Achtung Baby
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| Achtung Baby | ||
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| Studio album by U2 | ||
| Released | November 19, 1991 | |
| Recorded | Hansa Ton Studios, Berlin and Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin 1990 | |
| Genre | Rock Alternative |
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| Length | 55:23 | |
| Label | Island | |
| Producer(s) | Daniel Lanois with Brian Eno | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
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| U2 chronology | ||
| Rattle and Hum (1988) |
Achtung Baby (1991) |
Zooropa (1993) |
Achtung Baby is the seventh studio album by Irish rock band U2, released on November 19, 1991. The album arrived nearly two years after lead vocalist Bono announced the band would have to "go away and dream it all up again", following the mixed response to 1988's Rattle and Hum. The album marks a dramatic change in the band's sound, taking on alternative and dance influences in the rhythms, denser, more detailed production, and more guitar effects, as well as darker and more personal lyrical content. The effect reflecting the textures of then-emergent techno and electronic music as well as the innovations of younger post-punk and noise-rock groups such as Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine and the trippy dance-rock fusions of then-contemporary Madchester groups. The results were considerably more adventurous and less traditionally rock-based as their previous efforts, and opinion seems generally divided between this and The Joshua Tree album as U2's defining record.
Contents |
[edit] History
One of U2's best-selling and critically acclaimed albums, Achtung Baby was a significant departure for the band, adding more European than American influences, especially the avant-garde theatrics of David Bowie, Lou Reed, and other artists. Bono has often described the album as "the sound of four men trying to chop down The Joshua Tree". During the 1970s, producer Brian Eno collaborated with Bowie in Hansa Ton Studios, the same Berlin studio in which U2 did its earliest session work for Achtung Baby, and The Edge uses guitar effects and pedal similar to those used by Bowie on albums such as Low and "Heroes". U2 sampled techniques and sounds from other musical genres previously unused by the band, including dance, house and electronica, whilst maintaining their original feel of rock and roll.
The album's new sound was a source of conflict in the band because The Edge and Bono favored the new sounds they were coming up with while recording their sessions in Berlin, while drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton were partial to the band's traditional sound. The conflict amongst the members of U2 very nearly led to the band breaking up, but the fighting subdued after The Edge, struggling with two bridge sections for the song "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" was encouraged to combine them by the band and producers Eno and Lanois. The band rallied around the riff and was inspired to write the song "One". It changed the band's outlook on the album, helping bring them back from the brink during recording sessions. "One" was responsible for a renewed sense of optimism towards the material they had already recorded. Leaving Berlin on a high note, the band was able to complete the rest of the album in Dublin. While ostensibly a song of loss, "One" and its three separate music videos came to be seen by the band, and many of its fans, as an anthem extolling hope wrought from despair.
Achtung Baby was also darker sounding than previous efforts, thanks in large part to songs such as "The Fly", "Acrobat", and "Love is Blindness", which deal with themes of helplessness, broken relationships, and (in the case of "Love is Blindness") violence in the name of love. The spiritual yearning of U2's 1980s work began to take on a more existential, despairing element in Achtung Baby. The band's political activism moved to the AIDS crisis and environmental issues. At the same time, the band also took on a lighter tone, electing to use irony rather than earnestness in its music and public appearances, and poking fun at its own self-importance during the 1980s. This evolving outlook culminated in the pleaful soul-searching (and jaded skewering of contemporary life) on 1997's Pop and would not subside until the more hopeful tracks on 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind. Other tracks included the distorted opener "Zoo Station," the danceable single "Even Better Than The Real Thing," and the thumping rocker (and future live favorite) "Until the End of the World," originally written for the soundtrack of Wim Wenders' eponymous 1991 science fiction film. The song may be an allegorical afterlife confession of Judas Iscariot.
Achtung Baby introduced U2 to a larger audience, people who otherwise would not have bought their records, significantly expanding the group's fanbase. New fans were perhaps drawn in by the hit song "Mysterious Ways" and the ballad "One".
The album was followed by the Zoo TV Tour, a ground-breaking and, in Zoo TV: Live From Sydney, Grammy-award winning multimedia concert production.
The U.S. LP is the only American release to contain the uncensored picture of bassist Adam Clayton naked. On the U.S. CD and cassette, his private parts are censored with a black "X" or a four-leaf clover.
