Achtung Baby

Sonically very different from the other U2 album I have received. They were definitively headed in a more pop-centric direction here. It’s still good. Favorites were Zoo Station, One, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, Mysterious Ways, and Ultra Violet.

This was my real introduction to U2, 80s U2 had been my dad's U2 and the initial sound of "Zoo Station" had forever changed that, the building industrial growl, the distorted guitar sending shockwaves through you, the distorted vocals making Bono sound like he's smoking 2 packs of superkings a day. The rest of the album veers around the landscape wildly with a great run of "Zoo Station", "Even Better Than The Real Thing", "One", "Until The End Of The World", and "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" on side 1, side 2 is a little weaker but I'll hold "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" over anything by most other bands.

I've always liked their early work, but it seemed to fall off around Joshua Tree. This opens up sounding a little bit like The Cars. Was not expecting that. But by the halfway point, that is honestly the most positive thing I have to say about it, and the back half sure doesn't redeem it. Most of this a complete bore. Basically sounding like audio drivel, tailor-made to be commodified. Not shocking at all it would only be a short time before they were shilling for major corporations.

Not bad. Weren't really any major stand out songs for me but I kinda liked the vibe throughout. You can hear the Madchester influence in songs like Mysterious Ways which sound like they could have been produced by Factory Records. 3/5

Pretty good U2 album here, good variety of sounds.

Love the title. Like the album. Respect U2 for trying to be a bit weird at the same time as being the biggest band in the world.

This started strong, but by the time that "Hey sha-la-la-la" showed up in the lyrics to the fifth song I knew that the creativity was spent. The rest of the album was pure filler and forced emotionalism.

better than expected. many of the songs started off with some pretty cool instrumentals that went absolutely no where.

A really good album from U2. I knew many of the songs from the past and haven't heard them for a long time. It's nice to hear them again. Overall, U2 and this album are not among my top favorites. 4/5

The Good: this is the 4th U2 album to appear on the list, which should mean the last!
The Bad: That there have been 4 U2 albums on the list, and oh so many other bands not even mentioned…
The Ugly: THOSE FUCKING SUNGLASSES BONO STARTED WEARING!!!

While listening to the album, my wife kept commenting that it all sounds the same… not the album, just U2 in general. Which begs the question why this is the 4th album on the list?

I’ve mentioned it before, so I won’t say again that I am not a U2 fan… having not said that, and, believe it or not, never having listened to the album, it is amazing that I am familiar with more than 50% of the tunes on the album.
Something that is impressive all on its own.

Yet, if anything, what this album did for U2 was polarize the public where, up to The Joshua Tree, there were massive fanboys and the general public just appreciated the band, while a small group disliked them. When Bono put on the fly-eye glasses, the fanboys became accolades, and the rest of us just started really disliking anything U2, and that is shown by the comments on this album.

However, we should be rating the albums for what they are, and if we enjoy listening to them… so, painfully, here’s 4* for a band I love to hate.

U2 doesn't need much introduction as one of the biggest rock bands to come out of Ireland. However, in the case of this album, we need to start with the preceding live album Rattle and Hum, because that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. It was a full exposure of the pretentiousness and swaggering rock arrogance that the band kept hidden through most of the 80s until they no longer could. They came off as preachy and were unprepared for their commercial success. Thus, they took some time away to reinvent themselves for the 90s, and Achtung Baby was the first taste of that reinvention.

The album is generally good in embracing the band's new style of electronically-tinged alternative rock, complete with production courtesy of Brian Eno to clean up their sound from what it was the decade prior. Throughout the entire run, every member does a decent job in their role, with the obvious highlight going to the Edge's guitar work, taking inspiration from dance music, noticeable on cuts like "The Fly" and "Mysterious Ways".

I know Bono isn't a spectacular vocalist, but he does his best to sell the faux rock-star attitude painted with irony on tracks like "The Fly", "Even Better Than the Real Thing", and the title track. That's not to say there aren't a few earnestly written songs here such as reflections upon internal band struggles and the German reunification on "One" and the strained relationship on "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)", but those moments of honesty were few and far between.

