Rank Your Favorite Songs on the Album Part 3: Achtung Baby

[No spoken words]

Well, yeah.

This is not my favorite U2 album, it's #2 for me, but I'll never feel more strongly about a "runner-up" than this one. Still an astonishing album to me, and every time I listen to it in full I feel like I discover something new. Just phenomenal, and, for me, all the sweeter because so many people were counting the band out after R&H.

I worked the night the album was released, bought the CD on my :15 minute break. Store closed, and I went right to my car and listened to the entire album in the parking lot. I'll never, ever forget hearing the beginning of Zoo Station and wondering "what in the fuck is going on here?" in the best possible way. Fuck, what an album.

1. Acrobat
2. Until the End of the World.
3. Zoo Station
4. Ultraviolet
5. The Fly
6. Even Better Than The Real Thing
7. Mysterious Ways
8. One
9. Love Is Blindness
10. So Cruel
11. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
12. Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World
8.

 

[prbiker15]

Easy Listening (in this case) = pretty much average for me.

 

[theedgeu2]

interesting to see these lists... not every list has had a bottom three of Wild Horses, Trying to Throw and So Cruel, but it's pretty damn close.

this album is incredible. it's my favourite U2 album, and sits just behind Dark Side of the Moon for my favourite album of all the albums i've ever heard. and there's been a few; my itunes consists of much more than U2 albums, bootlegs and Dark Side of the Moon.

i had been an interference member for a few weeks, maybe a month or so, and i owned Hut Dab and Atty Club (both of which i used to fiercely defend) and the 80s best of. i got known around this forum because i was only getting into U2 and i went out and bought the albums and then posted straight-up reviews. here's the thread, it's an interesting read: http://www.u2interference.com/forum...ght-achtung-baby-heres-the-review-132695.html

i didn't have much music at the time, and the only track i had heard from this album was Zoo Station, which was the intro music to a number of Australian Rules Football videos i owned. but after listening a few times i really didn't like this album much at all, which bothered me, because everyone else loved it. to say (at the time) that One was anything less than the best song ever made was like heresy.

luckily, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses and Ultraviolet both proved redeeming, so i can back to this album. and i listened to Achtung Baby, and nothing else for two straight weeks. and after those two weeks it grew on me significantly and today i find it the most amazing listen. there isn't one bad song. i can't rank them.

I was very much the same way with Zooropa. Glad Achtung Baby grew on you.

 

[the tourist]

I haven't listened to Achtung Baby in a long time. In fact, it's not even in my iTunes. I decided when I lost my iTunes the last time (crashed) and began importing stuff again, I was going to wait for remasters with regard to U2 (and the Beatles, but that is neither here nor there). I waited with The Unforgettable Fire. I don't know if I'm going to be able to hold out for Achtung Baby.

 

[Nate Dogg]

1.One
2.Until The End Of The World
3.The Fly
4.Ultraviolet
5.Acrobat
6.Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
7.Zoo Station
8.Love Is Blindness
9.Mysterious Ways
10.Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World
11.So Cruel
12.Even Better Than The Real Thing

 

[intedomine]

and the only track i had heard from this album was Zoo Station, which was the intro music to a number of Australian Rules Football videos i owned.

Decade That Delivered for one!

Adore this album, it seems impossible to rank the songs, but here goes.

1. Zoo Station - I love it, I love it's swagger. Imagine going out and buying AB in '91, slamming the disc in the player and this song starts playing. Yes, The Fly "cut down the Joshua Tree" but this turned the fucker into mulch.

2. Mysterious Ways

3. One - it's still awesome, if overplayed. It comes back and bites you sometimes, and all of a sudden you're in awe all over again

4. Ultraviolet

5. The Fly - a stayer, although I was obsessed with this song about 4 years back. Hasn't necessarily grown on me in any way since.

6. Even Better Than The Real Thing

7. Love Is Blindness - another grower. U2's best closer.

8. Until The End Of The World

9. Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World - seems harsh being this low, 'cause it's a wonderfully chilled-sounding song on a not-so-chilled album, a respite of sorts.

10. So Cruel - Becomes a lot more powerful when you can relate to a personal relationship or unresolved romantic tension or heartbreak.

11. Acrobat - used to be obsessed with it when I first heard Achtung Baby for the first time. Whereas pretty much every other song has grown on me since then, Acrobat has stagnated.

12. Whose Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?- dunno really, just doesn't have the same power as the others.

