Achtung Baby

Achtung Baby
A square montage of square photographs arranged in a 4 by 4 grid. The photographs are mostly blue and red in tint, but some are monochrome. They are candid in nature and mostly show four men in various locations, including in an empty street, a crowded festival, under a bridge, in a car, and standing on sand. One photograph is a close-up of a man's hand wearing two rings, one bearing the letter "U" and the other bearing the number "2".
Studio album by U2
Released 19 November 1991 (1991-11-19)
Recorded

October 1990 – September 1991 in Germany and Ireland

  • Hansa Ton Studios (Berlin)
  • STS (Dublin)
  • Elsinore ("Dog Town") (Dalkey)
  • Windmill Lane Studios (Dublin)
Genre Rock
Length 55:27
Label Island (314-510347-2)
Producer Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno
U2 chronology
Rattle and Hum
(1988)		 Achtung Baby
(1991)		 Zooropa
(1993)
Singles from Achtung Baby
  1. "The Fly"
    Released: 21 October 1991
  2. "Mysterious Ways"
    Released: 24 November 1991
  3. "One"
    Released: March 1992
  4. "Even Better Than the Real Thing"
    Released: 8 June 1992
  5. "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses"
    Released: August 1992

Achtung Baby is the seventh studio album by rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 19 November 1991 on Island Records. Stung by the criticism of their 1988 release Rattle and Hum, U2 shifted their musical direction to incorporate alternative rock, industrial, and electronic dance music influences into their sound. Thematically, the album is darker, more introspective, and at times more flippant than the band's previous work. Achtung Baby and the subsequent multimedia-intensive Zoo TV Tour were central to the group's 1990s reinvention, which replaced their earnest public image with a more lighthearted and self-deprecating one.

Seeking inspiration on the eve of German reunification, U2 began recording Achtung Baby in Berlin's Hansa Studios in October 1990. The sessions were fraught with conflict, as the band argued over their musical direction and the quality of their material. After weeks of tension and slow progress, the group made a breakthrough with the improvised writing of the song "One". They returned to Dublin in 1991, where morale improved and the majority of recordings were completed. The album's title and colourful multi-image sleeve were chosen to confound expectations of U2 and their music.

Achtung Baby is one of U2's most successful records. It earned favourable reviews and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 Top Albums, while topping the charts in many other countries. It spawned five hit singles, including "One", "Mysterious Ways", and "The Fly". The album has sold 18 million copies worldwide and won a Grammy Award in 1993 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. One of the most acclaimed records of the 1990s, Achtung Baby is regularly featured on lists of the greatest albums of all-time.

Contents

Background

U2's 1987 album The Joshua Tree brought them critical acclaim and commercial success, but their high exposure precipitated a critical backlash,[1][2] whereby they were accused of being grandiose, over-earnest, and self-righteous.[2] The band's exploration of American music on their 1988 Rattle and Hum motion picture and album was labelled "pretentious" and "misguided and bombastic".[3]

Despite their commercial popularity, the group were dissatisfied creatively, and lead vocalist Bono believed they were musically unprepared for their success.[2][4] Drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. said, "We were the biggest, but we weren't the best" and that he had become bored playing the band's greatest hits.[2][5] U2 believes that audiences misunderstood the group's collaboration with blues musician B.B. King on Rattle and Hum and the 1989 Lovetown Tour, and they described it as "an excursion down a dead-end street".[6][7] Bono said that, in retrospect, listening to black music enabled the group to create a work such as Achtung Baby, while their experiences with folk music helped him to develop as a lyricist.[7] Towards the end of the Lovetown Tour, Bono announced on-stage that it was "the end of something for U2", and that "we have to go away and ... dream it all up again". Following the tour, the group began their longest break from public performances and album releases.[8]

The Edge and Bono stand on a darkened stage, with lit-up smoke behind them. The Edge is strumming a guitar while Bono holds a microphone to his mouth.
Prior to recording Achtung Baby, The Edge and Bono (pictured in 2009) began working closer together on songwriting without the other band members.

Reacting to the criticism and their sense of musical stagnation, the band searched for new musical ground.[2][9] They wrote "God Part II" from Rattle and Hum after realising they had excessively pursued nostalgia in their songwriting. The song had a more contemporary feel that Bono said was closer to Achtung Baby's direction.[10] Further indications of change were two recordings they made in 1990; the first was a cover version of "Night and Day" for the first Red Hot + Blue release. U2 used electronic dance beats and hip hop elements for the first time in this recording. The second indication of change was Bono's and guitarist The Edge's contribution to the original score of A Clockwork Orange's theatrical adaptation. Much of the material they wrote was experimental, and according to Bono, "prepar[ed] the ground for Achtung Baby". Ideas deemed inappropriate for the play were put aside for the band's use.[11] During this period, Bono and The Edge began increasingly writing songs together without Mullen or bassist Adam Clayton.[11]

In mid-1990, Bono reviewed material he had written in Australia on the Lovetown Tour, and the group recorded demos at STS Studios in Dublin.[12][13] The demos later evolved into the songs "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses", "Until the End of the World", "Even Better Than the Real Thing", and "Mysterious Ways".[13] Going into the album sessions, the band wanted the record to completely deviate from their past work, but they were unsure how to achieve this.[14] The emergence of the Madchester scene in the UK left them confused about how they would fit into any particular musical scene.[13]

Recording and production

"Buzzwords on this record were trashy, throwaway, dark, sexy, and industrial (all good) and earnest, polite, sweet, righteous, rockist and linear (all bad). It was good if a song took you on a journey or made you think your hifi was broken, bad if it reminded you of recording studios or U2. Sly Stone, T. Rex, Scott Walker, My Bloody Valentine, KMFDM, the Young Gods, Alan Vega, Al Green, and Insekt were all in favour. And Berlin ... became a conceptual backdrop for the record. The Berlin of the Thirties—decadent, sexual and dark—resonating against the Berlin of the Nineties—reborn, chaotic and optimistic..."

 —Brian Eno, on Achtung Baby[9]

U2 hired Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno to produce the album, based on the duo's prior work with the band on The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree.[15] Lanois was principal producer, with Mark "Flood" Ellis as engineer.[9] Eno took on an assisting role, working with the group in the studio for a week at a time to review their songs before leaving for a month or two.[9][16] Eno said his role was "to come in and erase anything that sounded too much like U2".[17] By distancing himself from the work, he believes he provided the band with a fresh perspective on their material each time he rejoined them.[18] As he explained, "I would deliberately not listen to the stuff in between visits, so I could go in cold".[19] Since U2 wanted the record to be harder-hitting and live-sounding, Lanois "push[ed] the performance aspect very hard, often to the point of recklessness".[20] The Lanois–Eno team used lateral thinking and a philosophical approach—popularised by Eno's Oblique Strategies—that contrasted with the direct and retro style of Rattle and Hum producer Jimmy Iovine.[21]

Berlin sessions

The band believed that "domesticity [w]as the enemy of rock 'n' roll" and that to work on the album, they needed to remove themselves from their normal family-oriented routines. With a "New Europe" emerging at the end of the Cold War, they chose Berlin, in the centre of the reuniting continent, as a source of inspiration for a more European musical aesthetic.[2][15][22] They recorded at Hansa Studios in West Berlin, near the recently opened Berlin Wall. Several acclaimed records were made at Hansa, including two from David Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy" with Eno, and Iggy Pop's The Idiot.[13] U2 arrived on 3 October 1990 on the last flight into East Berlin on the eve of German reunification.[13] Expecting to be inspired, they instead found Berlin to be depressing and gloomy.[14] The collapse of the Berlin Wall had resulted in a state of malaise in Germany. The band found their East Berlin hotel to be dismal and the winter inhospitable, while the run-down condition of Hansa Studios and its location in an SS ballroom added to the "bad vibe".[14][23]

A ballroom with hardwood floors, and a ceiling decorated with chandeliers and octagon-shaped tiles. The wall on the left is decorated with dark wood panels, red walls, and windows. On the right is a small stage with a piano in front.
U2 initially recorded at Berlin's Hansa Studios in a former SS ballroom in late 1990.

