U2
Achtung Baby

THE REVIEW

Like an electric shock.

The U2 of "The Joshua Tree", immersed in boundless landscapes and harmonious compositions, are abruptly awakened by the infernal sound of a fly in the head.

The shock is total, a complete U-turn, a 360-degree change. It's the crazy riff of "The Fly", the emblematic song of "Achtung Baby", that opens the second U2 era: the "Zoo Era".

It's 1991, and a strange man in leather pants and jacket, with fly-like glasses, all strictly in black, is wandering around directing traffic through the streets of Berlin. Wait a moment! Where is the boy with the warm, deep gaze dressed as an old American bluesman gone? disappeared, lost in the deserts of Arizona. In his place is "Mr. The Fly", "The Fly" indeed.

Enveloping electronic arabesques, intense ballads or darkly metropolitan sounds: they are the U2 of "Achtung Baby". Varied, like the cover of 16 tiles, but extremely cohesive to form one large work.

The Wall has just fallen. Its barriers have crumbled, and in its place, the civilization and culture of consumption are definitively rising. U2 are aware of it. They sense it, immersed in the torpor of a cold Berlin beginning to awaken from half a century of division and projecting itself, finally united, towards the new millennium. There is much euphoria in Europe, and words are plentiful about breaking down political and economic borders. Too much euphoria. In the old continent, beneath the rubble of the Wall, there still broods that sense of restlessness and fear that has always characterized it. U2 are aware of this too. They know it and transfigure it in "Achtung Baby", making it a sort of great mosaic of feelings and the human condition in the modern and metropolitan world. The barriers are broken, but where to go now? There are those who try to find a solution with sharp truths ("The Fly"). Some take advantage to distribute shimmering illusions for the future ("Zoo Station"), but soon realize that reality is something else. Men betray each other ("Until the End of the World"), discover the two faces of love. A love that once guides ("Ultraviolet") then turns out to be blind ("Love is Blindness"). But it is a man who also discovers hope and celebrates his unity while recognizing himself in his diversity ("One").

Considered by many to be the album of the '90s, or simply "the album", the objective fact is only one: to date, it has sold 17 million copies. It's an incredible success considering the magnitude of the shift. Quite different from objective, at least at the time, is the judgment on it. There are those who, shocked and disappointed, break it in half before the eyes of their friends, while others shout masterpiece. U2 (as foretold by themselves at the release of the record) lose thousands of fans and gain just as many thousands. A new world opens up, in terms of musical concept, lyricism, but also and above all, in live performance.

Inseparable from the "Achtung Baby" project is the consequent and historic tour: the "Zoo TV", a gigantic multimedia spectacle of images and music. The songs of "Achtung Baby" come to life and are perfectly reshaped in the image and likeness of the show. And so "Mysterious Ways" becomes a sinuous oriental dance bouncing among the amplifiers thanks to master Edge; "The Fly" is the pretext for a barrage of messages projected with full force towards the audience on imposing mega screens. "EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG," "WATCH MORE TV"... these are some of those most will remember. They are ambiguous, irreverent, and ironic messages.

Yes, because U2 change their skin. They shake off the heavy role of rock prophets to project themselves into a colder and more disillusioned dimension. It's the beginning of another journey. Of a trilogy that if it continues very well with "Zooropa" will unfortunately be forced to end in the most tragic way with the disastrous "Pop". But this, as they say, is another story.

See you soon from your Alevox!