This website first went online on 28th November 1999 when it was just a couple of pages thrown together with Front Page Express as an experiment to see if I could actually make a webpage. The following year I joined the U2 webring (remember those?) and began swapping links with other U2 sites. Since then I've continued to potter with the site on and off, although I don't put as much effort into promoting it as I used to. It's had a couple of revamps down the years, the latest of which was in February 2012. You can e-mail me (ie Philip) here with any comments or questions you may have.

On 25th March 2001 I took the plunge and registered a domain name for this site so that no-one would have to remember the old and complicated URL any more (the catchy http://homepages.tesco.net/~pstaylor). I hope that helps makes the name more a bit memorable. A year after registering the domain, I went the whole hog and bought some webspace, which allowed me to play around with PHP for things like adding a database and automating the quiz etc.

I was lucky enough to be able to give up my job in September 2000 and go back to University to study full time for a degree in computing. After finishing my last exam the following May, I decided to treat myself with a trip to Boston, Massachussets to see U2 in concert at the Fleet Center (or the TD Garden as it's now known). After finishing my dissertation in September I went back for more shows in New York, New Jersey and Providence. Good times. Over the following year I did some temporary work while looking for a more suitable job in IT. Eventually my perseverance paid off and I now have a job as a programmer that I enjoy very much. I later met my future wife through our U2 connection and we how have 2 wonderful children, although we resisted the tempation to give them U2-related names. :)

The record that first got me interested in U2 was the seminal live mini LP Under A Blood Red Sky. My old mate Colin recommended that it was worth a listen back in 1983, and I haven't looked back since. U2 have come a long way since then but I still rate it as one of my all time favourite albums. There is just something about its raw intensity and energy that really hits you between the eyes. I think I must've worn my stylus out listening to Electric Co over and over again.

Country Music legend Harlan Howard originally said that country music is, 'nothing but three chords and the truth'. U2 used the same phrase in their cover of the Jimi Hendrix classic All Along the Watchtower, which they performed during the free 'Save the Yuppy' concert in San Francisco in 1987. The line says: "All I got is a red guitar, three chords and the truth" , which seems to sum up the band's crusading nature perfectly. From Amnesty International, to Greenpeace, to Jubilee 2000, they have always been a band with a mission.

"The songs are in our eyes Gonna wear them like a crown" - Breathe

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