As part of my job at one of the other sites that I write for, I am occasionally required to write record reviews, and I can’t help but compare some of the stuff I review to U2. It’s given me some insight into another reason that U2 have got to be considered one of the greatest bands ever. To put it simply, they’re not kids. Let me explain a little bit what I mean before I get inundated with scripture quotes from 1 Timothy 4:12. Even in the very early days, back when U2’s set-lists contained titles like “Magic Carpet” and “Cartoon World”, when they boys were literally just that – boys – their music had an awareness and a world-wise maturity that separated them from their peers. Even when it wasn’t necessarily good (“Jack in the Box”, anyone?) their music was great. Sure, my wife still raves about how good-looking Bono was back in the Joshua Tree days, but they were never the kind of band that had nothing to offer beyond being nice to look at. Nowadays, of course, no one would consider U2 to be a “boy band”, but I still find that there’s a lived-in quality to their music that other bands of advanced age – The Cure, for instance, or Depeche Mode, or even the Rolling Stones – simply can’t match. Wherever you’ve been, whatever it is that you’re coming from, U2’s music says “we’ve been there. We got through it, and you can too.”