As for the album's title, "Achtung, Baby!" in German means "Attention, baby!" or "Careful, baby!" Frequently used by the band's soundman during the making of the album, the phrase came from the Mel Brooks film The Producers. [1]
[edit] Awards and accolades
On the Billboard Music Charts (North America), Achtung Baby topped the Billboard 200 chart. It won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
Rolling Stone magazine declared 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."
The album is frequently cited as one of the greatest in rock history. In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Achtung Baby the 15th greatest album of all time; in 2001 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 65. Also in 2003, Q declared its third track, "One", "the greatest recorded song of all time".
In 2003, the album was ranked number 62 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was voted #11 on Spin's "Best Albums of the Last 25 Years" list.
On the other hand, Robert Christgau, the self-proclaimed "dean of American rock critics", rated Achtung Baby as "a dud", that is, "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought", and refused to comment on it any further. [2][3]
[edit] Studio bootlegs
U2 entered the studio in late 1990 and began recording the album before they had written any material, mainly improvising and developing ideas into songs. The more interesting ideas were preserved on working tapes. In April 1991, these tapes fell into the hands of bootleggers, well before the album's November release date. The most widely circulated compilation of these tapes is the three-disc Salomé: The Axtung Beibi Outtakes, released in February 1992. Another bootleg surfaced, entitled, "The Achtung Sessions" in 1993.
Since these songs were leaked very early in the production process, they provide a rare insight into the band's songwriting process. On the same note, many of the ideas—including eight different takes of the song "Salomé"—were frustratingly undeveloped, so the bootleg remains a curiosity strictly for hardcore fans. Bono says, "There were no undiscovered works of genius, unfortunately, it was more just gobbledy-gook." [4]
Some of the ideas were revisited—there are, for instance, early instrumental versions of "Even Better Than the Real Thing" and "North and South of the River" (the latter of which wouldn't be recorded by the band until 1997)—and one song—the B-side "Where Did It All Go Wrong?"—was even officially released as a rough composite of the two takes available on the bootleg. There are also a handful of developed ideas that were wholly abandoned, such as "She's Gonna Blow Your House Down", a song the group had been working on since the Rattle and Hum days.
[edit] Track listing
The music was credited to U2, with words written specifically by Bono and the Edge.
- "Zoo Station" – 4:36
- "Even Better Than the Real Thing" – 3:41
- "One" – 4:36
- "Until the End of the World" – 4:39
- "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" – 5:16
- "So Cruel" – 5:49
- "The Fly" – 4:29
- "Mysterious Ways" – 4:04
- "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" – 3:53
- "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" – 5:31
- "Acrobat" – 4:30
- "Love Is Blindness" – 4:23
"The Fly", "Mysterious Ways", "One", "Even Better Than the Real Thing", and "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" were released as singles.
[edit] Personnel
- Bono – lead vocals, guitar
- The Edge – guitar, keyboards, vocals
- Adam Clayton – bass guitar
- Larry Mullen Jr. – drums, percussion
Other Artists that helped with the album:
- Daniel Lanois – guitar, percussion
[edit] Video
| Achtung Baby: The Videos, The Cameos, and a Whole Lot of Interference from Zoo TV | ||
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| Music video compilation by U2 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | May 17, 1992 | |
| Recorded | 1991–1992 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 65 mins | |
| Label | Island / PolyGram | |
| Director(s) | Kevin Godley, Stéphane Sednaoui, Anton Corbijn, et al | |
| Producer(s) | Ned O'Hanlon | |
| U2 video chronology | ||
| Rattle and Hum (1989) |
Achtung Baby (1992) |
Zoo TV: Live from Sydney (1994) |
Following the successful release of the album, U2 released Achtung Baby: The Videos, The Cameos, and a Whole Lot of Interference from Zoo TV, a VHS compilation of music videos from the album. The compilation featured nine videos, including three videos for both "One" and "Even Better than the Real Thing." In between the videos were clips of "interference" — documentary footage, media clips, and other images, similar to what was shown at shows during the Zoo TV Tour. The video for "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" was the only video from the album not included on this release, as it was not released until August 1992, three months after the compilation's release.