Morale worsened once the sessions commenced, as the band worked long days but could not agree on a musical direction.[23] The Edge had been listening to electronic dance music and to industrial bands like Einstürzende Neubauten, Nine Inch Nails, the Young Gods, and KMFDM. He and Bono advocated new musical directions along these lines. In contrast, Mullen was listening to classic rock acts such as Blind Faith, Cream, and Jimi Hendrix, and he was learning how to "play around the beat".[2][11] Like Clayton, he was more comfortable with a sound similar to U2's previous work and was resistant to the proposed innovations.[2][14] Further, The Edge's interest in dance club mixes and drum machines made Mullen feel that his contributions as a drummer were being diminished.[14] Lanois was expecting the "textural and emotional and cinematic U2" of The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree, and he did not understand the "throwaway, trashy kinds of things" on which Bono and The Edge were working.[2] Compounding the divisions between the two camps was a change in the band's longstanding songwriting relationship; Bono and The Edge were working more closely together, writing material in isolation from the rest of the group.[11][22][24]

"At the instant we were recording it, I got a very strong sense of its power. We were all playing together in the big recording room, a huge, eerie ballroom full of ghosts of the war, and everything fell into place. It was a reassuring moment, when everyone finally went, 'oh great, this album has started.' It's the reason you're in a band—when the spirit descends upon you and you create something truly affecting. 'One' is an incredibly moving piece. It hits straight into the heart."

 —The Edge, on the recording of "One"[25]

U2 found that they were neither prepared nor well-rehearsed, and that their ideas were not evolving into completed songs.[14] For the first time, the group could not find consensus during their disagreements and felt that they were not making progress.[14] Bono and Lanois, in particular, had an argument that almost came to blows during the writing of "Mysterious Ways".[26] With a sense of going nowhere, the band considered breaking up.[27] Eno visited for a few days, and understanding their attempts to deconstruct the band, he assured them that their progress was better than they thought.[27][28] By adding unusual effects and sounds, he showed that The Edge's pursuit for new sonic territory was not incompatible with Mullen's and Lanois' "desire to hold on to solid song structures".[27] In December, a breakthrough was achieved with the writing of the song "One".[25] The Edge combined two chord progressions on guitar, and finding inspiration, the group quickly improvised most of the song. It provided much-needed reassurance and re-validated their longstanding "blank page approach" to writing and recording together.[25][29]

U2 returned to Dublin for Christmas, where they discussed their future together and all recommitted to the group. Listening to the tapes, they agreed their material sounded better than they originally thought.[30] They briefly returned to Berlin in January 1991 to finish their Hansa work.[31] Although just two songs were delivered during their two months in Berlin, The Edge said that in retrospect, working there had been more productive and inspirational than the output had suggested.[20][25][28] The band had been removed from a familiar environment, providing a certain "texture and cinematic location", and many of their incomplete ideas were to be revisited in the Dublin sessions with success.[25]

Dublin sessions

A man with black hair, black sunglasses, and a black leather attire speaks into a microphone.
Bono as his alter-ego "The Fly" in 1992. He conceived this character during the band's sessions in Dublin.

In February 1991, U2 resumed the album's sessions in the seaside manor "Elsinore" in Dalkey, renting the house for ₤10,000 per month.[20][31] Lanois' strategy to record in houses, mansions, or castles was something he believed brought atmosphere to the recordings.[20] Dublin audio services company Big Bear Sound installed a recording studio in the house,[31] with the recording room in a converted garage diagonally beneath the control room. Video cameras and TV monitors were used to monitor the spaces.[20] Within walking distance of Bono and The Edge's homes, the sessions at Elsinore were more relaxed and productive.[31][32][33] The band struggled with one particular song—later released as the B-side "Lady With the Spinning Head"—but three separate tracks, "The Fly", "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" and "Zoo Station" were derived from it.[34] During the writing of "The Fly", Bono conceived an alternate persona based on a pair of oversized black sunglasses that he wore to lighten the mood in the studio.[31][32] Bono developed the character into a leather-clad egomaniac also called "The Fly", and he assumed this alter-ego for the band's subsequent public appearances and live performances on the Zoo TV Tour.[35]

In April, tapes from the earlier Berlin sessions were leaked and bootlegged. Bono dismissed the leaked demos as "gobbledygook", and The Edge likened the situation to "being violated".[36] The leak shook the band's confidence and soured their collective mood for a few weeks.[37] Staffing logistics led to the band having three engineers at one point, and as a result, they split recording between Elsinore and The Edge's home studio.[20] Engineer Robbie Adams said the approach raised morale and activity levels: "There was always something different to listen to, always something exciting happening."[20] To record all of the band's material and test different arrangements, the engineers utilised a technique they called "fatting", which allowed them to achieve more than 48 tracks of audio by using a 24-track analogue recording, a DAT machine, and a synchroniser.[20] At the end of May, final lyrics and vocal takes were yet to be completed, but Lanois believed some of the in-progress songs would become worldwide hits.[38]

During the Dublin sessions, Eno was sent tapes of the previous two months' work, which he called a "total disaster". Joining U2 in the studio, he stripped away what he thought to be excessive overdubbing. The group believes his intervention saved the album.[39] Eno theorised that the band was too close to their music, explaining, "if you know a piece of music terribly well and the mix changes and the bass guitar goes very quiet, you still hear the bass. You're so accustomed to it being there that you compensate and remake it in your mind."[18] Eno also assisted them through a crisis point one month before the deadline to finish recording; he recalls that "everything seemed like a mess", and he insisted the band take a two-week holiday from working on the album. The break gave them a clearer perspective and added decisiveness.[40]

After work at Elsinore finished in July, Eno, Flood, Lanois, and previous U2 producer Steve Lillywhite mixed the tracks at Windmill Lane Studios.[31][41][42] Each producer created his own mixes of the songs, and the band either picked the version they preferred or requested that certain aspects of each be combined.[42] Additional recording and mixing continued at a frenetic pace until the 21 September deadline,[43] including last-minute changes to "The Fly" and "One".[44] The Edge estimates that half of the work for the album sessions was done in the last three weeks to finalise songs.[45] The final night was spent devising a running order for the record. The following day, The Edge travelled to Los Angeles with the album's tapes for mastering.[44]

Composition

Music

"We're at a point where production has gotten so slick that people don't trust it anymore... We were starting to lose trust in the conventional sound of rock & roll—the conventional sound of guitar ... those big reverb-laden drum sounds of the '80s or those big, beautiful, pristine vocal sounds with all this lush ambience and reverb. So we found ourselves searching for other sounds that had more life and more freshness."

