We’re a few days past St. Patrick’s Day so that means you took time to remember Ireland is still over there. Obviously, I spent some time listening to Irish bands. One band I did not listen to, though? U2. There are two reasons for that.

First, everyone lists U2. They’re the Irish band free space. I’m profoundly lazy, but also I have pride in my work. I don’t always take the easy road. Second, our illustrious editor Roman Gokhman is, to put it mildly, a U2 fan. He’s a U2 fan like I’m an oxygen fan. He makes sure we’re good on U2 coverage. Plus, it’s long-standing journalist tradition to enjoy needling your editor.

Thin Lizzy — “The Boys Are Back in Town”

its fucked up how there are like 1000 christmas songs but only 1 song aboutr the boys being back in town

— wint (@dril) November 29, 2015

Every list of Irish bands has three in common: U2, The Cranberries and Thin Lizzy. Sure, there are some that are more common than others. But those three appear in every single one. I’m pretty sure there’s a law that requires it.

I am, of course, breaking that law, because U2 will not appear. I’ll probably not include The Cranberries either because I included both “Zombie” and the Bad Wolves cover of “Zombie” when I listed my favorite songs from every year, so I’m on a Dolores O’Riordan timeout.

Thin Lizzy, though? Try and stop me. Who else was bold enough to let us know that the boys were back in town?

[Gokhman note: U2 has opened for Thin Lizzy].

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Horslips — “Dearg Doom”

As regular readers of this column and people who made the mistake of trying to make small talk with me at a party know, I’m a fan of Celtic punk. Unfortunately, my favorite Celtic punk bands are from Boston and Los Angeles, so they don’t qualify for this list.

You know who does, though? The Horslips, the fathers of Celtic rock and thus the original progenitors of Celtic punk.

After their founding in 1970, they got huge in Ireland. Despite the then-ongoing Troubles (the understatement-of-the-century), the Horslips were so popular in both parts of Ireland they crossed the border with impunity and found fans across the island. Then, at a show in 1980, they played the Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time” as an encore and stopped being a band.

They eventually reunited for some one-off concerts and an album of acoustic versions of their hits, but they stayed broken up for 24 years. They just went off and did other things. They even started bands with each other! They just decided to stop and did. Despite Celtic punk not existing yet, this was super punk rock.

[Gokhman note: U2’s and Horselips’ managers were friends, and the two bands shared rehearsal and recording space].

The Corrs — “Breathless”

Seventeen-year-old Danny would be utterly disgusted that I’m admitting to liking this song in public. When it came out it was vapid pop and I hated it. I also hated everything that wasn’t grunge, metal or from the mid- to late-’60s. I was a teenager, you see, and all teenagers are the worst.

Seventeen-year-old Danny would also be a hypocrite, because he was a big fan of this music video. He, as you might suspect, found the Corr sisters very attractive. Especially Sharon the violin player. And he was not wrong. Most people are into Andrea, but I’m a Sharon man from way back.

[Gokhman note: The Corrs, of course, are huge U2 fans].

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Therapy? — “Nowhere”

I would like to say I know of Therapy? because I’m such a student of music and have heard of countless bands from around the world. Ideally, I’d have a story about how I was in a dive bar in college and a cover band did a bunch of songs and started my fandom. Maybe that they opened for some band a decade ago and I never forgot them.

Sadly, none of those are true. I know this song because it was on the soundtrack of “NCAA Football 2006.” Since, back then, there were fewer than 10 songs per EA football game, you heard each one about 10,000 times while adjusting your roster or whatnot. If you’re lucky, it’s a good song and you don’t mind. For example: Andrew WK’s magnum opus “Party Hard” was in “Madden 2003” and it made it easily the most enjoyable game in the series. This was one of those.

Don’t judge me.

[Gokhman note: Any readers out there who find a connection between U2 and this band, please @ Willis relentlessly].

The Pogues — “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah”

OK, fine, there’s one Celtic punk band that I love that’s actually from Ireland. I was trying to avoid it because it’s in that second tier of bands that show up on every list, but you twisted my arm.

The Pogues don’t play the Dropkick Murphys’ style of chaotic drinking song Celtic punk. They’re a more late-Clash-style second-wave punk. But they’re great nonetheless, and even if almost every other list includes them, it just feels dirty to leave them off.

[Gokhman note: The Pogues are 1) most definitely on the first tier and 2) no surprise, they’re friends with U2].

I’m still fine not including U2, though. Maybe out of spite Gokhman will read you a poem by Bono.

Follow editor Daniel J. Willis and tweet column ideas to him at Twitter.com/BayAreaData.