 

[cobl04]

Decade That Delivered for one!

hahaha, yes! with Broooooce!

i agree with you about Tryin' to Throw as well... someone once described it as the final bit of light before the album takes a pretty damn dark turn over the last three (the music moreso over the last two) tracks, and that's why i love it.

was so excited to hear they rehearsed it, a great shame it didn't find its way into the set.

 

[hillers]

This is hard.

1) Acrobat
2) Love Is Blindness
3) Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
4) One
5) Until The End Of The World
6) Mysterious Ways
7) Zoo Station
8) The Fly
9) Even Better Than The Real Thing
10) So Cruel
11) Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
12) Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World

 

[cjboog]

Among U2's Best
1) Ultraviolet
2) The Fly
3) Even Better Than The Real Thing
4) Mysterious Ways
5) Zoo Station

Great
6) Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
7) Until The End of the World
8) One
9) Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around the World
10) So Cruel

Good
(none)

Just OK
11) Acrobat
12) Love is Blindness


What a brilliant album. My lord.

 

[bono_212]

I won't write another five paragrapher, that was a one time only deal, but I have a lot of emotional connections with Achtung Baby, as I very recently posted at great length about...somewhere on this board, I don't recall as to where. In short, Achtung was one of the first U2 albums I purchased, I think probably right after The Best of 1980-1990 (which was second after ATYCLB). I would carry the lyric booklet around with me all of the time, trying to memorize every word, mesmerized by the all too awesome photos in it as well as the illustrations. But never did the album have as much of a hold on me as it did the few weeks that my junior high was putting on a play and I was one of the stage hands. During rehearsals, I had a lot of down time, and I would lay in the back of the theater (the one that was supposedly haunted and scared the shit out of me, which was great considering the vibe of Achtung) on a pile of tables and just listen to Achtung again and again and again. I can't tell you with any certainty just how many times I heard it, but it was a great deal. During that time, I was close with my friends, I was on the verge of the terror that was high school, I thought I was in love, and my life was pretty much great.

Even today, that album transports me to that time and place in an almost physical sense. It's amazing to sit down with it and still have those reactions. But, lately in my life, it has a nice little memory attached with it as well. The very first time I met LemonMelon in real life, he took me to Washington D.C. (something I didn't get to do back in those 8th grade days because the events of September 11th led to the trip being canceled) for the first time. On the ride back, we tossed this album in for the hell of it and ended up singing every word to every song at pretty much the top of our lungs. I literally had a sore throat by the time we got home, but it's just a wonderful memory that U2 had a great part in giving me.

So anyways, rankings:

1.) So Cruel (I have this silly little memory of sitting at lunch with my friends one day, flipping through the Achtung Baby lyric book. Someone said something and I replied, "Your so cruel," and I was shocked when I looked down and saw a song of that title staring me in the face. I wasn't very familiar with the track titles yet, so I didn't know there was a song by that name .
2.) Ultra Violet (This song tore me to pieces at one point in my life when I had the biggest crush on my best friend.)
3.) Acrobat (I was a sheltered child, and for a very long time, I wouldn't listen to this song because he said a naughty word in it . Unfortunately, for that reason, I missed out on Love Is Blindness for a whole hell of a long time)
4.) Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
5.) Love Is Blindness
6.) One (It may be overplayed, and it may not carry the emotion it once did, but hearing this song when Bono puts his heart into it live is part of what makes U2 this band that I love so very much)
7.) The Fly

8.) Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around the World (For no reason I can really be sure of, I associate this song most with those 8th grade days. I think it's because I was so amused by some of the lyrics at the time)
9.) Until the End of the World (One of U2's greatest live songs, every time I've seen it it's blown my mind, but never more than on the 360 tour. The acting with the bridges was amazing, and then my absolute favorite U2 song followed it. Quite a moment for me)

10.) Mysterious Ways (One of the highlights of my life was finally seeing Shamu the whale )
11.) Zoo Station
12.) Even Better than the Real Thing


Much longer post than I intended. For the record, I enjoy all of the songs on this album, but there is a huge gap between "Until the End of the World" and "Mysterious Ways". Maybe I should start putting a rating after the songs like ElMel does

 

[LemonMelon]

interesting to see these lists... not every list has had a bottom three of Wild Horses, Trying to Throw and So Cruel, but it's pretty damn close.

this album is incredible. it's my favourite U2 album, and sits just behind Dark Side of the Moon for my favourite album of all the albums i've ever heard. and there's been a few; my itunes consists of much more than U2 albums, bootlegs and Dark Side of the Moon.