 —The Edge, explaining the band's motivation for seeking a new sound[46]

U2 is credited with composing the music for all of Achtung Baby's tracks,[47] despite periods of separated songwriting. They wrote much of the music through jam sessions, a common practice for them.[14] The record is a mix of anthemic tracks similar to the group's previous work and songs that explore new sonic territory for the group.[48] Their sound demonstrates a more European aesthetic,[49] exhibiting influences from alternative rock,[50] industrial,[9] and electronic dance music.[51] The band referred to the album's musical departure as "the sound of four men chopping down The Joshua Tree".[1][52] Accordingly, the distorted introduction to the opening track "Zoo Station" was intended to make listeners think the record was broken or was mistakenly not the new U2 album.[32] Author Susan Fast said that with the group's use of technology in the song's opening, "there can be no mistake that U2 has embraced sound resources new to them".[53]

For the album, The Edge often eschewed his normally minimalistic approach to guitar playing and his trademark chiming, delay-heavy sound, in favour of a style that incorporated more solos, dissonance, and feedback.[54] Industrial influences and guitar effects—particularly distortion—contribute to a "metallic" style and "harder textures".[3][55][56] Music journalist Bill Wyman said The Edge's guitar playing on the closing track "Love is Blindness" sounded like a "dentist's drill".[57] The Edge's experimenting with various effects pedals led to breakthroughs in the writing of "Even Better Than the Real Thing" and "Mysterious Ways".[32]

On the group's previous work, Bono's vocals were centre-stage in melody and mix, whereas on Achtung Baby, they are often lower in the mix or in a lower register.[48][55] On many tracks—such as "The Fly" and "Zoo Station"—Bono sang as a character,[21] and his vocals were treated with processing.[56][57][58] This was done to give his voice a different emotional feel and distinguish it from his past vocals.[33]

The rhythm section is more pronounced in the mix on Achtung Baby,[21] and hip hop-inspired electronic dance beats are featured on half the album's tracks, most prominently "The Fly".[3] Elysa Gardner of Rolling Stone compared the layering of dance beats into guitar-heavy mixes to songs by British bands Happy Mondays and Jesus Jones.[3] "Mysterious Ways" combines a funky guitar riff with a danceable, conga-laden beat,[59] for what Bono calls "U2 at our funkiest... Sly and The Family Stone meets Madchester baggy."[32] Amidst layers of distorted guitars, "The Fly" and "Zoo Station" feature industrial-influenced percussion[60][61][62]—the timbre of Mullen's drums exhibits a "cold, processed sound, something like beating on a tin can", according to author Albin Zak.[63]

Lyrics

Bono is credited as the sole lyricist.[47] In contrast to U2's previous records, which frequently made political and social statements, Achtung Baby is more personal and introspective, examining love, sexuality, spirituality, faith, and betrayal.[64][65][66] The lyrics are darker in tone, describing troubled personal relationships and exuding feelings of confusion, loneliness, and inadequacy.[3][67][68] Central to these themes was The Edge's separation from his wife and mother of his three children, which occurred halfway through the album's recording. The pain not only focused him on the record and led him to advocate more personal themes, but it also affected Bono's lyrical contributions.[2][14][69] Bono found inspiration from his own personal life, citing the births of his two daughters in 1989 and 1991 as major influences.[13] This is reflected in "Zoo Station", which opens the album as a statement of intent with lyrics suggesting new anticipations and appetites.[33][53]

Of the album's personal nature, Bono said that there were a lot of "blood and guts" in it.[52] His lyrics to the ballad "One" were inspired by the band members' struggling relationships and the German reunification.[70][71] The Edge described the song as, on one level, a "bitter, twisted, vitriolic conversation between two people who've been through some nasty, heavy stuff".[25] Similarly, "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" describes a strained relationship and unease over obligations,[72] and on "Acrobat", Bono sings about weakness, hypocrisy, and inadequacy.[73] The torch songs of Roy Orbison, Scott Walker, and Jacques Brel were major influences, demonstrated on tracks such as "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" (describing an argument between a couple), "So Cruel" (about unrequited love, jealousy, obsession, and possessiveness),[74] and the closing track, "Love Is Blindness" (a bleak description of failing love).[41][73][75]

U2 biographer Bill Flanagan credits Bono's habit of keeping his lyrics "in flux until the last minute" with providing a narrative coherence to the album.[76] Flanagan interpreted Achtung Baby as using the moon as a metaphor for a dark woman seducing the singer away from his virtuous love, the sun; he is tempted away from domestic life by an exciting nightlife and tests how far he can go before returning home.[77] For Flanagan, "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" on the album's latter third describes the character stumbling home in a drunken state, and the final three songs—"Ultraviolet" (Light My Way), "Acrobat", and "Love Is Blindness"—are about how the couple deal with the suffering they have forced on each other.[76]

Despite the record's darker themes, many lyrics are more flippant and sexual than those from the band's previous work.[35][48] This reflects the group's revisiting some of the Dadaist characters and stage antics they dabbled with in the late 1970s as teenagers but abandoned for more literal themes in the 1980s.[60] While the band had previously been opposed to materialism, they examined and flirted with this value on the album and the Zoo TV Tour.[64] The title and lyrics of "Even Better Than the Real Thing" are "reflective of the times [the band] were living in, when people were no longer looking for the truth, [they] were all looking for instant gratification".[32] "Trashy" and "throwaway" were among the band's buzzwords during recording, leading to many tracks in this vein. The chorus of "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" features the pop lyrical cliché "baby, baby, baby",[78] juxtaposed against the dark lyrics in the verses.[72] Bono wrote the lyrics to "The Fly" as the song's eponymous character by composing a sequence of "single-line aphorisms".[62] He called the song "like a crank call from Hell... but [the caller] likes it there".[32]

Religious imagery is present throughout the record. "Until the End of the World" is an imagined conversation between Jesus Christ and his betrayer, Judas Iscariot.[32] On "Acrobat", Bono sings about feelings of spiritual alienation in the line "I'd break bread and wine / If there was a church I could receive in".[79] In many tracks, Bono's lyrics about women carry religious connotations, describing them as spirits, life or light,[80] and idols to be worshipped.[81] Religious interpretations of the album are the subject of the book Meditations on Love in the Shadow of the Fall.[82]

Packaging and title

"... the very title Achtung Baby strives for lack of significance and—just as insignificantly—the sleeve itself is not the usual single cinematic image of heroic import but rather a grid of snapshots evoking, if a little cleanly, the slapdash glory that was Robert Frank's artwork for the [Rolling] Stones' Exile on Main Street."

