In 1987 it was all so different.

There were no iPod marketing synergies, no half-time Superbowl performance and the almost old-fashioned marketing which would surround the release of Rattle and Hum was a mere glint in Paul McGuiness's eye.

Instead of the vast corporate machine that now seems to surround U2, there was instead an incredible sense of momentum, a palpable dynamic force which . . . for want of a better word . . . felt like destiny. What drove that sense among fans was simply the music, and at least two iconic performances that laid down markers for what was to come.

At Live Aid in 1985, during a short but blistering set, Bono danced with a girl from the crowd. Back then, fuelled by the day's sense of collective idealism, it was Bono's way of connecting with the crowd, and those of us who loved U2 lapped it up. It was a small gesture, very uncool by today's standards, but it showed Bono's instinctive sense of showmanship and U2's innate ability to capture a moment and make it theirs.

In 1986 U2 appeared on stage at Self Aid and the sense of U2's imminent apotheosis was heightened even more. The band played with fluidity and maturity, while Bono's voice shone with a new depth and resonance as he swaggered and snarled his way across the stage. This wasn't the U2 of old; the tense boys with the bad haircuts and the almost overwrought playing style. This was a band who had finally grown up, and who were now on the brink of producing some of their best work ever . . . and somehow everyone knew it.

When The Joshua Tree was released it didn't disappoint. It was a solid-gold piece of work, jam-packed with great tunes and the band's sense of their place in the world. What made it all the sweeter was that U2 seemed to be mining a rich creative seam which also produced a raft of bsides of impossibly brilliant quality, enough indeed to have turned The Joshua Tree into a double album. One of these bsides was 'The Sweetest Thing', unofficially U2's first real pop song, a crystalline creation with an appealingly raw vocal from Bono that managed to sound both simultaneously ragged and pristine.

Unfortunately it couldn't last.

After the unfairly maligned Rattle and Hum, and the masterful Achtung Baby, U2's creative output decreased in quality with the irritating Zooropa and the creative low that was the turgid Pop.

Meanwhile, their corporate decisions started to take centre stage. To promote a greatest hits collection in 1998 they took out 'The Sweetest Thing', dusted it off, and gave it a warm cosy remix which was a mockery of the original. 2002's producer of the moment, William Orbit, was called in and worked on some songs, rounding off jagged corners, and sprinkling his trademark sequences to create little more then anodyne sonic souffles. Bono continued with the hyperbolic claims to greatness.

The stage shows got bigger and the great circle of sycophancy which has always surrounded the band became tighter and tighter.

The band became more thinskinned, and Bono took umbrage with critical comments from Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot, so much so that he arranged to meet him to set things straight.

Meanwhile the songs and albums became more watered down, and any spark U2 once had began to fade.

U2's greatest songs in the eighties once reflected a kind of yearning that fans responded to and connected with. Now in their various business interests, and their quest to build a "landmark tower" they now reflect the kind of thing a rock and roll band should never become. A staid, middle aged, aloof entity, typical of the new Ireland. An Ireland in which Dubai is an onanistic fantasy for the elite, a gleaming Hy-Brasil for the corporate. U2 are just another commodity churning out nice shiny songs with no substance. Lip service is being paid to their once exciting creativity. Bono has spoken about stripping back their sound, and there is talk of Eno and Lanois actively participating in the song writing for the next album, further diluting U2's identity. It seems the band who have secretly dreamed of being the Beatles are now doing something which Lennon and McCartney would never have countenanced. U2, once arguably the greatest rock band of their time, are now a pale commodified imitation of their former selves.

If you want to remember what a truly great rock band used to sound like listen to the opening of 'Where the Streets of no Name' with its sense of vastness and joy, fuelled by the adrenalin-pumping quality of Bono's vocal, Edge's jagged guitar, and the rolling thunder created by Larry and Adam. Listen to the soaring gospel of 'One Tree Hill', the ache in Bono's voice as he sings for the late Greg Carroll. Listen to The Joshua Tree and remember what U2 used to be like, what they were capable of, at a time when a four minute rock and roll song could seem like the most important thing in the world. Listen and wonder what happened to the serendipitous alchemy that used to make four guys from Dublin make some of the finest music to come out of this island.