i had been an interference member for a few weeks, maybe a month or so, and i owned Hut Dab and Atty Club (both of which i used to fiercely defend) and the 80s best of. i got known around this forum because i was only getting into U2 and i went out and bought the albums and then posted straight-up reviews. here's the thread, it's an interesting read: http://www.u2interference.com/forum...ght-achtung-baby-heres-the-review-132695.html

i didn't have much music at the time, and the only track i had heard from this album was Zoo Station, which was the intro music to a number of Australian Rules Football videos i owned. but after listening a few times i really didn't like this album much at all, which bothered me, because everyone else loved it. to say (at the time) that One was anything less than the best song ever made was like heresy.

luckily, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses and Ultraviolet both proved redeeming, so i can back to this album. and i listened to Achtung Baby, and nothing else for two straight weeks. and after those two weeks it grew on me significantly and today i find it the most amazing listen. there isn't one bad song. i can't rank them.

Yeah, Achtung isn't an easy sell, especially with no context. I bought the album one morning with allowance I had saved up for weeks. The fucker cost $20 because FYE should stand for Fucking You Over. Sadly, it's FYE, not FYO. Anyways, I was 11 years old. I was a sheltered kid, but I can't possibly imagine that anyone that age is emotionally prepared for songs like Love Is Blindness or Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, least of all myself. I couldn't get into those tracks for the longest time. Thankfully, EBTTRT, UTEOTW, The Fly and Mysterious Ways were there, and I played them into the ground. Since my first listen in May 2002, I would venture to guess that I've heard the album 100-150 times. Naturally, the impact the album once had on me is no longer present. It's metamorphosed.

Recent listens have shown me that, much like Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys, Achtung Baby is one of those albums I truly don't believe you can understand until you've fallen in love. It doesn't even function the same way that emo album would because it doesn't cater to self-pitying assholes; it's just brutally honest. Bono and co. haven't given up on love, they've merely seen it for what it can be. Inevitably, they will return. It's a brilliant topic for a record, and the forward-thinking music gave the album an audience that would have otherwise turned on it.

 

[intedomine]

Recent listens have shown me that, much like Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys, Achtung Baby is one of those albums I truly don't believe you can understand until you've fallen in love. It it.

I agree with this. It's been my favourite U2 album for about 7 years now, and while I've always marvelled at the lyrical complexity, I could never really relate to the lyrics in the same way I could relate to the lyrics on Boy especially. Then stuff happens in your life and all of a sudden you're listening to some of the songs (in my case So Cruel, Real Thing, Love Is Blindness, Acrobat, TTTYAATW) in a context you'd never listened to them previously. And Bono's vocals really compliment the lyrics in a truly special way. The nail gets well n truly hit on the head, quite staggering.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

I worked the night the album was released, bought the CD on my :15 minute break. Store closed, and I went right to my car and listened to the entire album in the parking lot. I'll never, ever forget hearing the beginning of Zoo Station and wondering "what in the fuck is going on here?" in the best possible way. Fuck, what an album.

so jealous. achtung baby was the first u2 album i remember listening to so that was the u2 i formed all my opinions on or whatever.

achtung baby holds so many memories for me. whenever i listen to it, it's the early 90s again, wintertime, and i'm back in md/wv. i love this album, always have. except for one. i never liked one. i don't really have any specific stories about this album or any really, it's mostly specific songs holding specific memories. but yeah.

it's insanely hard for me to rank this album as i don't even know what's my favourite song off it. most albums i know my ranking and it doesn't change, but this is what i think for today, at least:

1. zoo station
2. even better than the real thing
3. the fly
4. mysterious ways
5. until the end of the world
6. ultraviolet
7. love is blindness
8. acrobat
9. tryin' to throw your arms around the world
10. who's gonna ride your wild horses

20. so cruel

5000000. one

 

[lazarus]

1. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
(in this spot since my first listen the night it came out. I know it's considered the most "normal" song on here, but I love the dissonance between the violin in one ear and the guitar in the other at the beginning)
2. Acrobat
3. Until the End of the World
4. Mysterious Ways
5. So Cruel
6. The Fly
7. One
8. Love is Blindness
9. Zoo Station
10. Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around the World
11. Ultraviolet

12. Even Better Than The Real Thing

The only other thing I'll say is that EBTTRT is the only song I don't love to death; it's a good track and I'd never skip it but musically and lyrically the most throwaway for me. The distance between the others is very, very small in each case. This is the closest thing I've ever heard to a perfect album as far as rock and roll is concerned.