 —Mat Snow, contrasting Achtung Baby with U2's previous albums[75]

The sleeve artwork for Achtung Baby was designed by Steve Averill, who had created the majority of U2's album covers.[83] To mirror their change in musical direction, the band considered sleeve concepts that used multiple colour images to contrast with the seriousness of the mostly black-and-white images of their previous album sleeves.[83][84] Rough sketches and designs were created early during the recording sessions, and some more experimental designs were conceived to closely resemble, as Averill put it, "dance-music oriented sleeves. We just did them to show how extreme we could go and then everyone came back to levels that they were happy with. But if we hadn't gone to these extremes it may not have the been the cover it is now."[83]

An initial photo shoot with the band's long-time photographer, Anton Corbijn, was done near U2's Berlin hotel in late 1990.[85] Most of the photos were black-and-white,[83] and the group felt they were not indicative of the spirit of the new album. They re-commissioned Corbijn for an additional two-week photo shoot in Tenerife in February 1991,[31] for which they dressed up and mingled with the crowds of the annual Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, presenting a more playful side of themselves.[31] It was during the group's time in Tenerife, and during a four-day shoot in Morocco in July, that they were photographed in drag.[31] Additional photos were taken in Dublin in June, including a shot of a naked Clayton.[86] The images were intended to confound expectations of U2,[44] and their full colour contrasted with the monochrome imagery on past sleeves.[84]

Three cars hang from the ceiling of a building in front of a windowed wall. The car in the foreground has an orange leopard-skin pattern on the exterior, and it is hanging upside down, facing upwards. Two cars hang in the background facing downwards; the one on the left, facing left, is painted peach with sticks embedded in the exterior; the one on the right, facing right, is painted white with small black words.
Trabants from the Zoo TV Tour, displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The group were photographed with several elaborately painted Trabants for the album sleeve.

A single image scheme had been planned for the sleeve, and among the photographs considered were those of a cow on an Irish farm in County Kildare, the nude Clayton, and the band driving a Trabant—an East German automobile they became fond of as a symbol for a changing Europe.[83] Ultimately, a multiple image scheme was used, as U2, Corbijn, Averill, and the producers could not agree on a single image;[83] the resulting front sleeve is a 4×4 squared montage.[44] The band wanted to balance the "colder European feel of the mainly black-and-white Berlin images with the much warmer exotic climates of Santa Cruz and Morocco".[83] Some photographs were used because they were striking on their own, while others were used because of their ambiguity.[83] Images of the band with Trabants, several of which were painted bright colours, appear on the sleeve and throughout the album booklet. These vehicles were later incorporated into the Zoo TV Tour set as part of the lighting system.[87][88] The nude photo of Clayton was placed on the rear cover of the record. On the US compact disc and cassette sleeves, Clayton's penis is censored with a black "X" or a four-leaf clover,[89] while vinyl editions feature the photo uncensored.[84] In 2003, music television network VH1 ranked Achtung Baby's sleeve at number 39 on its list of the "50 Greatest Album Covers".[90] Three years later, Bono called the sleeve his favourite U2 cover artwork.[91]

The album's title, "Achtung Baby", is German for "Attention, baby!" or "Watch out, baby!", and it was used by the band's sound engineer Joe O'Herlihy during recording.[15] He reportedly took the phrase from the Mel Brooks film The Producers.[44] The title was selected in August 1991 near the end of the album sessions.[83] According to Bono, it was an ideal title, as it was attention-grabbing, referenced Germany, and hinted at either romance or birth, both of which were themes on the album.[44] The band was determined not to highlight the seriousness of the lyrics and instead sought to "erect a mask", a concept that was further developed on the Zoo TV Tour, particularly through characters such as "The Fly".[92] Of the title, Bono said in 1992, "It's a con, in a way. We call it Achtung Baby, grinning up our sleeves in all the photography. But it's probably the heaviest record we've ever made... It tells you a lot about packaging, because the press would have killed us if we'd called it anything else."[2]

For the album, U2 had considered several titles, including Man (in contrast to the group's debut, Boy),[93] 69, Zoo Station, and Adam, which would have been paired with the nude photo of Clayton.[2][83] Other possible titles included Fear of Women, and Cruise Down Main Street—a reference to The Rolling Stones' record Exile on Main St. and the cruise missiles launched on Baghdad during the Gulf War.[92] Most of the proposed titles were rejected out of the belief that people would see them as pretentious and "another Big Statement from U2".[93] The album's lighthearted title influenced other musicians, including David Bowie, who was an inspiration to U2 and Eno during recording of Achtung Baby. Bowie's band Tin Machine called their live record Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby, putting a Yiddish spin on U2's German title.[94]

Release

As early as December 1990, the music press reported that U2 would be recording a dance-oriented album and that it would be released in the summer 1991.[95] In August 1991, sound collage artists Negativland released an EP entitled U2 that parodied U2's song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and used the band's likenesses on the cover. Island Records objected to the cover, believing consumers would confuse the EP for U2's new record. Island successfully sued for copyright infringement but were criticised in the music press, as were U2, although they were not involved in the litigation.[52][96] Uncut's Stephen Dalton believes that much of the negative headlines were tempered by the success of Achtung Baby's first single, "The Fly".[52] Sounding nothing like U2's typical style, it was selected as the lead single to announce the group's new musical direction.[32] It was released on 21 October 1991, a month before the album, and it topped the UK Singles Chart, becoming the group's second number-one single in the UK.[97]

Island Records and U2 refused to make advance copies of the album available to the press until just a few days before the release date, preferring fans to listen to the record before reading reviews. The decision came amid rumours of tensions within the band, and journalist David Browne compared it to the Hollywood practice of withholding review copies of films from the media before release whenever they receive poor word-of-mouth press.[98] Achtung Baby was released on 19 November 1991 on compact disc, tape cassette, and vinyl record, with an initial shipment of 1.4 million copies.[99] The album was the first release by a major act to use two so-called "eco-friendly" packages—the cardboard Digipak, and the shrinkwrapped jewel case without the long cardboard attachment.[89] Island encouraged record stores to order the jewel case packaging by offering a four-percent discount.[99]

Achtung Baby was U2's first album in three years and their first comprising entirely new material in over four years.[16] The group maintained a low profile after the record's release, avoiding interviews and allowing critics and the public to make their own assessments.[15] Instead of participating in an article with Rolling Stone magazine, U2 asked Eno to write one for them.[31] The marketing plan for the album focused on retail and press promotions. Posters featuring the sleeve's 16 images were distributed to record stores and through alternative weekly newspapers in major cities, and television and radio advertisements were created. In comparison to the large hype of other 1991 year-end releases, Island general manager Andy Allen explained the relatively understated marketing of Achtung Baby: "U2 will not come out with that kind of fanfare in terms of outside media. We feel the fan base itself creates that kind of excitement."[99]

