The Sweetest Thing

In honor of the U2 360 concert at Busch Stadium this weekend, today's Retro Friday is going to feature U2 and the two following songs: One, and Sweetest Thing.

The band U2 is an Irish rock band from Dublin, Ireland. They formed the band in 1976, and the group consists of Bono (vocals and guitar), The Edge (guitar, keyboards and vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar), and Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums and percussion). U2's early sound was molded by post-punk music, but eventually grew to include influences from many genres of popular music. Throughout the group's musical career, they have maintained a very recognisable sound built on melodic instrumentals, highlighted by The Edge's unique guitar sound and Bono's expressive vocals. Their lyrics are often filled with spiritual imagery, and focus on personal themes and sociopolitical concerns.

Each of these songs that I am writing about today made an impression on me in college, and of course each song triggers a specific memory of an event that occurred in college, so here we go!

One.

There are a lot of dances at Notre Dame. First, let me back up just a bit. Some little known facts about Notre Dame are that there are no fraternities or sororities at Notre Dame, and that the majority of the student population lives on campus all four years. Okay, with that being said, back to the dances at Notre Dame. Because of this largely on-campus student population, each dorm on campus typically has two dances per semester. One formal dance off-campus, and a more informal SYR dance that is held at the dorm itself. SYR stands for "Screw Your Roommate." You are supposed to set your roommate up on a blind date, and really, it is up to your discretion as to whether you "screw" your roommate over or not! (Fortunately, my roommates were really awesome, and always set me up on good dates!!)

Okay, so back to "One." During the second semester of my senior year I was trying not to date any one person exclusively, seeing as we were all going to go our separate ways shortly anyways. I had been hanging out with Mr. "Joe Smith" a bit that semester when he asked me to his on-campus, in-dorm dance. He seemed like a nice guy, and so I said yes. Later on I find out that he also asked one of my friends to the dance as well. He thought it would be fun for the three of us to hang out. Hmmm ... hang out, huh? Sounds like you're just trying to set something up with you and two girls that is just NOT gonna happen! So, for whatever reason, we both agreed to go with him to this stupid dance, and it was the weirdest thing ever. I don't remember much from the dance except for dancing with him to the U2 song "One" ... and forever disliking that song as a result of him asking two girls to the same dance! Boys!!! And really, why on earth did we ever agree to both go with him to the dance?!

Sweetest Thing

There was this band in college, that you might say we were groupies of ... otherwise coined as "Band-Aids" by the movie Almost Famous. We pretty much were at one of their shows, at least once a week. They played a few original songs, but mostly played covers of a variety of songs from the 70's, 80's, and 90's. The majority of these songs were from the alternative or rock genre, and they sounded really great ... and several of the band members were easy on the eyes, so it was all good. There are about 10 songs that, when I hear them randomly on my iPod, or on the radio, I immediately think of this band. The Sweetest Thing by U2 is definitely one of those songs. A very "happy-go-lucky," good memory inducing song for sure!

Okay, that's enough of my walk down memory lane for this Friday! Here is a little U2 for your listening pleasure!

One


Sweetest Thing



Cheers!