Achtung Baby

There are a few U2 songs that make me weep, "One" among them. Don't know what it's "really about" nor do I care all that much.

As a U2 fan, I can't say this is my favorite album of theirs. They basically frosted over the things that made them great: the rhythm section sounds flattened and is mixed into a shoebox, the muscular guitar lines are buried under effects so thick you can only barely ascertain the guitar at all, and say what you will about Bono - you gotta respect his passion and commitment to the job - but on this he is (of course) devolving into the crooner all rock singers think they should be.

What U2 are good at is building an emotional vignette from the constraints of the four-piece rock convention. When they deviate like they do on Achtung Baby, it's a little disconcerting. They're clearly out of their comfort zone. But a band like this (hugely successful), at this point in their career (past their prime and entrenched in the mainstream), is in a damned if you do, damned if you don't position. Experiment and try something different, and your fanbase is repelled. Keep doing the same thing you always have and you're seen as lazy, tired, behind the times. The former is the natural thing musicians want to do, but riskier. The latter is a paycheck but a high-speed train to irrelevance. And U2 wants to be relevant more than anything else.

Although U2 don't seem to tire of playing I Will Follow or New Year's Day a million times, they did decide to go the riskier route on this album, with mixed results.

Never was quite sure why this is regarded so highly- even now after fully listening to it, perhaps for the first time. Even biggest songs which I know "One" and "Mysterious Ways", I like, but don't really care that much for, so I can't see rating this more than 3.

please don't stone me to death, but i think it's quite enjoyable. first time ever listening to U2 so i was expecting to hate it a lot more based on what i'd heard

U2 gtes a bad rep at times, but they make some pretty decent music. I really liked the first part of the album, up until One. Some very new sounding songs for U2 and interesting ideas. After that the songs kind of ranged from decent to forgettable. Nothing of it too bad, but it really lacks the hit smashes that Joshua Tree had.

This was the beginning and the end of U2. The “new” beginning where they succeeded in reinventing themselves without destroying what was unique to themselves. I don’t think the reinvention was anywhere near as compelling as their earlier incarnation, but I understand that there’s only so many times you can write a song to Jesus (thinly veiled as being sung to a woman) while playing the same three chords until you need to try something new.
But it’s also the end of U2. This is the first album where they start to parody rock stardom and the last before they lose themselves in the joke.
The album itself is actually quite strong, with lots of familiar songs, and other interesting compositions (which sway a bit too far into the pop lane for my personal taste) that are good. Listen, any album that has One and Even Better Than the Real Thing has got to chart just on those, right? The rest of the album holds up and works well.

A lighter side to 90s alt-rock w/o all the grunge/metal

I’ve never quite gotten the hype around U2, despite them being a massive band, but I figured that part of the problem was my lack of familiarity with their discography. For this reason, I was eager to give this album a shot.

I’m trying not to judge U2 too harshly, but look at “Achtung Baby” like I would any other album by an artist unfamiliar with. Ultimately, I just feel that this album is a moderately interesting wash of reverb that simply doesn’t do much for me. “Mysterious Ways” is the only song that I really like, and it’s also the hookiest.

I always thought I didn’t believe in musical guilty pleasures - if you like a song or artist, why should you feel bad about it just because someone else has decided it’s uncool? Then I signed up for the generator and realised that I’m weirdly defensive when it comes to liking U2. So fuck it - I got this album for Christmas when I was 14 and I still love it.

La bomba termonuclear de mi juventud se unió a la de mi adolescencia en este disco. Fue el primer disco que me compré en CD. A cambio de la pérdida de un vinilo enorme con las letras en la funda tenía un disco enano con un libreto que ganaba en facilidad para escucharlo una y otra vez sin poner la aguja sin cara A ni cara B, una nueva experiencia. Mágico.

Better than expected. I'm giving double the amount of stars I thought I would - two.

After the malaise of the Unforgettale Joshua Tree Fire years U2 stumbled into the 90s and into a career high by trying to sound like Jesus Jones.

The gutars are fantastic it could almost be Andy Gill and the electronic atmospherics are cool.

But Bono is far too high in the mix. He can't let an instrumental passage go by without vocalising unneccessarily. Even in the verses and choruses he's too damn loud and delivers every bloody line with ernest passion forcing you to pay attention to lyrics, which are gibberish. A clique is still a clique and nonesense is still nonesense if you sound like you mean it man.

But the guitar sound is marvelous and that's earned an extra star. Pity you can't hear them!

Some REALLY great tunes here and overall good album structure, just not as raw and impactful as some earlier stuff from them and a few low points. Solid 3.5

Arena rock is a tough sell for me, but this is actually fairly listenable. It gets a little draggy on the back half, but not enough to bring it down a star.

U2 is not bad at all after all.

This was my first favorite album when I was 9 years old. I heard “Mysterious Ways” on my sister’s stereo and later tracked down the album, falling deeply in love with it. All these years later, through many developments in my musical taste. I still love it, though I don’t know how I would have felt about it had I first encountered it later in life. I think it’s unquestionably U2’s best album objectively speaking. Ironically, “Mysterious Ways” is now one of my least favorite tracks, though “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” is indisputably the low point of the record (it does have a killer bridge section, though.) “The Fly” and “Until The End of The World” have always been faves. Recently I’ve come to appreciate “Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World”. Am extremely fortunate to have been able to see them perform this record in the Las Vegas Sphere last year! Really needed this on a challenging day today.

I came back to this twice because I genuinely enjoyed some aspects of it a lot, certainly more than I did 'War'. Unfortunately it didn't impact me much, nor do I see myself returning to it enough to warrant a 4 star. We've had worse though!

Standouts: Until The End Of The World • Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses • The Fly • Ultra Violet (Light My Way)

Not bad, but pretty boring.
One and Until the End of the World are good songs though.

Ok Bono, you’ve won me over for now

2.75

Achtung Baby starts off fresh enough, w/ an uncharacteristic edgy Edge riff and an assertive drum break, tho it still possesses Bono's distinctive mush: 'I'm ready to say / I'm glad to be alive / I'm ready / I'm ready for the push.' Lyricism is not only not U2's forte, it's a distraction and a diminishment, particularly when Bono sloppily evokes literary tropes: 'We're free to fly the crimson sky / The sun won't melt our wings tonight.' Contrast that w/ Joni's allusiveness and you'll see who has the edge: 'Like Icarus ascending / On beautiful foolish arms / Amelia it was just a false alarm.' Like most U2 records, it fails to be what it's meant to be: it's not pop since it's too self-serious, but it's not rock either since it extends no real punch to the gut.

Surprisingly good for being U2.