"Mysterious Ways" was released as the second single five days after the release of Achtung Baby. On the US Billboard charts, the song topped the Modern Rock Tracks and Album Rock Tracks charts,[100] and it reached number nine on the Hot 100.[101] The album also charted and sold well; in the US, Achtung Baby debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 Top Albums on 7 December 1991.[102] It fell to number three the following week,[103] but spent its first 13 weeks on the chart within the top ten.[104] In total, it spent 97 weeks on the Billboard 200 Top Albums.[105] It sold 295,000 copies in the US in its first week,[96] and on 21 January 1992, the RIAA certified it platinum.[106] Achtung Baby peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart,[107] spending 87 weeks on the chart,[108] and it topped the RPM 100 in Canada,[109] the ARIA Albums Chart in Australia, and the RIANZ Top 40 Albums in New Zealand.[110] The record sold seven million copies in its first three months on sale.[67]

Three additional singles were released in 1992. "One", released in March to coincide with the beginning of the Zoo TV Tour, reached number seven in the UK[97] and number ten in the US charts,[101] and like its predecessor, it topped the Modern Rock Tracks charts.[100] The song has since become regarded as one of the greatest of all-time, ranking highly on many critics' lists.[111] The fourth single from Achtung Baby, "Even Better Than the Real Thing", was released in June. The album version of the song peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart,[97] while reaching number one on the Album Rock Tracks chart.[100] A "Perfecto" remix of the song by DJ Paul Oakenfold[112] performed better in the UK than the album version did, peaking at number eight.[97] "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" followed as the fifth and final single in August 1992. It peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart,[97] and number two on the US Album Rock Tracks chart.[100] All five singles charted within the top 20 in Ireland,[113] Australia,[110] Canada,[114] and UK.[97] By the end of 1992, Achtung Baby had sold 10 million copies worldwide.[115]

In May 1992, U2 released Achtung Baby: The Videos, The Cameos, and a Whole Lot of Interference from Zoo TV, a VHS compilation of nine music videos from the album. Running for 62 minutes, it was produced by Ned O'Hanlon and released by Island/Polygram. It included three music videos each for "One" and "Even Better than the Real Thing", along with videos for "The Fly", "Mysterious Ways", and "Until the End of the World".[116] Interspersed between the videos were clips of so-called "interference", comprising documentary footage, media clips, and other video similar to what was displayed at Zoo TV Tour concerts.[116] The release received a Gold certification in Canada.[117]

Reception

 Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 5/5 stars[49]
Chicago Tribune 3/4 stars[118]
Robert Christgau (dud)[119]
Entertainment Weekly (A)[57]
Hot Press (10/12)[48]
Los Angeles Times 4/4 stars[68]
Orlando Sentinel 4/4 stars[55]
Q 5/5 stars[75]
Rolling Stone 4.5/5 stars[3]
Spin (yellow)[120]

Upon its release, Achtung Baby received very favourable reviews from critics.[15][36] Elysa Gardner of Rolling Stone, in a four-and-a-half-star review, said that U2 had "proven that the same penchant for epic musical and verbal gestures that leads many artists to self-parody can, in more inspired hands, fuel the unforgettable fire that defines great rock & roll."[3] The review said that the album, like its predecessor Rattle and Hum, was an attempt by the band to "broaden its musical palette, but this time its ambitions are realized".[3] Bill Wyman of Entertainment Weekly gave the record an "A" and called it a "pristinely produced and surprisingly unpretentious return by one of the most impressive bands in the world".[57] Steve Morse of The Boston Globe echoed these sentiments, stating that the album "not only reinvigorates their sound, but drops any self-righteousness. The songs focus on personal relationships, not on saving the world."[56] Morse commended the album's sonics, stating, "Clanging, knob-twisting sound effects run through the record, as does the metallic, head-snapping guitar of David (The Edge) Evans, who has never shone this brilliantly."[56] Jon Pareles of The New York Times lauded the record not only for featuring "noisy, vertiginous arrangements, mostly layers of guitar", but also for the group's ability to "maintain its pop skills". The review concluded, "Stripped-down and defying its old formulas, U2 has given itself a fighting chance for the 1990s."[58]

In a five-star review, Q called Achtung Baby U2's "heaviest album to date. And best." The review praised the band and its production team for making "music of drama, depth, intensity and, believe it, funkiness".[75] Time magazine featured a very positive review, writing that the record features "major-league guitar crunching and mysterious, spacy chords" and "songs of love, temptation, loose political parable and tight personal confession". The review declared that U2 had successfully reinvented themselves.[121] In a four-star review, Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times stated, "the arty, guitar-driven textures are among the band's most confident and vigorous ever". He said the album is a difficult one for listeners because of the dark, introspective nature of the songs, which contrasts with the group's uplifting songs of the past.[68] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote a favourable three-out-of-four stars review, saying the record "shows the band in a grittier light: disrupting, rather than fulfilling, expectations". He praised Lanois' production and said that due to The Edge's guitar playing, "U2 sounds punkier than it has since its 1980 debut, Boy". Kot concluded his review by calling the album "a magnificent search for transcendence made all the more moving for its flaws".[118]

Spin was more critical of the record, calling it an "ambitious failure"; the review welcomed its experimentation but judged that when the group "strays from familiar territory, the results are hit-and-miss".[120] Robert Christgau rated it a dud,[119] indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought".[122] Christgau reflected this sentiment in his review of the group's 1993 album Zooropa: "After many, many tries, Achtung Baby still sounded like a damnably diffuse U2 album to me, and I put it in the hall unable to describe a single song."[119] In an otherwise positive retrospective, long-time U2 supporter Bill Graham said that the record seemed "over-calculated" in parts and that they were trying too hard to satisfy their critics.[64] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave Achtung Baby a maximum score of five stars in a retrospective review, praising the band's musical transformation as "thorough", "effective", and "endlessly inventive". Erlewine concluded that few artists at that stage in their career could have "recorded an album as adventurous or fulfilled their ambitions quite as successfully as U2 [did]".[49]

The success of Achtung Baby and the Zoo TV Tour re-established U2 as one of the most popular and critically acclaimed musical acts in the world. The group nearly swept Rolling Stone's 1992 end-of-year readers' polls, winning honours for "Best Single" ("One"), "Artist of the Year", "Best Album", "Best Songwriter" (Bono), "Best Album Cover", and "Comeback of the Year", among others.[123] At the 35th Grammy Awards in 1993, Achtung Baby won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and it earned Lanois and Eno the award for Producer of the Year. The record was also nominated for the Album of the Year award.[89]

Zoo TV Tour

Main article: Zoo TV Tour
In an outdoor stadium at night with an elaborate concert stage set bearing a logo that reads "Zoo TV", a number of white lights shine from various angles into the center of the audience on the stadium floor, where a musical performance is taking place on a very small stage.
The Zoo TV Tour was a multimedia-intensive event, featuring a stage that used dozens of video screens.[116]

Following the release of Achtung Baby, U2 staged the worldwide Zoo TV Tour. Like Achtung Baby, the tour was an unequivocal break with the band's past. In contrast to the austere stage setups of previous U2 tours, Zoo TV was an elaborate multimedia event. It satirised television and the viewing public's over-stimulation by attempting to instill "sensory overload" in its audience.[52][124][125] The stage featured large video screens that showed visual effects, random video clips from pop culture, and flashing text phrases. Live satellite link-ups, channel surfing, crank calls, and video confessionals were incorporated into the shows.[116]

