I'm not letting you off that easy...you're not enough of a follower to blame your friend's obsession as the root cause (though I can't wait to have this discussion with bagwell, among many others in his research). There are also plenty of bands that you own the first 2-3 albums they made and didn't become obsessed with. Only once that I know of did you (and many men like you) go to such lengths to "appease your OCD." They could have chosen many bands/acts/outlets, but something caused this phenomenon in the 90's and I'm determined to find out the cause. This is cutting edge stuff here, folks. Start bringing in up in bar conversations and you'll see what I'm talking about.
I'm glad you brought up U2 and Social D though, it is actually a very big reason why I'm so interested in this period of your life. I have never denied being an uber fan of U2, probably 10 times the fan you are or ever were of Sarah, but only once in the 25 years that I've been a fan did I ever travel out of my way with the sole purpose being to see U2 (Dec '87 I traveled to Sun Devil Stadium with my cousin and his girlfriend to see the last show of the Joshua Tree tour, famous from the color shots in the R&H (that's right U2 fans, I saw Mothers of the Disappeared, Trip through your Wires and the Christmas song live, so suck it!). Every other time I saw them where I was more than 30 miles from home, I was already living overseas or had a trip planned and worked them into it. But my uber fandom also makes sense as I was raised Irish Catholic, much to your jealousy, and was the perfect impressionable age when they came up to be an uber fan (ie, not in college). I'm also still an uber:fan, and the last I checked you didn't pick up the 15th Anniversary Edition of Fumbling when it came out (or am I wrong here?), as to where I have the Anniversary/Extended releases of nearly all U2 albums (on a sidenote: I'm also to the point where I would swear on my life The Director was raised Irish Catholic as well).
Social D is the same thing. Though tempted to travel great lengths to catch a Social D show with Bearman or Thatguy, the only time I traveled to see Social D was a Vegas trip, which also happened to coincide with my sisters 30th birthday. Otherwise, I'll catch them when they come near me.
While this will undoubtedly come off as sounding sexist, the rest of you Sarah fans don't take offense because some of these terms could very well describe me: But you're not Canadian, you're not a feminist (couldn't be further, actually), you're not particularly sensitive to the needs of women or overly romantic, you're not obsessed with porn, you have great taste in music with an extensive collection, yet of all the musical acts of the 90's you claim your OCD took over to this extent, it's Sarah.
If this were an isolated incident, I'd bust your balls locker room style and it would be overwith. But there were many guys who did the same thing and there has to be a reason and that has always fascinated me. You're not alone in this, you're just the only guy who's willing to talk to me about it without getting all offended as I were insulting their manhood.
