I bet if we did a poll around here we'd find that 98% of those who are less than excited about HTDAAB and ATYCLB are those who fell in love with U2 at Achtung.
Those who are younger, or simply weren't into U2 in the early-mid 90's, and are going back to those albums, not having lived with them as they were happening, probably don't understand their full meaning at the time. The Fly sounded like nothing else on the radio. Popular rock in 91 meant Guns'n'Roses, Bon Jovi and other left overs from the 80's hair band thing. It was another year till Nirvana/Pearl Jam etc would hit with their take. In the middle was Achtung and The Fly was a sonic boom across the radio. This was followed by Even Better Than The Real Thing, Mysterious Ways etc all full of sounds that couldn't be compared to much else that was out there. And on top of that, the whole thing was such an extreme and massive about turn for the band. The last the world had heard was All I Want Is You, and after a decade, everyone thought they knew the band, their sound and their image. Then, bang, Achtung hits. Bono's in shades and leather. The band are a completely, totally different animal. The whole Zoo thing takes flight.
A couple of years later we are handed another complete turn around, and the lead single off Zooropa is the guitarist mumbling a bunch of life-lessons over the top of this sampled, looped track that again sounds nothing like the album before.
Followed by Lemon, Stay etc and we're on a whole other journey. Discotheque lacked the same punch, but imagine if they'd used Mofo as the lead single.....
You can see how for those of us who were part of this journey, the last couple of albums can seem.... rather dull, middle of the road, safe etc. There is none of the creativity. None of the boundary pushing. None of the depth musically, lyrically, not in any way.
The Fly sparked a wildfire that I wish was still burning.