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  1. I really want to know the answer to Alex's question as well.
  2. Hearing the music before an album was released (aside from the lead single and its b-side(s)) wasn't that common two decades ago - at least not in my world. Music wasn't nearly as accessible then as it is now.

    "The Fly" indeed sounded very different than anything the band had done before, as did AB as a whole. Admittedly, it took me a few (several?) listens to fully appreciate it. Sure, "One" was immediate, as was "...Wild Horses," and maybe "UV" but the rest took some getting used to.
  3. Fair enough. I honestly can't really imagine being a U2 fan in the 80's and then transitioning into the 90's, must've been really awesomely weird.

    So there was basically no notion that something really different was on the horizon? Bono didn't talk to the press all the time talking about how it was going to be a big change and all that?
  4. It was weird. I distinctly recall asking myself, "Am I going to embrace the 'new U2' and other new music - namely Seattle bands like Nirvana and PJ - or am I going to listen to the new Van Halen (F.U.C.K), the now-overproduced-GNR, and all the stuff I'd been listening to from the 1970's?"

    I still listened to Led Zeppelin and the Use Your Illusion albums but in the end, I chose to go in a new direction and embrace what U2 was trying to do (and what was going on in Seattle).
  5. Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:Fair enough. I honestly can't really imagine being a U2 fan in the 80's and then transitioning into the 90's, must've been really awesomely weird.

    So there was basically no notion that something really different was on the horizon? Bono didn't talk to the press all the time talking about how it was going to be a big change and all that?

    From what I've been told, there was basically a full silence regarding U2 until a few weeks before The Fly was released. At least it was like that here in Spain, where U2 was EFFING HUGE after the R&H release, and the news-blackout after 1989 was very badly received - as well as the Fly release.
  6. I can remember reading something about the AB anticipation that Bono had said, during recordings, it was going to be a 'dense' record, and the press misinterpreted it as a dance record
  7. ^ I think it was Edge actually.
  8. As a U2 fan being first introduced to their post 2000 work, then going back and listening to their older material, I will say that there are times when I feel like I'm listening to a completely different band. The live material ties everything together, of course.
  9. I read a magazine article in UK some 6 months before AB surfaced, and Bono said something like ''there is a song on rattle & hum called God Part II, and some parts of that song is sonically where we are going in the future''. Also, I saw the video for ''Night and Day in 1989, funnily enough not long before the above qoute, and that gave me another idea of where they were heading. Then I heard Zoo Station on the day the album was released and thought, jesus, Bono, that was the understatement of the century!!! But over 20 years later, they are still around, and still looking to make life interesting for us!!
  10. Originally posted by paulc:Bono said something like ''there is a song on rattle & hum called God Part II, and some parts of that song is sonically where we are going in the future''

    Interesting, I haven't heard of that interview ever, but I have always said that Achtung Baby didn't start with Zoo Station nor The Fly, but with God Part II instead
  11. I think it was a magazine called Select, as my mate came round with it and said ''have a read of that!''. We were quite excited, especially as neither of us liked ''when love comes to town!''
  12. Looking at U2 as a band during Lovetown Tour, they were drastically different when it came to the release of 'The Fly'. Imagine watching the 'The Fly' video in September 1991 – a mere 20 months after you last saw them perform in any state. The band look badass; the sound is massively unique and different from what it was two years back; and they've already shaped the 90s. I'd be absolutely gobsmacked and unbelievably excited for the prospect of Achtung Baby. Listening to Achtung Baby nowadays gets me excited. The first time I ever listened to it improved my fan status of U2 exceptionally.

    If you were old enough to appreciate the development of U2 during the 80s progessing into the 90s, then I am completely envious of you. It's something that any U2 fan would love to have witnessed.
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Make sure to not miss out on any U2 news and updates: follow us on Twitter, Instagram and like us on Facebook.
Make sure to not miss out on any U2 news and updates: follow us on Twitter, Instagram and like us on Facebook.