Achtung, Baby!

Of course I love U2.  I'm a child of the 90s, so it was pretty much a prerequisite.  High school found my friends and me driving to the barn in our boots and breeches, with She Moves In Mysterious Ways cranked up till it blew out the car's woofer.  We were, like, totally rad.

U2 was the soundtrack to my high school years, but it also moved to college with me, where my roommate loved that group even more than I did.  In our ultra-cool (!) dorm room with a loft and mini-fridge, Bono and The Edge were always welcome.  Driving through our college mountain town, we'd roll down the windows in my crappy college car, crank up Achtung, Baby!, and wind up canyons, over passes, and around reservoirs.   

Fast forward.  A few months ago I said something to a friend about the Joshua Tree album, and she had no idea what or who I was talking about.  I said, "You know, the U2 album." 

She then looked at me blankly.

I looked back at her. 

She shook her head, and said "I don't know who U2 is." 

I then did what any reasonable person would do: I screamed, tore my hair out, and ran down the hallway in terror that the world was coming to an end. 

Ok, so maybe not.  But I did find that the age difference- the one I usually denied existed- had suddenly yawned open in a deep crevasse between us.  I felt old.  I was also reminded that I am not from this area, where everyone knows the local artists but maybe not the national ones.  It's usually kitschy and charming, but sometimes it's... suffocating.

My point (and I do have one) is that U2 enriched my life in a lot of ways, including teaching me one of two German phrases I know. 

Achtung, Baby!  And it's only half German, so I guess it only counts as half a phrase.

But it's the best I can do on short notice, when I look at my stats for this blog and see someone(s) from Germany has been visting.  So, hello new German friend(s)!  I hope you keep visiting, and would love to hear from you.