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Achtung Baby
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Achtung Baby is the seventh studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was released on 19 November 1991, 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 and their own sense of musical stagnation. The album's musical direction was a source of conflict between the members during the recording sessions in Berlin.
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Achtung Baby is the seventh studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was released on 19 November 1991, 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 and their own sense of musical stagnation. The album's musical direction was a source of conflict between the members during the recording sessions in Berlin. Tensions almost prompted U2 to break-up until the band rallied around the writing of the album's hit "One".
Achtung Baby marked a calculated change in the band's musical direction. Produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, the album featured more detailed production, more guitar effects, and darker, more personal lyrical direction. It is significantly influenced by the alternative rock and electronic dance music movements of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Achtung Baby earned strong reviews, a Grammy Award and sold approximately 18 million copies worldwide. In 2003, the album was ranked number 62 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
The band embarked on the elaborately-staged, multimedia-intensive Zoo TV Tour to support the album. The band's performances and ironic, self-mocking image marked a significant reinvention for the band in the 1990s.
History
Background
In the last week of 1989, U2 were performing a series of end-of-the-decade concerts at the Point Depot in Dublin, Ireland near the end of their Lovetown Tour. During the band's December 30 gig, Bono, apparently stung by criticism of Rattle and Hum and dissatisfied with the band's stagnation, said:
- "I was explaining to people the other night, but I might've got it a bit wrong – this is just the end of something for U2. And that's what we're playing these concerts – and we're throwing a party for ourselves and you. It's no big deal, it's just – we have to go away and ... and dream it all up again."
Bono's comments, as well as two 1990's recordings hinted at a change in direction. The band covered "Night and Day" for "Red Hot and Blue", an AIDS benefit alum made up of Cole Porter covers, and contributed to the original score for the Royal Shakespeare Company's theatrical version of A Clockwork Orange, which was combined into the piece "Alex Descends into Hell for a Bottle of Milk". Both recordings demonstrated the band's first uses of electronic dance beats and hip-hop influences.
Recording
The band began work on Achtung Baby in East Berlin in October 1990 with producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, seeking inspiration and renewal on the eve of German reunification. The band 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. During the Berlin sessions, conflict arose within the band over the quality of material and musical direction. While bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen preferred a sound similar to U2's previous work, Bono and The Edge were inspired by alternative rock and European electronic dance music of the time, and were advocating a change. Weeks of slow progress, arguments, and tension ensued. A breakthrough was achieved when The Edge, combined two bridge sections for "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" and the band made the new piece of music into "One". Leaving Berlin on a high note, the band returned Dublin to continue working on the album.
The closing song, "Love Is Blindness" was written during the Rattle and Hum sessions and in Australia during the 1989 Lovetown Tour. "Until the End of the World" was written for the soundtrack of Wim Wenders' eponymous 1991 science fiction film. The album was eventually completed in August 1991.
The finished album incorporated dance, industrial, and alternative rock influences of the time. Thematically, it was a more inward-looking and personal record; it was darker, yet at times more flippant, than the band's previous work. Bono often referred to the album as the sound of "four men chopping down the Joshua Tree".
Studio bootlegs
In April 1991, the tapes from the album session's earlier improvisations were leaked and bootlegged. 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. Later that same year, another single disc bootleg of the tapes was distributed. Called "Studio Session '91", this single disc contained material of songs that were near completion. Most notably; "Heaven and Hell", "The Darkest Night", and "She's Gonna Blow Your House Down". Recorded early in the production process, many of the ideas — including eight different takes of the song "Salomé" — were under-developed. Bono says, "There were no undiscovered works of genius, unfortunately, it was more just gobbledy-gook." Some of the ideas were revisited for releases after "Achtung Baby" such as 1997's "North and South of the River" and "Where Did It All Go Wrong?", which was released as an Achtung Baby B-side.
Release
On 19 November 1991, U2 released Achtung Baby. Upon the album's release, the band maintained a low profile, avoiding interviews and letting critics and the public make their own assessments.