 

[Flaming Friar Sr]

Here goes:

1. Acrobat
2. Love Is Blindness
3. Until The End Of The World
4. The Fly
5. One
6. Mysterious Ways
7. Zoo Station
8. Even Better Than The Real Thing
9. Ultraviolet
10. So Cruel
11. Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World
12. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Like ranking your children - bit tough. Might give it a go later, but I suppose I have to give the #1 spot to the Fly, if only out of respect, as hearing that on the radio for the first time was an awakening kind of slap across the face for me. I already owned Rattle & Hum (first CD I ever bought!) but I was a bit young for that. By the time Achtung came around, I'd hit my teens, just of the age where you're ready to 'get' music I suppose. I could not get enough of the Fly, and when Achtung was released, a friend of mine and I went out and bought it on that first Saturday, went back to his place, stuck it on his parents big stereo, and...

1. Zoo Station - I love it, I love it's swagger. Imagine going out and buying AB in '91, slamming the disc in the player and this song starts playing.

... I can assure you that was just as awesome as you imagine. Nothing sounded like Achtung Baby, especially to commercial-radio-only tuned 13 year old ears. Track after track, and suddenly you understand that, okay, so music is something else then. And so begins a love affair not just with U2, but music in general. And the great thing was that at 13, 14, 15, 16... what the hell do you know about the subject matter on Achtung? Nothing. Songs like Mysterious Ways and Even Better than the Real Thing at that age are just really cool songs, and even though you can sense the feeling or mood beneath them, you don't really understand it. So it just grew better and better as I got older and started to 'get' the lyrical content, and how great each song musically plays against that content.

Anyway, track ranking:

1. Honourary awarding to the Fly.
2. Everything else equally.

 

[coolian2]

1. the fly
2. until the end of the world
3. ultraviolet
4. zoo station
5. mysterious ways
6. acrobat
7. even better than the real thing
8. love is blindness
9. who's gonna ride your wild horses
10. tryin' to throw your arms around the world
11. so cruel
12. one

1-9 almost inseparable. one drags for me in studio. live on zoo tv and popmart it was fantastic, so i'm not a hater for the sake of hating.

 

[cobl04]

i will forever be jealous of those who heard Achtung in '91 and were able to go to a Zoo TV show.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Radio has changed, the charts have changed, U2 have changed.

 

[An Cat Gav]

My favourite album by any artist of all time. This record means more to me than any other. No weak songs on it at all and it contains many of the strongest songs U2 ever recorded. Also the themes, layers and tone of the record speak to me in so many different ways that nearly twenty years later and let's say 5,000 listens I am still finding new things that I hadn't noticed before.
1. The Fly- my favourite U2 single of all time, it had been a long wait for me since the ever so slightly disappointing(though my teenaged self would have never admitted that I was slightly disappointed, even to myself!) Rattle and hum, and this single just blew me away, I had just finished my final exams at my shitty high school and this was the soundtrack to my freedom!
2. Even better Than the real Thing- Possibly the most thrilling song they have ever released and definitely the most thrilling video, extremely sexy and possibly a slight druggy-rushing feeling that still gets me high after all these years!
3. Until the End Of The World- my God this song is so incredible and works on so many levels, great lyrics, great work by the edge, again, very sexy, and when you consider that it's a song about the betrayal of Christ, that's quite a feat.
4. Love is Blindness- What a way to end an album, a seriously down, sultry and harsh song that doesn't really offer any light at the end of the tunnel, most unlike U2, and I can't get enough of it.
5. Ultraviolet - like LIB, no light at the end of the tunnel here either, which is ironic considering the songs title. Works brilliantly live too. Again, great lyrics and a fantastic riff from the edge.
6. So Cruel- I know it's not that popular here and I don't know why. One of Bono's finest ever vocals. Maybe it could have been shortened a little, but it should have been a single.
7. Acrobat - big favourite on interference and with me also, it only comes 7th because of the strength of the other material on the album, too much competition. Bono's anger is palpable, genuine anger and like bullet the blue sky edge manages to channel that anger to great effect through his amplifiers. Great great lyrics yet again.
8. Zoo Station- With it's nod to neu's hallogallo, this is the perfect way to introduce the new u2, the train is coming but we don't know where it's going, but from hearing this track I knew it was somewhere I'd never want to return from.
9. One - certainly not the greatest song of all time, not the greatest U2 song of all time and not even the greatest song on side 1 of achtung baby, but it's still a lot better than a lot of the naysayers on here think. Stately yet understated this slow burning anthem builds to a great crescendo , really love it, though I am probably the only one here who thinks the studio version is superior to the live
10. Mysterious ways- great single which has so much going on and one of the few on this album that gets better played live. u2 get funky and shock horror they pull it off!
11 . Trying To throw - this song acts as a bridge between the upbeat and again, sexy Mysterious Ways, to the dark night of the soul trilogy at the end, a world weary hungover that ditty, that far from being sugar coated it perfectly reflects the stumble back to the house "where no one can sleep".
12 WGRYWH - first time I heard it it was my fave on the record, pretty much because it sounded the most like old-u2 and I was reassured, but as I quickly got into the rest of the record this one sunk like a stone. A very good track, but is still a little, dare I say it, boring, compared to the relentless rush I experienced and still experience to this day when I hear the rest of AB. Also don't think it should have been a single.
Achtung Baby, I love you!

