Watch out baby

Watch out baby
Studio album by U2
Publication (s)	1991
Label (s)	Island Records
Format (s)	CD
Genre (s)	skirt
Title (number)	12
running time	55:27 min
production	Daniel Lanois , Brian Eno , Flood
Studio (s)	Hansa recording studios , Berlin Windmill Lane Studios , Dublin
chronology Rattle and Hum (1988) Watch out baby Zooropa (1993)

Achtung Baby is the seventh studio album from U2 and published on 18 or 19 November 1991.

It received very benevolent reviews and achieved high sales worldwide (13 million records sold by 2012) after the band surprisingly incorporated completely new influences into their music, experimented with the instrumentation and heralded a change of style after their great success in the late eighties. Since it was expected that U2 would stick to their bestsellers of previous years and release another album in the style of The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum , the courage of this step was first recognized. Many fans were irritated; But since U2 gained new listeners at the same time, Achtung Baby ultimately proved to be commercially successful , especially thanks to the single One .

The twelve tracks on the album create an overall darker mood than one was used to from the band, but were presented with a remarkably fresh sound and catchy structures. If one follows the superficial meanings and moods of the individual songs, their course illustrates the break in a relationship between two people, from strong euphoria at the beginning ( Zoo Station , the first title) to rifts and reproaches ( So Cruel , the sixth title) to deep depression ( Love Is Blindness , the final track).

The album was followed by the previously unprecedented multimedia and technically deliberately exaggerated Zoo TV Tour , in which U2 also went completely new, unfamiliar paths and usually began with several new songs before an old piece was played. In particular, the singer Bono gave himself a new image in this context and now appeared in the form of a cynical rock star who always wears sunglasses.

History of origin

The first recordings took place in the Meistersaal of the Hansa recording studios in Berlin

At the turn of 1989/1990 U2 ended the then Lovetown tour for the album Rattle and Hum . During the last concerts of this tour, Bono had announced the withdrawal of the band for a long time, because the band showed signs of disintegration at that time and was about to break up. With the advent of electronic music and the anarchic Madchester movement, U2 felt like they were in a dead end with their socially critical rock music. In addition, the guitarist The Edge had to cope with the separation from his wife Aislinn and their three children.

The first signs of the new music genre showed up with U2's cover version of Night and Day by Cole-Porter - tribute album Red Hot + Blue . For the first time drum computers and then modern synthesizer sound appeared in a U2 song.

Work on Achtung Baby got off to a slow start. The producer Brian Eno consistently boycotted everything that "sounded like the old U2" and encouraged the band to break new ground. While singer Bono and guitarist Edge wanted to steer their music towards industrial rock like My Bloody Valentine , KMFDM and Nine Inch Nails , bassist Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen wanted to move more towards blues rock . U2 stagnated for weeks without being able to agree on anything before a breakthrough was achieved with the song One . The ballad, which addresses two people in the midst of a bitter argument, who in the end do not reconcile but at least endure each other, transformed the creative and personal barriers into a productive, album-filling subject. In the course of the recordings "trash beats merged with springy bass lines and led simple melodies into complex arrangements."

The themes of Achtung Baby emerged as “gloomy themes such as ... loss of innocence, betrayal, turning away from God [and] fantasies of omnipotence”. In addition to the song One , u. a. the nihilistic, rave- oriented The Fly and the funk- inspired Mysterious Ways . Bono's development "from a boy with an innocent voice to a cynical actor who only seems to feel at home as a bogeyman" is emphasized.

During the work, seven CDs with unfinished songs were stolen from the studio. This material, much sought after by fans, quickly became available in the form of bootlegs . The best of the seven CDs was brought to the fans on a three-CD box bootleg under the name Salome .

Achtung Baby had a happy ending for The Edge , as he met his wife, Morleigh Steinberg, while filming the video for Mysterious Ways .

To the title of the album

The German title of the album Achtung Baby is explained by the fact that the album was mostly created in the Berlin Hansa Studios. The band was inspired by the atmosphere in the city in the months after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The sound engineer Joe O'Herlihy is said to have shouted this warning often while working on the album. It is a quote from the popular musical Spring for Hitler by Mel Brooks ( The Producers , 1968). In the song The Fly the warning is also pronounced.

Track list

1. Zoo Station - 4:36
2. Even Better Than the Real Thing - 3:41
3. One - 4:36
4. Until the End of the World - 4:39
5. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses - 5:16
6. So Cruel - 5:49
7. The Fly - 4:29
8. Mysterious Ways - 4:04
9. Tryin 'to Throw Your Arms Around the World - 3:53
10. Ultra Violet (Light My Way) - 5:31
11. Acrobat - 4:30
12. Love Is Blindness - 4:23

The Fly , Mysterious Ways , One , Even Better Than the Real Thing , and Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses were released as singles . The song One was covered by Johnny Cash in 2000 as part of his American Recordings for the album American III: Solitary Man . In 2006 he was re-recorded as a duet with Mary J. Blige .

reception

The music magazine Rolling Stone selected the album at number 63 of the 500 best albums of all time .