[edit] Track listing
- INTERFERENCE
- "Even Better Than the Real Thing" – directed by Kevin Godley
- INTERFERENCE
- "Mysterious Ways" – directed by Stéphane Sednaoui
- "One" (Version 1) – directed by Anton Corbijn
- "The Fly" – directed by Ritchie Smyth and Jon Klein
- INTERFERENCE
- "Even Better Than the Real Thing" (Dance Mix) – directed by Kevin Godley
- "One" (Version 2) – directed by Mark Pellington
- "Even Better Than the Real Thing" – directed by Armando Gallo and Kampah
- "One" (Version 3) – directed by Phil Joanou
- "Until the End of the World" – directed by Ritchie Smyth
[edit] Charts
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Billboard 200 | 1 |
| 1991 | Australian Albums Chart | 1 [5] |
Singles
| Year | Song | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | "The Fly" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 61 |
| 1991 | "The Fly" | Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 2 |
| 1991 | "The Fly" | Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1991 | "The Fly" | Billboard Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | 44 |
| 1991 | "Mysterious Ways" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 9 |
| 1991 | "Mysterious Ways" | Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1992 | "Mysterious Ways" | Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1992 | "Mysterious Ways" | Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play | 42 |
| 1992 | "One" | Billboard Adult Contemporary | 24 |
| 1992 | "One" | Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1992 | "One" | Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1992 | "One" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 10 |
| 1992 | "One" | Billboard Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | 44 |
| 1992 | "Even Better Than The Real Thing" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 32 |
| 1992 | "Even Better Than The Real Thing" | Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1992 | "Even Better Than The Real Thing" | Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 5 |
| 1992 | "Even Better Than The Real Thing" | Billboard Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | 35 |
| 1992 | "Even Better Than The Real Thing" | Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play | 27 |
| 1992 | "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 35 |
| 1992 | "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" | Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 2 |
| 1992 | "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" | Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 7 |
| 1992 | "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" | Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 28 |
| 1992 | "Until The End Of The World" | Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 5 |
| 1992 | "Until The End Of The World" | Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 4 |
| 1997 | "One" | Canadian Singles Chart | 19 |
[edit] Certifications
| Organization | Level | Date |
|---|---|---|
| BPI – UK | Gold | November 1, 1991 |
| BPI – UK | Platinum | November 1, 1991 |
| BPI – UK | Double Platinum | November 1, 1991 |
| RIAA – U.S. | Gold | January 21, 1992 |
| RIAA – U.S. | Platinum | January 21, 1992 |
| RIAA – U.S. | Double Platinum | January 21, 1992 |
| RIAA – U.S. | 3X Platinum | March 3, 1992 |
| CRIA – Canada | Gold | April 30, 1992 |
| CRIA – Canada | Platinum | April 30, 1992 |
| CRIA – Canada | Double Platinum | April 30, 1992 |
| CRIA – Canada | 3X Platinum | April 30, 1992 |
| CRIA – Canada | 4X Platinum | April 30, 1992 |
| RIAA – U.S. | 4X Platinum | September 16, 1992 |
| BPI – UK | 3X Platinum | May 1, 1993 |
| RIAA – U.S. | 5X Platinum | August 26, 1993 |
| RIAA – U.S. | 7X Platinum | September 6, 1995 |
| RIAA – U.S. | 8X Platinum | October 24, 1997 |
| CRIA – Canada | 5X Platinum | December 7, 2000 |
| CRIA – Canada | 6X Platinum | December 7, 2000 |
| CRIA – Canada | 7X Platinum | December 7, 2000 |
| CRIA – Canada | 8X Platinum | December 7, 2000 |
| CRIA – Canada | 9X Platinum | December 7, 2000 |
| CRIA – Canada | Diamond (10X Platinum) | December 7, 2000 |
| BPI – UK | 4X Platinum | March 16, 2001 |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Discography entry at U2 Wanderer – Comprehensive details on various editions, cover scans, lyrics, and more.
- Videography entry at U2 Wanderer – Similarly comprehensive entry about the video.
- Album lyrics – Searchable album lyrics.
- U2 tours overview at U2-Vertigo-Tour.com – Includes setlists for every date on the ZooTV Tour.
- Quotes and information – Detailed background on each song.
- Salomé Outtakes liner notes – The liner notes that came with the bootleg. Includes song descriptions and some approximated lyrics.
- U2MoL – Contains fan interpretations and interview excerpts for each song.
