the cool version) and Window In The Skies (U2 retrospective)
The Saints Are Coming

And where there weren't music videos filmed, some fun live performances:
Stories For Boys
Sunday Bloody Sunday (great, but Bono uses some language; viewer discretion advised)
Surrender
Miss Sarajevo

Or some alternative versions of videos:
The Unforgettable Fire
Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
Walk On
Original Of The Species

Yes, Bono has a messianic complex of sorts...Bruce Springsteen touched on it nicely when he was inducting U2 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But if trying to save the world is a bad thing, I don't think that's too shabby. As for the music, to me it remains fresh and I wouldn't be surprised to see two or three more powerhouse albums out of them in the next decade.

Thankfully, of course, they've progressed a lot since 1978.