 

[mad1]

oh a la la LA, cause Achtung is a fukin awesome album, not my top fav album, but still very awesome and raw as hell.

sooooooo from top fav to least fav:


Zoo Station
Whos Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
Until the End of the World
Ultraviolet
So Cruel
Tryin to Throw Your Arms Around the World
Even Better Than the Real Thing
Acrobat
Love is Blindness
The Fly
One
Mysterious Ways

 

[nielsgov]

9. One - certainly not the greatest song of all time, not the greatest U2 song of all time and not even the greatest song on side 1 of achtung baby, but it's still a lot better than a lot of the naysayers on here think. Stately yet understated this slow burning anthem builds to a great crescendo , really love it, though I am probably the only one here who thinks the studio version is superior to the live

You're definitly not the only one.

 

[adypole]

1) UTEOTW-One of U2's most climatic songs, really exciting and hard rocking.
2) Acrobat-Haunting. Energetic. One of my favourites.
3) The Fly-Hard rocking and full of character!
4) Mysterious Ways-Funky and inventive. I love the way the guitar bends and whines and the bongos make for great percussion!
5) Love Is Blindness-Perhaps my favourite slow tempo U2 song.

________________

6) Ultraviolet
7) Tryin' to Throw Your Arms
8) One
9) Even Better Than The Real Thing
10) Zoo Station
11) Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
12) So Cruel

 

[Roland of Gilead]

1. Until the End of the world
2. The Fly
3. Ultraviolet

4. Zoo Station
5. Even Better Than the Real Thing
6. One
7. Acrobat
8. Love is Blindness
9. Mysterious Ways
10. Who's Gonna Ride...
11. Tryin' To Throw Your Arms...

12. So Cruel

From Awesome/Excellent/ straight to Meh

 

[U2girl]

1) One
2) So cruel
3) Until the end of the world
4) Love is blindness
5) Ultraviolet
6) Mysterious ways


7) Who's gonna ride
8) Tryin'
9) Acrobat


10) Zoo station
11) EBTTRT
12) The fly

 

[Catman]

I'm actually shocked so many people here place "One" so low. I really do think it might just be the band's best song... or 2nd best (upon reflecting right now, I might give "Lemon" that honor (yes, "Lemon" ). Anyway, onto the list!

12) Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
11) Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
10) Zoo Station
9) So Cruel
8) Ultraviolet
7) Acrobat
6) Even Better Than the Real Thing
5) Love is Blindness
4) Mysterious Ways
3) Until the End of the World
2) The Fly
1) One

 

[partygirl43]

This was fairly easy. AB is my favorite U2 album, so beautiful and emotionally brutal. I was in a fairly tough place in my personal life last year and anytime I listen to this it was like a knife in my heart. It has taken me a while to re-visit it and I'm sure my rankings will change as I feel all of my top choices are fairly dark:

Acrobat
Love is Blindness
So Cruel
Ultraviolet
Who's gonna ride
Mysterious Ways
UTEOFW
The Fly
One
Even Better
Trying to Throw your Arms around the world
One

 

[cobl04]

someone on here once said to me, if you want some sort of understanding of the phrase "four men tearing down the Joshua Tree", and how this was such new ground for U2, listen to JT/R&H, all the way through, and it ends with the strings of All I Want is You.

and then the next sound you hear? the dirty, distorted guitar strike and murky vocals of Zoo Station.

 

[chocky]

1. One
2. Acrobat
3. Love is Blindness
4. Ultraviolet
5. Until the End of the World
6. The Fly
7. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
8. So Cruel
9. Mysterious Ways
10. Even Better Than the Real Thing
11. Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around the World
12. Zoo Station

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Time for mine.

1.) The Fly
2.) Until the End of the World
3.) Acrobat
4.) Zoo Station
5.) Love Is Blindness
6.) Ultraviolet
7.) Even Better Than the Real Thing
8.) Mysterious Ways
9.) Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around The World
10.) Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
11.) One
12.) So Cruel

A seemingly flawless album.