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  1. OK guys, I've been thinking about this a lot. We all know AB was a groundbreaking moment in U2's history, but has anyone ever considered the impact it had on rock music in general? It has opened the doors for experimentation that no other band had ever even considered, because of for lack of a better word, fear. Nobody up until AB had experimented with industrial music or any kind of distortion. I can name one album for example, INXS' album "Welcome To Wherever You Are" adopted a completely different sound then anyone had ever heard from that band. I strongly believe the AB had somewhat of an influence on that album.


    Listen to some of those songs! They're amazing. Zoo Station, in particular, is an amazing opener. Even Better Than The Real Thing has any amazing guitar sound, One is possibly U2's best work lyrically, and absolutely no words can describe The Fly. I also think that God Part II really belongs on Achtung Baby, and I would've loved to see that on the ZOO TV tour.


    In U2 by U2, Bono (I think) said that they were about ready to break up, and then they wrote 'One'. Think about that!
    Where would music be if AB was never recorded? We would've never heard such amazing albums like Zooropa, or Pop. I must say, after first listening to AB, I had even more respect for U2, and I think many of you felt that way as well.


    So for all the Achtung Baby haters, you go and try to record an album that innovative. If you have the guts.........
  2. I think ur right on the money with this. I have more to say on this topic but kinda loopey right due to my pain meds after sugery.
  3. Warning: Another looong ramble coming >>
    Very much agreed...the thing that I can say is that each time I see or hear a ZooTV show I just get drowned in respect for these people...when I first watched ZooTV Sydney (not long ago) and I saw Mr. Macphisto perform Lemon, I thought :"Wow!" ...in my mind, they were at the peak of their creativity, this whole image came up to me:
    They had done a complete U-Turn from Rattle & Hum into Achtung Baby, that takes balls, and it wasn't easy, the band had a very hard time and they weren't sure of things up until 'one'. And after that happened, as if a door to a huge room full of creativity had been kicked open, AB turns into a mind blowing album, and it doesn't stop there, they do ZooTV, just take that tour, The Fly, Mirrorball Man, Macphisto ...the phone calls, the trabant cars, the whole set...it's just amazing. And in the middle of that tour they make another awesome album Zooropa...look at Lemon, an all-falsetto song! ...there was just no stop to them!!
    Of course, AB adds a lot to my respect for this band...whenever people ask me why are U2 so famous or why are they so respected I say because they did Achtung Baby after Rattle And Hum, and that's it for me!
  4. Nice post Nate (and Ali). As has been said, bang on the money.

    Agree entirely about God Part II. Ties the albums together. Would have slotted in perfectly after Mysterious Ways. (Just try it.......)

    In the UK "The Fly" knocked Bryan Adams off No.1 after 16 weeks. That was pretty awesome.

    It was ground-breaking, innovative, experimental, brave and remains, for me, their defining album.
  5. I still remember my roommated getting me and saying "Hey, MTV is about to play the new U2 song". (the video premiere for The Fly)

    I stood there in the living room wading through the commercials and then... the sound of an odd eclectronic drum beat, Bono directing traffic and walking in it with at toy car... WTF?!?! (my first thought) and then the crunch of The Edge's intro guitar... F*&K ME! I stood there throughout the whole thing - jaw on the ground. Larry pounding away wearing his Ramones shirt, Adam - cool as ever, The Edge throwing some Rock Shapes whilst playing and Bono being Bono..."

    I don't think that I have been that quiet before or since! I do remember it well. And I remember thinking that if THIS is the NEW U2, it is as they've stated... the sound of four men chopping down The Joshua Tree - indeed.

    And after two very good, but 'safe' albums - ATYCLB and HTDAAB... I think it's time for a bit more of that sonic-reckless abandon.
  6. Achtung is the album that made me look on a different way at U2. After I played the masterpiece The Joshua Tree so many times, I got their other known masterpiece. Words can't describe the feeling I had during the intro of Zoo Station.

    I thought: Is this the band that created The Joshua Tree? I couldn't believe it. And that feeling growed when I heard the whole album. I thought: This is perfection. It really is. And I even didn't knew about ZOOTV at the time. Live all this stuff was even better.

    Achtung Baby has at least as much influence as The Joshua Tree had, maybe even more.
  7. Originally posted by anstratdubh1979

    And after two very good, but 'safe' albums - ATYCLB and HTDAAB... I think it's time for a bit more of that sonic-reckless abandon.






    Good grief, I do so agree with you on that!
  8. Agreed all on the great posts here. I love the fact the U2 strive to push ahead and take the music to the edge. They've done this since day 1. I agree that its time for a change. They usually do it in groups of 3 but we're all, "Ready to duck. ready to dive". I personally think that U2 does what the Beatles did. Every album was somewhat different. It had its own character. At first glance you wonder, "Is this them?" but you soon get settled into that space they have created for us.

    Each album, they dare us to take the journey with them. Some people love it, some people hate it, but I for one will always be there hanging on thru the twists and turns!

  9. New here. Love this place already! I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I have been listening to the Dublin Lovetown shows on a loop. When Bono gives his "Dream it all up again speech," I get chills. These guy could have made a career on making Joshua Tree clones, and made a good safe living. Instead after making it to the rarified air of biggest band in the world, they take this huge chance, and they come up with something as good if not better.
  10. My first listen to Achtung Baby created different emotions, because my copy was a polish pirate cassette, which lacked 2 songs, Who's Gonna Ride... and Acrobat, plus the track order was changed. I liked the album, but knew that its time will come one day, when it will truly open up for me. This year was it, now I can't get enough of AB, of course the counterfeit cassette has been replaced by a genuine CD version. Each track is a bomb, AB works both as individual tracks and a whole - few albums can do that. But no matter how different the sound is, it is true U2 from the beginning to the end. Uplifting moments accompanied by dark gems, songs about lust (Mysterious Ways, Even Better Than The Real Thing) despair (So Cruel, WGRYWH), inner strenght and hope (Acrobat, One, Zoo Station particularly), sounding differs from massive and overwhelming (Zoo Station, UTEOTW, The Fly) through silent (sometimes aetheric) acoustic arrangements (WGRYWH, One, So Cruel) to complete blankness (Love Is Blindness). AB definately has its final place now - amongst the best albums ever made.
  11. Originally posted by notcomingdownNew here. Love this place already! I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I have been listening to the Dublin Lovetown shows on a loop. When Bono gives his "Dream it all up again speech," I get chills. These guy could have made a career on making Joshua Tree clones, and made a good safe living. Instead after making it to the rarified air of biggest band in the world, they take this huge chance, and they come up with something as good if not better.


    Nice post.

    Welcome to U2 Start

    Please pop over here and tell us a little bit about yourself, gives everyone a chance to say hi too.

    http://www.u2start.com/topics/13/
  12. Originally posted by djrlewis[..]

    Nice post.

    Welcome to U2 Start

    Please pop over here and tell us a little bit about yourself, gives everyone a chance to say hi too.

    http://www.u2start.com/topics/13/


    *cough*crew member*cough*
    OK, I'm gonna stop bothering you about this!
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