A new study has confirmed what scientists have long suspected: no one has ever actually enjoyed U2’s music; it’s just that everyone thought that everyone else did and no one wanted to be the one to speak up and make things awkward.

“It seems it all started in ’76, when U2 was still playing clubs in Ireland,” said researcher Harvey DeCastro. “They played one little pub for a matinee, and a girl named Emily was there with her mates. They all were kinda just bobbing their heads along. Emily was all, ‘Did ya like that?’ and her mates shrugged and were like, ‘We guess so,’ and Emily didn’t speak up because she didn’t want to make it weird, but her mates had thought that Emily liked their music, so they didn’t want to rain on her parade, and it all just kind of spun out of control after that.”