Whereas the group were known for their earnest performances in the 1980s, their Zoo TV performances were intentionally ironic and self-mocking.[52] Bono performed in-character as several personas he had conceived, including "The Fly", "Mirror Ball Man", and "Mr. MacPhisto". The majority of the album's songs were played at each show, and the set lists began with up to eight consecutive Achtung Baby songs as a further sign that they were no longer the U2 of the 1980s.[126]

The tour began in February 1992 and comprised 157 shows over almost two years.[127] During a six-month break, the band recorded the album Zooropa, which was released in July 1993. It was inspired by Zoo TV and expanded on its themes of technology and media oversaturation.[125] By the time the tour concluded in December 1993, U2 had played to approximately 5.3 million fans.[128] In 2002, Q magazine said the Zoo TV Tour was "still the most spectacular rock tour staged by any band".[37]

Legacy

"It was a bloody difficult album to make but a lot less difficult than the alternative. If we hadn't done something we were excited about, that made us apprehensive and challenged everything we stood for, then there would really have been no reason to carry on... If it hadn't been a great record by our standards, the existence of the band would have been threatened."

 —Adam Clayton[44]

Achtung Baby is certified 8× Platinum in the US by the RIAA,[129] and according to Nielsen Soundscan, the album has sold 5.5 million copies in the country, as of March 2009.[130] The record has been certified as 5× Platinum in Australia,[131] 4× Platinum in the UK,[132] and Diamond in Canada, the highest certification award.[133] Overall, 18 million copies have been sold worldwide.[134] It is the group's second-highest-selling record after The Joshua Tree, which has sold 25 million copies.[135] For the band, Achtung Baby was a watershed that ensured their creative future,[44] and its success prefigured their continued musical experimentation during the 1990s. Zooropa, released in 1993, was a further departure for the band, incorporating additional dance music influences and electronic effects into their sound.[125] In 1995, U2 and Brian Eno collaborated on the experimental/ambient album Original Soundtracks 1 under the pseudonym "Passengers".[124] For Pop in 1997, the group's experiences with dance club culture and their usage of tape loops, programming, rhythm sequencing, and sampling resulted in their most dance-oriented album.[124]

The group's reinvention occurred at the peak of the alternative rock movement, when the genre was achieving widespread mainstream popularity. Bill Flanagan pointed out that many of U2's 1980s contemporaries struggled commercially with albums released after the turn of the decade. He argued that U2, however, were able to take advantage of the alternative rock movement and ensure a successful future by "set[ting] themselves up as the first of the new groups rather than the last of the old".[136] Toby Creswell echoed these sentiments in his 2006 music reference book 1001 Songs, writing that the album helped U2 avoid "becoming parodies of themselves and being swept aside by the grunge and techno revolutions".[137] A 2010 retrospective by Spin said that "U2 became the emblematic band of the alternative-rock era with Achtung Baby."[138]

Achtung Baby has been acclaimed as one of the greatest albums in rock history, and many publications have placed it among their rankings of the best records. Two years after the record's release, Entertainment Weekly placed it at number 28 on its list of the "100 Best CDs".[139] The Guardian collated worldwide data in 1997 from a range of renowned critics, artists, and radio DJs, who placed the record at number 71 in the list of the "100 Best Albums Ever".[140] VH1 ranked it at number 65 on their "100 Greatest Albums of Rock & Roll" countdown from their series The Greatest.[141] In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked the record at number 62 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", writing, "U2 visibly loosened up on Achtung Baby, cracking jokes and even letting themselves be photographed in color".[142] That same year, "The Definitive 200" album list—sponsored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—listed Achtung Baby at number 45.[143] The Q staff named it the third-best album from 1980–2004,[144] and similarly, in 2008, Entertainment Weekly called it the third-best album of the previous 25 years.[145] In 2006, the record appeared on a number of lists, including Hot Press's "100 Greatest Albums Ever" at number 21,[146] and Time's "The All-Time 100 Albums".[147] In 2010, the record topped Spin's list of the "125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years", which ranked the most influential albums in the 25 years since the magazine launched. The magazine wrote, "Unlike Radiohead with OK Computer and Kid A, U2 took their post-industrial, trad-rock disillusionment not as a symbol of overall cultural malaise, but as a challenge to buck up and transcend... Struggling to simultaneously embrace and blow up the world, they were never more inspirational."[138]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by U2, with lyrics by Bono. 

No. Title Producer Length
1. "Zoo Station"   Daniel Lanois 4:36
2. "Even Better Than the Real Thing"   Steve Lillywhite, with Brian Eno and Lanois 3:41
3. "One"   Lanois with Eno 4:36
4. "Until the End of the World"   Lanois with Eno 4:39
5. "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses"   Lillywhite, Lanois, and Eno 5:16
6. "So Cruel"   Lanois 5:49
7. "The Fly"   Lanois 4:29
8. "Mysterious Ways"   Lanois with Eno 4:04
9. "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World"   Lanois with Eno 3:53
10. "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)"   Lanois with Eno 5:31
11. "Acrobat"   Lanois 4:30
12. "Love Is Blindness"   Lanois 4:23
Total length:
 55:27

Personnel

U2[47]
Additional[47]
  • Brian Eno – keyboards (tracks 3, 9, and 12)
  • Daniel Lanois – additional guitar (tracks 1, 3, and 9), additional percussion (tracks 4 and 8)
  • Duchess Nell Catchpole – violin, viola (track 6)
Production[47]
  • Producers – Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno, Steve Lillywhite (tracks 2 and 5)
  • Engineers – Robbie Adams, Paul Barrett, Flood, Joe O'Herlihy
  • Mixing – Flood, Daniel Lanois, Steve Lillywhite, Robbie Adams, Brian Eno, The Edge
  • Engineering assistants, mix assistants – Robbie Adams, Shannon Strong, Sean Leonard
  • Digital editing – Stewart Whitmore
  • Mastering – Arnie Acosta

Charts and certifications

Album

Chart (1991–1992) Peak position Certification
Australian ARIA Albums Chart 1[110] 5× Platinum[131]
Austrian Albums Chart 2[110] Platinum[148]
Canadian RPM 100 Albums 1[109] Diamond[133]
Dutch Mega Album Top 100 1[149] Platinum[150]
French SNEP Albums Chart 1[151] 2× Platinum[152]
German Album Top 100 4[153] Platinum[154]
Swiss Albums Top 100 3[110] Gold[155]
Swedish Topplistan Albums Top 60 3[110] Platinum[156]
UK Albums Chart 2[107] 4× Platinum[132]
US Billboard 200 Top Albums 1[105] 8× Platinum[129]

Songs

Year Title Chart peak positions
IRE
[113]		 AUS
[110]		 CAN
[114]		 UK
[97]		 US
[101]
1991 "The Fly" 1 1 16 1 61
"Mysterious Ways" 1 3 – 13 9
1992 – – 1 – –
"One" 1 4 1 7 10
"Even Better Than the Real Thing" 3 11 3 8 32
"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" 4 9 5 14 35
"Until the End of the World" – – 69 – –
"–" denotes a release that did not chart.

