Commentary by Matt McGee

Section A: About You

This section is all about trying to describe the typical U2 fan. I really don't believe there is such a thing, but it's interesting to actually have numbers that quantify U2 fandom in some way.

A1. Big props to the 13% of you teenagers and the 4% of you 46-years-old and older who replied.

A2. I really thought there are more gals in U2 fandom than guys. Might be because the @U2 news staff is about 75% female.

A3. Let me answer before you ask: There was no way we were going to list all 193 +/- countries in the world. No way. So we knew going in that some of you would be calling us names. In the end, we decided to list all the countries in which U2 has performed over the last 10 years -- the logic being that, if a country has enough fans to justify a concert, it has enough fans to justify being listed here.

It's a bit embarrassing to see what countries we left out in the "Other" link ... and interesting to see how fans from those countries tended to vote in groups. I suspect one of the Russian fan sites posted about our survey one day and a couple dozen fans voted in near succession. Ditto for the group of votes from Hungary.

I like the fan from Venezuela who added "where you live should not decide whether you see U2 alive," but I'm really hoping s/he meant to say "U2 live."

I think this question reveals the one limitation of an Internet survey: Since the survey is in English, fans in places like Italy and Mexico didn't vote at a level that I think their countries should be represented.

At this point in the survey presentation at our party in Portland, when we had determined that the typical U2 fan was a male, 26-35 years old, and from the U.S., we asked who the typical U2 fan was so far ... then we answered with a big photo of Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong on the next slide. It got a good laugh.

A6. We had some more fun starting with this question, pointing out that about 1600 U2 fans live at home...

A7. ... and pointing out here that only about 900 U2 fans said they have kids. So we broke several rules of statistical analysis and asked again who the typical U2 fan is, knowing now that he's a U.S. male, 26-35 years old, and probably lives at home with mom and dad and has no kids. The next slide also got a good laugh -- it was a big photo of Ed Grimley. (Remember him?!?)

A8. Can't say I'm surprised to see Coldplay, The Beatles, and Bruce as the top three. I thought R.E.M. might do better, but apparently I'm not the only U2 fan who's lost interest in them in the last 4-5 years. I am surprised to see Depeche Mode in 6th here.

At the party, Answer Guy had lots of fun with the "Someone else" replies.... Barbara Streisand? Nelly? And worst of all -- Scott Stapp? "If the guy who named Scott Stapp is here tonight, LEAVE NOW! We have a cab waiting for you out front."

Section B: U2 Fandom

B1. This becomes an important stat later on. Keep it in mind: 16-21 years of being a U2 fan is the No. 1 reply, and some quick math tell us that about 60% have been fans at least ten years.

B3. I thought more fans would be paying U2.com members -- at least 55%-60%. But not.

B4. U2.com announced the renewal plan while our survey was in progress. I kept an eye on these results, and the "YES, I plan to renew" group went up about 2% between the announcement and the end of the survey. The "No" group went down about 1%. So, clearly, the U2.communication CD and discounted renewal was enough to convince some folks to remain as paying members.

B8. I don't remember the exact joke/line, but Answer Guy got me here with some comment about me having dreams about Larry right after seeing the "Electrical Storm" video for the first time. More laughs. He got me good.

B11. I think this should probably be higher, but some folks don't realize they own bootlegs. We get a constant stream of emails through the Collectors' section of @U2 from people asking when U2 released their "Live from Cork" album, and things like that.

Section C: U2 and the Web

C2. Count me surprised here. 50% read zero or one mailing list?

C8. Ahem... Can't help but wonder how many people were a bit scared to admit to it on this one? :-)

C9. Just personally, this proves a major point for me. Most of you are in a hurry and want to get what you came for and go do something else. It's why we have such a spartan site design, why we don't use avatars and other graphics in the @U2 Forum, etc. Slow-loading web pages are evil.

C10. Judging from the 30% of people who said "None of the above," we didn't do a very good job phrasing this Q&A. Need to work on it for the next survey.

Section D: The Band

D3. We had a good time with this one at the party. Do you see that? You guys think Bono is a better musician than Adam? Bono??!! Ouch. Poor Adam.

D4. Larry is apparently smart enough to outwit and outlast everyone on Survivor...

D5. ... but not smart enough to have a chance on Jeopardy. Ouch. Poor Larry.

D6. And Adam wins his first question.

D8. This was the highlight of the party presentation. You can hear it on our podcast, edition 1-7 ... the crowd shouting out guesses, the drum-rolls as we revealed the top three. Me? I voted for PopMart, but how can you argue with Adam's 'fro?

Section E: Albums

E2. Can't believe the margin on this one. Surely Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree would've finished closer together.... or not. And maybe the bigger surprise: The Unforgettable Fire in 3rd place.

E5. It's funny to see that there are people who think The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby are underrated!

E7. No surprise about Eno & Lanois, but I thought Steve Lillywhite would get a lot more votes.

E9. Answer Guy had fun with this one. Boy and October combined for a total of six votes. The "collection" of videos from those albums amounts to one each. "That 'Gloria' video on the barge ... sensational. So much better than all 37 videos that came out for Achtung Baby!"

Section: Songs

F5. Sit down before you read any further. Ready? Okay. "4th of July" got five votes. Let me rephrase that: There are five U2 fans who think "4th of July" is a better song than "Bad."

F6. "Bullet the Blue Sky" gets slapped around twice in this survey. This is the first time.

F7. Two votes for "Freedom for My People."

F11. This is authorization for them to put "Please" in the live set, isn't it?

F13. Answer Guy was bewildered by the amount of votes "A Man and a Woman" received.

Section G: Tours

G1. Okay, some serious commentary now, shall we? Remember back to question B1, "How long have you been a U2 fan?" - the #1 answer was 16-21 years, and when you do some math, you come up with about 60% having been fans for at least ten years.

And then you look at this, and you see that 1-2 concerts is the most popular answer. You do some math and you see that almost 70% of U2 fans have seen six concerts or less. Yet they've been fans for 10 years or more. That covers a minimum of four tours ... and if you're a fan for 16-21 years, that covers at least six tours. But you've only seen six concerts or less.

In other words, here's proof that most U2 fans see one concert per tour. Which means U2 knows exactly what it's doing with a set list that doesn't forget the popular songs like "Pride" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" at every show. It all makes sense when you look at the numbers. Those of us who go to more than one show per tour are way deep in the minority.

G2. Another big surprise for me here.

G12. And "Bullet..." gets slapped again. But tell me, who are these 4% that want "Streets" dropped???

G15. Paging Willie Williams....

Section H: Final Thoughts

H2. Adding up a couple answers ... 10% of fans disagree with or ignore Bono's extracurricular activities.

H3. Adding up a couple answers ... 7.5% of fans disagree with or ignore U2's spirituality.

H9. Man, did Answer Guy go off on this one. "Okay, it's our last show ever. Thanks for sticking around all these years. We're gonna play one more song, the last song we ever play....", and about 80 of you want to hear "Vertigo" at this moment??? Please.

H10, H11, H12, H13 ... if one person leaves, should the others continue? You guys voted Edge as the most indispensable member of U2, because if he were to leave, more of you think that's it for U2 - no more. Bono was a close 2nd, but if Larry or Adam leave? "Carry on, gents." Ouch.

BACK TO THE 2005 FAN SURVEY RESULTS