90s Album Thread: U2, “Achtung Baby” (1991)

Something peculiar happened when U2 released “Achtung Baby” in 1991. As the youngest of four kids I saw the friends of my older brothers and sister pretty pissed that the band they knew and loved had “gone to outer space” without their permission. I was a little young when “War” and “The Joshua Tree” came out. And while I really liked those albums, I wasn’t married to them either. So when “Achtung Baby” rolled through my Junior year of high school, I was more than available for where this band was headed. And knowing this mega-star group could have easily released another album “in their lane”, it wasn’t lost on me that “Achtung Baby” might be the ballsiest thing I’ve ever seen a rock band do. It was the moment when I realized that U2 was not only great, they were “cool”. I’m sure they weren’t preoccupied with being “cool”, and that’s probably why they are.