Also not helping matters is that there are a few slower songs like "So Cruel", "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" and the closer "Love is Blindness" that I didn't find as engaging as other slow moments on this album and in the band's catalog. They're not bad songs per se, but not my go-to tracks from them.

All's to say that Achtung Baby is a solid album from U2 in their desire to reinvent themselves. As time has proven, that reinvention gave diminishing returns as they wallowed in more electronic music by the end of the 90s, but at least this first offering was promising enough.

Pretty ok. Nothing standout, but something I could see listening to more. 3/5

Reveal thoughts: OK, I'm interested. U2 is an odd band and this is their iconic album. Let's see how it goes.

Weirdly underwhelming. It has a couple all-timers like One and Mysterious Ways, but it has quite a bit that are just...blah. And that's the mysterious (ha!) thing about this album. They have some songs that are really great, that stand up over time, that don't necessarily sound like they're from any era but are able to stand on their own. Then they have a bunch of songs that aren't *bad* per se, but they're just really kind of boring. It a 3 star album because I didn't hate it, but I think it's an opportunity missed in a sense.

Dire unimaginative tripe

No thanks

Il faut que je vous avoue un truc : ma relation avec U2 a toujours été compliquée, pour ne pas dire schizophrène. Dans les années 80, pour le mec qui passait ses nuits à user des vinyles de The Cure, Joy Division ou Sonic Youth. U2, c'était l'ennemi, c'était le gigantisme, la grandiloquence, le rock de stade messianique et boursouflé. Bono et sa coupe mulet, ses sermons sur l'Afrique entre deux hymnes fédérateurs, ça me filait de l'urticaire.

"The Joshua Tree" était un grand disque mais "Rattle and Hum", avec son documentaire prétentieux en noir et blanc, avait achevé de les transformer en caricature d'eux-mêmes. Ils s'étaient peints tout seuls dans un coin, condamnés à être les gentils sauveurs du monde pour l'éternité.

Alors en 1991, quand on a entendu parler d'un nouvel album, franchement, l'indifférence était polie. On s'attendait à une redite, à un "Joshua Tree 2.0", avec des guitares encore plus "cristallines" et des textes encore plus "engagés" et sur ce point on avait tort, tellement tort.

Puis est arrivé "The Fly".

Ce premier single, c'était un choc. Un "appel téléphonique de l'enfer", comme l'a dit Bono lui-même. Fini le son clair de The Edge, place à une guitare saturée, distordue, sale. La voix de Bono n'était plus celle du prêcheur, elle était filtrée, sardonique, presque méchante. Qu'est-ce qui s'était passé ?

Ce qui s'était passé, c'est Berlin.

Sentant le besoin de "tout réinventer", le groupe est parti enregistrer dans la capitale allemande réunifiée, là où Bowie, sous la houlette d'un certain Brian Eno, avait lui-même accouché de sa trilogie la plus audacieuse. Et comme pour Bowie, Berlin a servi de catalyseur, mais aussi de révélateur d'une crise profonde. Les sessions étaient tendues, le groupe au bord de l'implosion, dans le doute permanent. C'est dans cette obscurité, ce chaos, qu'ils ont trouvé la lumière.

"Achtung Baby" est un disque de déconstruction, c'est le son de U2 qui tue U2.

L'album s'ouvre sur "Zoo Station" et son riff de guitare qui sonne comme une scie sauteuse industrielle. On est à des années-lumière des plaines du Far West, on est dans une usine désaffectée, sous les néons blafards. L'influence de l'électro, de la musique industrielle de l'époque (on pense à Nine Inch Nails, à Ministry) est palpable. C'est un disque qui sent le cuir, la fumée froide et le métal. Les producteurs Brian Eno et Daniel Lanois ont poussé le groupe dans ses derniers retranchements, les forçant à abandonner leurs vieilles recettes pour explorer des textures sonores inédites.

Le résultat est un album froid, oui, mais d'une beauté glaciale. Il est théâtral, sombre, et d'une richesse incroyable. Même les tubes planétaires qui s'y cachent sont à double fond. "Mysterious Ways" est un funk déglingué et hypnotique, et puis il y a "One". Le slow ultime des années 90 car tout le monde a cru que c'était une chanson d'amour, l'hymne à l'unité. Bono s'en est toujours amusé : "Les gens me disent qu'ils l'ont passée à leur mariage. Vous êtes fous ? C'est une chanson sur la rupture !".

