Maps of Music

Achtung Baby (1991)

Where the lyrics of Achtung Baby take you, and where it was really made.

The album's title was chosen partly to disguise its seriousness: the band called it a con, grinning up their sleeves while calling it probably the heaviest record they had made.

Key places

Where the sessions began in Berlin (1991)

Recording site Hansa Studios — U2 began recording Achtung Baby at Hansa Studios in West Berlin in October 1990, near the recently opened Berlin Wall. The band had come to Berlin for inspiration from German reunification. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

The Dublin sessions at Elsinore (1991)

Recording site Elsinore — In February 1991 the band moved the recording sessions to Elsinore, a seaside manor in the Dublin suburb of Dalkey. The sessions there were more relaxed and productive, as the house was within walking distance of Bono's and the Edge's homes. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Mixing at Windmill Lane (1991)

Recording site Windmill Lane Studios — After the Elsinore work ended in July 1991, the sessions moved to Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin. There Eno, Flood, Lanois and Steve Lillywhite mixed the tracks, and each producer made his own mixes. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Achtung Baby: seventh studio album by the Irish rock band U2
• Produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno
• Released 18 November 1991 by Island Records
• Moved the band's sound toward alternative, industrial and electronic dance influences
• Darker, more introspective and at times more flippant than earlier work
• Bono's lyrics were partly inspired by the failed marriages of two friends, one of them guitarist the Edge

Background

• Followed criticism of the 1988 film and album Rattle and Hum and a sense of creative stagnation
• Band sought inspiration from German reunification
• Recording began at Hansa Studios in Berlin in October 1990
• Sessions were marked by conflict over musical direction and the quality of the material
• A breakthrough came with the improvised writing of 'One'
• Morale and productivity improved in later sessions in Dublin, where the album was completed in 1991

Recording

• Producers hired because of their earlier work with the band on The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree
• Band arrived in Berlin on 3 October 1990, on the last flight into East Berlin before German reunification
• Berlin sessions produced only two songs in two months
• February 1991: sessions moved to Elsinore, a seaside manor in Dalkey near Dublin
• Mixing took place at Windmill Lane Studios from July 1991
• Final deadline was 21 September 1991

Cover

• Sleeve designed by Steve Averill and Shaughn McGrath of the design firm Works Associates
• Front sleeve is a 4x4 grid of multiple images, reflecting the band's change in direction
• Nude photo of Adam Clayton on the back cover was censored in the US with a sticker

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• U2 are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1976 by teenage pupils of Mount Temple Comprehensive School.
• Members: Bono (lead vocals), the Edge (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Adam Clayton (bass), Larry Mullen Jr. (drums).
• The band was first named Feedback, then The Hype, and in March 1978 took the name U2.
• They won the Pop Group '78 talent contest in Limerick and signed with Island Records in 1980.

Career

• Debut album Boy (1980); War (1983) was their first UK number-one album.
• The Joshua Tree (1987) made them international stars and was their greatest critical and commercial success, selling about 25 million copies.
• The band reinvented their sound in the 1990s with Achtung Baby (1991) and the Zoo TV Tour.
• Their 2009–2011 360° Tour held records for the highest-grossing concert tour until 2019.
• In 2023 they released Songs of Surrender and began the U2:UV Achtung Baby Live residency at Sphere in Las Vegas.
• Estimated record sales: about 170 million worldwide; 22 Grammy Awards; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (2005).

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone (Elysa Gardner): album broadened the band's musical palette and its ambitions were realised
• Entertainment Weekly (Bill Wyman): called it a pristinely produced and surprisingly unpretentious return
• The Boston Globe (Steve Morse): said the album reinvigorated the sound and dropped self-righteousness
• Los Angeles Times (Robert Hilburn): called the guitar-driven textures among the band's most confident and vigorous, while warning the dark, introspective songs would be hard for listeners
• Orlando Sentinel (Parry Gettelmen): said the album showed U2 could still surprise, and praised the band's dance-trance transformation
• The New York Times (Jon Pareles): praised the noisy, vertiginous arrangements while the group kept its pop skills
• Spin (Jim Greer): called it an ambitious failure, with experiments that were hit-and-miss
• The Village Voice (Robert Christgau): rated it a dud, a bad album unworthy of a review

Reappraisal

• Christgau revisited the album two years later: still found it diffuse, but enjoyed a few of its anthems in disguise
• The Guardian's 1997 poll placed the album at number 71 on its 100 Best Albums Ever list
• Rolling Stone's 2003 list placed it at number 62, moved to 63 in 2012 and to 124 in 2020
• Entertainment Weekly's 2013 All-Time Greatest list placed it at number 23
• Spin's 2010 retrospective called U2 the emblematic band of the alternative-rock era with this album

Records

• Debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 Top Albums in December 1991, with 295,000 copies in its first week
• Peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, with 93 weeks on the chart
• Topped the RPM 100 in Canada, the ARIA Albums Chart in Australia and the RIANZ chart in New Zealand
• Sold 10 million copies by the end of 1992; 18 million worldwide in total
• Won the 1993 Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
• Certified 8x platinum in the US by the RIAA
• Certified 5x platinum in Australia, 4x platinum in the UK, and diamond in Canada
• Selected as the winner of the 2024 RTÉ Choice Music Prize for Classic Irish Album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album was the band's first in three years and their first with entirely new material in over four years.
• The title was selected in August 1991, near the end of the album sessions.
• Bono has called the sleeve his favourite U2 cover artwork.
• Only two songs were delivered during the two months in Berlin, though the Edge later said the work there had been more productive than the output suggested.
• The Dublin house Elsinore was nicknamed Dog Town by the band for the tackiness of its exterior dog kennels.
• Tapes from the Berlin sessions were stolen in April 1991 and leaked before the album was finished.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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