References

Footnotes
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mueller, Andrew. "U2 – The Joshua Tree Re-Mastered (R1987)". Uncut. http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/u2/reviews/10793. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Fricke, David (1992-10-01). "U2's Serious Fun". Rolling Stone (640). http://web.archive.org/web/20071026111642/www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/u2s_serious_fun. Retrieved 2010-04-26. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Gardner, Elysa (1992-01-09). "Review: Achtung Baby". Rolling Stone (621). http://www.rollingstone.com/music/reviews/album/7076/36762. Retrieved 2010-04-26. 
  4. ↑ Flanagan (1996), pp. 25–26
  5. ↑ Flanagan (1996), p. 4
  6. ↑ Flanagan (1996), pp. 25, 27–28
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 McCormick (2006), p. 213
  8. ↑ de la Parra (1994), pp. 138–139
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Eno, Brian (1991-11-28). "Bringing Up Baby". Rolling Stone (618). 
  10. ↑ McCormick (2006), pp. 204–207
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 McCormick (2006), p. 215
  12. ↑ Bailie, Stuart (2001-10). "Not Quite Better Than the Real Thing". Q (182). 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 McCormick (2006), p. 216
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7 14.8 McCormick (2006), p. 221
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Graham (2004), p. 43
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Gardner (1994), p. xxv
  17. ↑ DeRogatis, Jim (2005-05-01). "Interview with U2's Larry Mullen Jr.". Chicago Sun-Times. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Eno". Propaganda (16). 1992-06-01. 
  19. ↑ DeRogatis (2003), p. 194
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 Tingen, Paul (1994-03). "U2 & Robbie Adams". Sound on Sound. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1994_articles/mar94/u2robbieadams.html. Retrieved 2010-01-08. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Graham (2004), p. 44
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Flanagan (1996), pp. 6–7
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "The Berlin Sessions". Propaganda (14). 1991-06-01. 
  24. ↑ Graham (1996), p. 28
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  26. ↑ Stokes (1996), p. 104
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Flanagan (1996), pp. 10–11
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Stokes (1996), p. 98
  29. ↑ Flanagan (1996), pp. 11–12
  30. ↑ Flanagan (1996), p. 12
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 31.4 31.5 31.6 31.7 31.8 31.9 McGee (2008), pp. 134–135
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 32.5 32.6 32.7 32.8 McCormick (2006), pp. 224–225, 227, 232
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 Stokes (1996), p. 96
  34. ↑ McCormick (2006), p. 225
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Light, Alan (1993-03-04). "Bono: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone (651). 
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 O'Hagan, Sean (1992-09-01). "U2 Anew". Details (Condé Nast Publications). 
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Doyle, Tom (2002-11). "10 Years of Turmoil Inside U2". Q (196). 
  38. ↑ "Lanois". Propaganda (14). 1991-06-01. 
  39. ↑ Gill, Andy (1995-06). "Brian Eno". Mojo. http://www.rocksbackpages.com/article.html?ArticleID=2327. Retrieved 2010-06-12.  Note: A subscription is required to access the article.
  40. ↑ Gill, Andy (2001-05). "Brian Eno: 'So Why Are We Doing This?'". Mojo. http://www.rocksbackpages.com/article.html?ArticleID=8644. Retrieved 2010-06-12.  Note: A subscription is required to access the article.
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  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 Flanagan (1996), p. 19
  43. ↑ McGee (2008), p. 137
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 44.3 44.4 44.5 44.6 44.7 McCormick (2006), p. 232
  45. ↑ Fielder, Hugh (1993-10). "New 'Zooropa' Revue". Pulse!. 
  46. ↑ DeCurtis, Anthony (1993-10-14). "U2's Zoo World Order". Rolling Stone (667). 
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 47.2 47.3 47.4 (1991) Album notes for Achtung Baby by U2 [CD booklet]. Island Records.
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 48.3 Stokes, Niall (1991-11-13). "Review: Achtung Baby". Hot Press. 
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 49.2 "Achtung Baby – Overview". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:br61mpe39f2o. Retrieved 2009-10-13. 
  50. ↑ Howell, Peter (1992-09-03). "What U2 is broadcasting on Zoo TV channel". Toronto Star. 
  51. ↑ Hilburn, Robert (1992-03-08). "Soul-searching for a '90s Sound". Newsday. 
  52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 52.2 52.3 52.4 52.5 Dalton, Stephen (2004-10-26). "Achtung Stations". Uncut. 
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 Fast (2000), pp. 45–48
  54. ↑ Snider, Chris (1991-11-29). "Achtung Baby". St. Petersburg Times. 
  55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 55.2 Gettelman, Patty (1991-11-06). "Achtung Baby". Orlando Sentinel. 
  56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 56.2 56.3 Morse, Steve (1991-11-15). "U2 bounces back". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 2009-12-31. http://www.webcitation.org/5mRKSV7dN. Retrieved 2009-10-13. 
  57. ↑ 57.0 57.1 57.2 57.3 Wyman, Bill (1991-11-19). "Music Review: Achtung Baby". Entertainment Weekly (94). http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,316330,00.html. Retrieved 2009-03-06. 
  58. ↑ 58.0 58.1 Pareles, Jon (1991-11-17). "U2 Takes a Turn From the Universal To the Domestic". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-12-31. http://www.webcitation.org/5mRKfqqvs. Retrieved 2009-10-13. 
  59. ↑ Gray, Christopher (2001-03-30). "Review – U2: Achtung Baby". Austin Chronicle. http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid%3A81288. Retrieved 2009-10-13. 
  60. ↑ 60.0 60.1 Stokes (1996), p. 95
  61. ↑ Graham (2004), p. 47
  62. ↑ 62.0 62.1 Stokes (1996), p. 102
  63. ↑ Zak (2001), pp. 68–70
  64. ↑ 64.0 64.1 64.2 Graham (2004), p. 46
  65. ↑ Stokes (1996), p. 100
  66. ↑ Flanagan (1996), p. 82
  67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 de la Parra (1994), p. 139
  68. ↑ 68.0 68.1 68.2 Hilburn, Robert (1991-11-17). "U2's Daring Descent Into Darkness". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1991-11-17/entertainment/ca-51_1_daring-move. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
  69. ↑ Flanagan (1996), pp. 14–15; Assayas (2005), pp. 64–66
  70. ↑ "U2". Legends. VH1. 1998-12-11. No. 6, season 1. "Maybe it summed up the way we felt as a band, trying to kind of go somewhere, but not being able to at the time."
  71. ↑ Associated Press (2009-11-05). "Beyonce, U2 draw fans at MTV Europe Music Awards". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2009-11-05-MTV-europe-music-awards_N.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-12. 
  72. ↑ 72.0 72.1 Graham (2004), p. 50
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  75. ↑ 75.0 75.1 75.2 75.3 Snow, Mat (1991-12). "U2: Achtung Baby". Q (63). http://www.rocksbackpages.com/article.html?ArticleID=10465. Retrieved 2009-08-14. 