Sales figures and awards

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Argentina (CAPIF)	platinum	60,000
Australia (ARIA)	5 × platinum	350,000
Brazil (PMB)	gold	100,000
Denmark (IFPI)	2 × platinum	40,000
Germany (BVMI)	platinum	500,000
Finland (IFPI)	gold	34,938
France (SNEP)	2 × platinum	600,000
Italy (FIMI)	gold	50,000
Canada (MC)	diamond	1,000,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	5 × platinum	75,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	platinum	100,000
Austria (IFPI)	platinum	50,000
Sweden (IFPI)	platinum	100,000
Switzerland (IFPI)	gold	25,000
Spain (Promusicae)	platinum	100,000
United States (RIAA)	8 × platinum	8,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	4 × platinum	1,200,000
All in all	4 × gold 32 × platinum 1 × diamond	12,194,938

Main article: U2 (band) / Music Sales Awards

20th anniversary

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the release of Achtung Baby , the documentary From the Sky Down by director Davis Guggenheim on the history of the record was presented. At the same time, a CD re-release was released on October 28, 2011, with some bonus material that was previously unreleased.

Attention Baby (20th Anniversary)

This edition contains the complete album as well as a 24-page booklet.

Attention Baby 20th Anniversary - Remastered (Deluxe Edition)

This edition contains the complete album as well as the following bonus tracks on two CDs. A 24-page booklet is also included.

1. Lady With The Spinning Head (Uv1)
2. Blow your house down
3. Salomé
4. Even Better Than The Real Thing (Single Version)
5. Satellite Of Love
6. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (Temple Bar Remix)
7. Paint It Black
8. Even Better Than The Real Thing (Fish Out Of Water Remix)
9. Mysterious Ways (The Perfecto Mix)
10. Night And Day (Steel String Remix)
11. The Lounge Fly Mix
12. Fortunate Son
13. Alex Descends Into Hell For A Bottle Of Milk / Korova 1
14. Where Did It All Go Wrong?

Attention Baby 20th Anniversary - Remastered (Limited Super Deluxe Edition)

This limited edition contains 6 CDs including the original Achtung Baby album, the follow-up album Zooropa , B-sides and revisions of previously unreleased material from the Achtung Baby sessions, four DVDs including the documentary From The Sky Down , the Live DVD Zoo TV: Live From Sydney , all videos from Achtung Baby and bonus material. In addition, a 92-page hardcover book and 16 art prints.

Attention Baby 20th Anniversary - Remastered (limited + numbered super deluxe edition)

This strictly limited and numbered super deluxe edition is a box equipped with magnetic puzzle pieces that contains: six CDs including the original Achtung Baby album, the follow-up album Zooropa , B-sides and revisions of previously unreleased material the attention baby sessions. Four DVDs including the documentary From The Sky Down , the live DVD Zoo TV: Live From Sydney , all videos from Achtung Baby and bonus material. In addition, five clear 7 "vinyl singles in their original packaging, 16 art prints from the original album cover, a 84-page hardcover book, a copy of Propaganda magazine, four badges, a sticker sheet and topics Fly sunglasses included.

supporting documents

1. ↑ Attention Baby by U2 . classicrockreview.com. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
2. ↑ Tour Archive 1991 . u2tour.de. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
3. ↑ ^{a b} U2 towards the zoo: This is how "Achtung Baby" came about . rollingstone.de. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
4. ^ Zoo TV Tour . BBC.co.uk. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
5. ↑ ^{a b} U2 - Attention Baby , laut.de
6. ↑ U2 towards the zoo: This is how “Achtung Baby” , Rolling Stone came about
7. ↑ Brian Eno : Bringing Up Baby . In: Rolling Stone . No. 618, November 28, 1991.
8. ↑ [1] , musikexpress.de
9. ↑ What is Salomé? . u2faqs.com. Archived from the original on April 17, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
10. ↑ Biography: The Edge , u2tour.de
11. ↑ "Achtung Baby" - Best album of the last 25 years! . motor.de. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
12. ↑ www.u2faqs.com ( Memento from April 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
13. ↑ Annals of Music: U2 Song “One” 1992 . PopHistoryDig.com. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
14. ↑ 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - 62nd place . rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on December 31, 2009. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
15. ^ U2 Documentary Shows Band's Early Struggles With "Achtung Baby" Time . rollingstone.com. Retrieved May 26, 2012.

Web links

• Information and texts on the official website
• Description at u2wanderer.org
• Review at u2tour.de