Il y aurait juste un bémol, l'album manque cruellement d'énergie "rock" brute car "Achtung Baby" est un disque qui se vit plus de l'intérieur. L'énergie n'est pas dans le tempo, elle est dans la tension, dans les textures, dans le conflit permanent entre la mélodie et le bruit. A une exception, "Acrobat" qui est peut-être le morceau le plus sous-estimé de leur répertoire. C'est une tornade de rage contenue, une rythmique nerveuse et complexe sur laquelle Bono crache sa bile. C'est le coeur noir et battant de l'album, le moment où le vernis craque complètement pour laisser voir le muscle et le nerf.

À la radio, à l'époque, j'était déboussolés et je passait ce U2-là entre un morceau de Ride et un autre de The Jesus and Mary Chain. Ils avaient brouillé les pistes. Étaient-ils devenus "indie" ? Non, bien sûr que non. Ils étaient devenus autre chose, ils avaient réussi ce que très peu de groupes de leur stature parviennent à faire : un virage à 180 degrés, une prise de risque absolue qui s'est transformée en triomphe artistique.

Pour moi, "Achtung Baby" n'est pas seulement à égalité avec "The Joshua Tree". Il lui est supérieur, car si "The Joshua Tree" était l'aboutissement parfait de leur première vie. "Achtung Baby" lui est le début, infiniment plus courageux et passionnant, de leur seconde. C'est l'album qui a prouvé qu'ils n'étaient pas juste le plus grand groupe du monde, mais aussi l'un des plus intelligents.

Un 5/5 sans discussion possible. C'est leur chef-d'oeuvre. L'album qui m'a fait, pour un temps, ravaler mon cynisme et admettre que, oui, U2 pouvait être un très, très grand groupe.

Was ever a band more overrated and over hated? Bono is sort of ridiculous. I think his ego gives him an over inflated opinion of his smartness. Ooh post modern so what? But there are a few very good songs on here - One, Until the End of the World. However, it's at least a couple of songs too long.

I can finally give U2 a 5.

We’ve gotten two different U2 albums before this – 1983’s “War”, and 2000’s “All That You Can’t Leave Behind”, so this falls pretty much right in the middle of those two albums. Those averaged out to a 3.5, and I could never really give either album a 5 because I just didn’t think it hit on a consistent level of quality and thematics throughout the listening experience.

This album does that in spades and more – this is a fully coherent album from front to back, with not a single solitary miss (ok, maybe “Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World” is a little too hokey, but shh). The band is on fire, Bono’s vocals have genuinely never sounded better to me, and ultimately, this is just a joy to listen to and a kind of triumph for 1991.

I noted it several times while listening, but a lot of this sound felt like a more refined version of “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” to me – that’s a lot of praise, I think. This sort of soundscape is what traditional rock returned to in the late 90s after its collective grunge era brought on by Nirvana and Pearl Jam, so to hear it in 1991 just tells me that U2 were a bit ahead of the curve.

That’s not to say the influence of grunge and industrial rock isn’t felt all over this album, it just doesn’t dominate the entire thing, and for my ears, after the amount of 90s grunge we’ve gotten, is deeply refreshing. There is a middle ground somewhere in there, and I’d say this album strikes that middle ground perfectly.

I could keep going, and try to break down individual tracks, but I feel like whatever words I write couldn’t do them justice (although huge shoutout to “One”, that’s my first time hearing it and it was incredible to me). This is absolutely worth the listen, and beyond deserving to be on the list. Just a stellar album, and an easy 5.

How one feels about this album is likely the same as they feel about U2 in general. In my case, U2 in general is pretty meh, but also inoffensive. So...

2.9

They are really trying to be an international hit band at this point. And when it hits it's increased, but the rest of the album? Middle of the road slog fests. If they had three songs on a best singles I'd rate them 5 in a second, but the whole album? Not so much.