For U2 it's been quite a journey, but there comes a time when you have to acknowledge that you're at journey's end.

VIEWS OF THE FANS

Greg Kot . . . music critic, Chicago Tribune Eamon Dunphy I'm a huge fan of theirs. I admire what Bono in particular does for Aids, Third World poverty . . . in that sense I'm an unqualified fan. They've stayed here and they do their work from here. They're an inspiration for all kinds of people. I think what Paul McGuinness did was great. He nurtured them, and they were amazing. They haven't drugged themselves to death or lost their money. They've done a huge amount of work for good causes, and I admire them very much.

Tom Dunne Dave Fanning Maybe they are the Led Zeppelin of the eighties, as in they just became huge, and they were able to maintain it. Even then that journey into the roots of American music with Rattle and Hum, it might have been criticised, but that's actually the way it should be. There were bits and pieces of everything on it but it was like a band indulging in what they can indulge in because they're as big as they are, and it was brilliant. Then it should have ended. And they even said it themselves they'd go off to do something else. They could have gone on the nostalgia/chicken-in-abasket circuit or whatever it was that Simple Minds and all the others had already done years ago. And they came back bigger and better than ever in the nineties, which is truly bizarre, because that's not the way it's meant to be at all. It's almost like they've nearly done it again in this century, and now it's almost like really "God, would you go away." Every time you re-write a chapter on U2 you have to re-write it again. It's incredible how huge they became and it shouldn't have happened like that, but it did. If the stars are aligned right and you don't fuck up that's brilliant. They didn't fuck up, and it was.

John Waters, Eurovision songwriter I don't know anybody who has thought about their journey in any kind of depth who wouldn't be disillusioned with them now. Who wouldn't be disillusioned actually since Achtung Baby. For me that was their best album. The Joshua Tree is a great album, and any band that could create an album like that could retire gracefully. But U2 went on to even greater heights with Achtung Baby, a stunning album. What they did was they went right back into a cliche of U2.

It's almost as if they got some kind of bottled essence of themselves and regurgitated it ad-nauseam. I think they've lost all inspiration. There's no magic anymore. There isn't a single track on the last two albums that you could actually call memorable. They're pretty nondescript records now compared to the great records they made. They would need to let go entirely of any ambition to be the biggest band in the world before they could do something to restore their creative reputation in my view.

Once it became U2 Inc, a great band ended. The notion of perpetuating the band's size has trumped the idea of making life-changing music. I'm actually a big fan of the weird Achtung Baby-Zooropa era albums, and even a few of the failed strays off Pop. The band was stumbling around in the dark, but it was taking risks. Those days are long gone. I don't see risk anymore, or artistic vision. I see Jimmy Iovine in an Interscope board meeting sifting for singles and hatching iPod partnerships. I see the epitome of a corporate rock band, the Rolling Stones in everything but name. As a fan from the beginning, I can't tell you what a betrayal that feels like. Where do they go next? I have hope whenever Eno is involved that something good will result. But I am not holding my breath.

I'd say U2 and Something Happens would have taken their inspirations from the same places. Watching what they were doing with a guitar band, it was hard not to want to do a similar thing. By the time I joined Something Happens they already had a huge American influence, which I think luckily took us a bit away from sounding like U2. It was very hard not be aware of the fact that you were watching a band that was completely on top of its game. They never seemed to put a foot wrong. I think for a band that are of the age they are now they're as good a band as they could possibly be at the moment. It's hard to imagine that they could do more or sound better than they do. I really think music is a young man's game, for a band in their early twenties is when they have the opportunity to do some really groundbreaking and absolutely amazing music, and U2 did that with The Joshua Tree. It was a quantum leap that very few bands of their generation had the wherewithal to make, and since then did it again with Achtung Baby. Very few people have managed the level of creativity they have. You have to admire them.