  76. ↑ 76.0 76.1 Flanagan (1996), p. 20
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  78. ↑ Stokes (1996), pp. 106–107
  79. ↑ Bowden, Tony, and Jennifer Stewart (1994-07-01). "U2's Mysterious Ways". Sides. 
  80. ↑ Gilmour (2005), pp. 66, 76
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  88. ↑ "Trabantland." Zoo TV: Live from Sydney. [DVD]. Special Edition: Island / UMG. 2006. 
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  102. ↑ "Music Albums, Top 200 Albums & Music Album Charts – Week of December 07, 1991". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/billboard-200?chartDate=1991-12-07. Retrieved 2010-04-21. 
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  104. ↑ "Music Albums, Top 200 Albums & Music Album Charts – Week of March 07, 1992". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/billboard-200?chartDate=1992-03-07. Retrieved 2010-04-21. 
  105. ↑ 105.0 105.1 "Achtung Baby – U2". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. http://www.billboard.com/#/album/u2/achtung-baby/17562. Retrieved 2009-11-26. 
  106. ↑ Grossweiner, Bob (1992-06-01). "U2: It's a Business". Hit Parader (Charlton Publications). 
  107. ↑ 107.0 107.1 "TOP 40 OFFICIAL UK ALBUMS ARCHIVE – 30th November 1991". The Official UK Charts Company. http://www.theofficialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/3/1991-11-30/. Retrieved 2010-08-04. 
  108. ↑ "U2 – The Official Charts Company". The Official UK Charts Company. http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/U2/. Retrieved 2010-08-27. 
  109. ↑ 109.0 109.1 "RPM100 Albums – Top Albums/CDs". RPM 55 (2). 1991-12-14. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.1695&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=m89iq841abagb37ld9c0fdc1f3. Retrieved 2009-11-24. 
  110. ↑ 110.0 110.1 110.2 110.3 110.4 110.5 110.6 "U2 – Achtung Baby". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=U2&titel=Achtung+Baby&cat=a. Retrieved 2009-10-29. 
  111. ↑ "U2's One named 'greatest record'". BBC News Online. BBC. 2003-11-18. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3281327.stm. Retrieved 2009-01-02. 
  112. ↑ Kavanagh, Mark (2001-09-14). "Better Than the Real Thing?". Hot Press. 
  113. ↑ 113.0 113.1 "Irish Singles Chart". The Irish Charts. Irish Recorded Music Association. http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement. Retrieved 2009-11-24.  Note: U2 must be searched manually.
  114. ↑ 114.0 114.1 "RPM100 Hit Tracks – Top Singles". RPM 54 (26). 1991-11-26. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.7767&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=m89iq841abagb37ld9c0fdc1f3. Retrieved 2009-11-24. 
    "RPM100 Hit Tracks – Top Singles". RPM 55 (6). 1992-02-01. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.2042&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=m89iq841abagb37ld9c0fdc1f3. Retrieved 2009-11-24. 
    "RPM100 Hit Tracks – Top Singles". RPM 55 (19). 1992-05-09. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.2123&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=m89iq841abagb37ld9c0fdc1f3. Retrieved 2009-11-24. 
    "RPM100 Hit Tracks – Top Singles". RPM 56 (11). 1992-09-12. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.1930&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=m89iq841abagb37ld9c0fdc1f3. Retrieved 2009-11-24. 
    "RPM100 Hit Tracks – Top Singles". RPM 56 (26). 1992-12-26. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.1840&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=m89iq841abagb37ld9c0fdc1f3. Retrieved 2009-11-24. 
    "RPM100 Hit Tracks – Top Singles". RPM 55 (11). 1992-03-07. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.2072&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=m89iq841abagb37ld9c0fdc1f3. Retrieved 2009-11-24. 
  115. ↑ Flanagan (1996), p. 133
  116. ↑ 116.0 116.1 116.2 116.3 "Sixty-Nine Things You May Not Have Known About Life in the Zoo". Propaganda (17). 1993-01-01. 
  117. ↑ "CRIA Certification Results: U2". Canadian Recording Industry Association. 1992-12-01. http://www.cria.ca/cert_db_search.php?page=2&wclause=WHERE+artist_name+like+%27%25U2%25%27+ORDER+BY+cert_date%2C+cert_award+&rcnt=81&csearch=40&nextprev=1. Retrieved 2009-11-17. 
  118. ↑ 118.0 118.1 Kot, Greg (1991-11-17). "U2 Loosens Up". Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-u2november91,0,2879134.story. Retrieved 2010-06-12. 
  119. ↑ 119.0 119.1 119.2 "U2 – Consumer Guide Reviews". Robert Christgau. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=u2. Retrieved 2009-10-13. 
  120. ↑ 120.0 120.1 Greer, Jim (1991-12). "Spins – Platter du Jour: U2 – Achtung Baby". Spin 9 (7). 
  121. ↑ Cocks, Jay (1991-11-25). "Dashing and Demanding". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974333,00.html. Retrieved 2009-12-26. 
  122. ↑ "CG 90s: Key to Icons". Robert Christgau. http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-cg90/grades-90s.php. Retrieved 2010-07-07. 
  123. ↑ McGee (2008), p. 159
  124. ↑ 124.0 124.1 124.2 Tyaransen, Olaf (2002-12-04). "Closer to the Edge". Hot Press. 
  125. ↑ 125.0 125.1 125.2 Browne, David (1993-07-09). "Zooropa". Entertainment Weekly (178). http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,307144,00.html. Retrieved 2009-10-14. 
  126. ↑ McGee (2008), p. 143
  127. ↑ "The Zoo TV Tour". U2.com. Live Nation. http://www.u2.com/tour/index/tour/id/54. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
  128. ↑ Cogan (2008), p. 154
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  130. ↑ "FACTBOX: New U2 album is No. 1 in 30 countries". Reuters. 2009-03-12. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE52B09F20090312. Retrieved 2010-05-07. 
  131. ↑ 131.0 131.1 "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1998 Albums". ARIA Charts. Australian Recording Industry Association. http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-accreditations-albums-1998.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-26. 
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  135. ↑ Sherwin, Adam (2009-03-03). "New U2 album No Line On The Horizon given lukewarm reception". The Times (Times Newspapers Limited). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article5840868.ece. Retrieved 2010-05-19. 
  136. ↑ Flanagan (1996), p. 213
  137. ↑ Creswell (2006), pp. 377–378
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  139. ↑ "100 Best CDs". Entertainment Weekly (195). 1993-11-05. 
  140. ↑ "100 Best Albums Ever" (Features insert). The Guardian. 1997-09-19. 
  141. ↑ "100 Greatest Albums of Rock & Roll". The Greatest. VH1. 2001-01-16. No. 042.
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  144. ↑ "The Music That Changed the World: Top 20 Albums from 1980–2004". Q. 2004-03. 
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External links

Preceded by
Ropin' the Wind by Garth Brooks		 Billboard 200 number-one album
7–13 December 1991		 Succeeded by
Dangerous by Michael Jackson
Preceded by
Soul Deep by Jimmy Barnes		 Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
1–7 December 1991		 Succeeded by
Dangerous by Michael Jackson
U2
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