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. The album's title, "Achtung, Baby!" in German means "Attention, baby!" or "Watchout, baby!" was used by the band's sound engineer Joe O'Herlihy during the making of the album.. The phrase is reportedly from the Mel Brooks film The Producers.
Single releases
The first single, "The Fly", was released on 21 October 1991. The song signaled to fans that the band were moving away from their traditional sound, as the song featured hip-hop beats, distorted vocals, an elaborate guitar solo, and hard industrial edge. The song and its music video were a showcase for Bono's new persona, The Fly, known for his leather-clad fashion and dark, wraparound sunglasses. The song became U2's second #1 single in the U.K.
The danceable "Mysterious Ways" was released as the album's second single on 24 November 1991, days after the album's release. The song reached #9 on the Hot 100, making it the band's fourth highest charting single.
The third single, "One", was released in March 1992. It reached #7 in the UK charts, #10 in the US charts, and #1 on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks and the US Modern Rock Tracks charts. The song has since become regarded as one of the greatest songs of all-time, ranking #36 on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and #1 Q's "1001 Greatest Songs of All-Time". In a 2007 VH1 countdown, "One" was named the #2 on its list of "Songs of the 1990s".
The fourth single, "Even Better Than the Real Thing" was released on 8 June 1992. The fifth and final single, "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" was released in August 1992.
Reception
Upon its release, Achtung Baby received strong reviews from critics. Rolling Stone magazine, in its 4.5/5 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." Entertainment Weekly gave the album an A and called the album a "pristinely produced and surprisingly unpretentious return by one of the most impressive bands in the world."
On the Billboard Music Charts (North America), Achtung Baby topped the Billboard 200 chart selling 295,000 copies in its first week, and subsequently 18 million copies worldwide. It won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
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. 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 Spins "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005" list. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named Achtung Baby the #3 album of the last 25 years.
Zoo TV Tour
In support of the album, U2 launched the Zoo TV Tour on 29 February 1992. Lasting almost two years and spanning five legs and 157 shows, the tour was an elaborately-staged multimedia event, designed to instill a feeling of "sensory overload" in its audience. The stage design featured vidi walls, 36 video monitors, numerous television cameras, 176 speakers, and 11 elaborately painted Trabant cars, several of which were suspended over the stage with spotlights inserted into headlights. Songs were complemented by a myriad of bewildering visual effects. The tour marked a shift from the earnest performances that typified the band in the 1980s to ones that were intentionally ironic and self-mocking. During a break in the tour, the band recorded and released their next studio album, Zooropa, in 1993. In 2002, Q magazine called the Zoo TV Tour "still the most spectacular rock tour staged by any band."
Track listing
Chart positions and sales
Album
| Country | Peak position | Certification | Sales |
|---|
| Australia | 1 | 5x Platinum | 350,000+ | | Austria | 2 | Platinum | 30,000+ | | Brazil | | Gold | 50,000+ | | Canada | | Diamond | 1,000,000+ | | Finland | | Gold | 34,938+ | | France | 37 | Platinum | 300,000+ | | Germany | | Platinum | 200,000+ | | Netherlands | | Platinum | 80,000+ | | Switzerland | 3 | Gold | 25,000+ | | United Kingdom | 2 | 4x Platinum | 1,200,000+ | | United States | 1 | 8x Platinum | 8,000,000+ |
- United States: #1 for 1 week
- United Kingdom: #2 for 1 week, 87 weeks on chart
- Switzerland: #3 for 2 weeks
- Austria: #2 for 2 weeks
- Australia: #1 for 1 week
Singles
| Year | Song | Chart | Position |
|---|
| 1991 | "The Fly" | UK Official Singles Top 75 | 1 | | 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" | UK Official Singles Top 75 | 13 | | 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" | UK Official Singles Top 75 | 8 | | 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 |
Personnel
Video
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. These included three videos each for "One" and "Even Better than the Real Thing." In between the videos were clips of so-called "interference" comprising documentary footage, media clips, and other images, similar to what was shown at shows during the Zoo TV Tour. The videos for "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" and "Love Is Blindness" were not included as they were not released until after the compilation's release.
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 Ritchie Smyth
- "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
See also
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