U2's iconic Achtung Baby: 20 years later

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

Easily my favorite album of all time.
---


Twenty years ago, U2 — slightly removed from the double-barrel success of The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum — were a band in crisis. Sure, they were arguably the biggest rock act on the planet, but, for the first time in their career, they had felt the sting of critical backlash: Many felt Hum's accompanying documentary, which followed the band across America, was grandiose and self-righteous (even its director would later call it "pretentious"), and the group couldn't help but wonder if perhaps the critics were right.

Had U2 become too big? Had their fascination with all things American (the songs of Johnny Cash, B.B. King and Bob Dylan, the spiritualism of gospel choirs, the sanctity of Sun Studios and Graceland) led them too far from their roots? Were Bono's sociopolitical viewpoints detracting from the power of the band? And, really, after a decade spent trying to conquer the world — and succeeding — what did U2 really have left to accomplish?

They took all those questions (and more) to Berlin, where they hoped to be inspired by the German Reunification and the ghosts of David Bowie and Iggy Pop, both of whom had rediscovered and reinvented themselves there. But, as you'd probably expect, things didn't go according to plan. The sessions bore little fruit as U2 struggled to redefine the group and clear divisions began to develop among bandmembers that had always considered themselves friends first. There was talk of quitting altogether; that rather than continue to fracture, perhaps it was time to call it a day.

Thankfully, they didn't. In a way, those Berlin sessions not only made U2 stronger, but they made them realize that things had to change. Gone were the grandiose gestures and bombastic ballads, replaced instead with an entirely new sound: one that embraced the burgeoning club scene of Europe, the streaked sonics of alt-rock, the artful artifice of Bowie and the adventurous explorations of producer Brian Eno. U2 had redefined what it meant to be a rock band in the 1990s, and they did it all with one marvelous album, Achtung Baby, which marks its 20th anniversary on Saturday.

more:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674658/u2-achtung-baby.jhtml

[some guy]

1. the last CD I ever listened to by this band.

I think they peaked with The Joshua Tree. Rattle & Hum was good, but the beginning of their slide. Achtung baby was vile.

ymmv

[Common Sense Party]

2. I liked Achtung, but felt it wasn't on the same level as their earlier

albums, like Joshua and (my favorite) Unforgettable Fire. It had some gems, but was too uneven, and a bit too avante-garde for my Midwestern tastes.

But after Achtung, U2 entered what, for me, was their Lost Decade. I wouldn't listen to anything they made for the rest of the 90's, because it was horrible.

I could finally accept them again with All That You Can't Leave Behind, and since then they've been good, while still uneven.

I'll have to play Achtung all the way through again. I haven't done that in a long while.

[underpants]

3. One of the greatest albums of all time.

"one" was written TO the rest of the band.

[Swede]

4. One of my favorites from the album "one"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftjEcrrf7r0&ob=av2e

Is it getting better?
Or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you now?
You got someone to blame
You say
One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don't care for it

Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's

Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to
carry each other
carry each other
One

Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus?
To the lepers in your head

Did I ask too much?
More than a lot.
You gave me nothing,
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
See we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love is a higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't keep holding on
To what you got
When all you've got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters, brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

One...
One...