achtung baby

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linny82

The Fly
Joined
Jul 22, 2005
Messages
177
Location
holland
hey everyone!
can someone tell me why they called a album achtung baby?
what is the meaning of it?

thank you!:bow:
 
Achtung probably refers to the Berlin recordings. Baby was deliberately throw away, to give people pointers as to the new 'ironic' U2. But I wouldn't read much into the title.
 
I read one of the sound technicians was walking around saying that all the time when they were recording.

You can also hear Bono whisper "achtung baby" in The fly.
 
they actually had trouble coming up with a name for this album while they were making it. Bill Flanagan's book, "U2 at the End of The World" goes into depth about it and it's real interesting. you should check it out =) i'll check out hte book from the library soon and post the excerpt.

right now, i just have a funny quote from the same chapter:
"Adam said that if they use this as the sleeve they should call the record Man - the logical sequel to their first album, Boy. Edge thinks it might be funnier to go with the nude shot and call the album Adam, in tribute to both their bassist and the first mortal (who was also the first man to get kicked out of his home and into a cruel world")."
 
Here's the excerpt from U2: At the End of the World (looks like I beat you to it tuwie) It's a great book, definately check it out if you haven't:

As for the name, they settle on something that no critic can take seriously: Achtung Baby. It is a reference-used frequently in Berlin by U2 soundman Joe O'Herlihy-to The Producers, the Mel Brooks movie about a pair of sleazy theater swindlers who try to create the biggest Broadway flop of all time by staging a musical called Springtime for Hitler.

U2 figures that no critic will accuse them of pomposity with a title like that! Although this critic thinks that given the album's theme of faith and faithlessness Achtung Baby suggests what Elvis Costello called "emotional fascism"-the dictatorship of fidelity.

"It's a bit of a con to call it something as flip as Achtung Baby," Bono admits. "Because underneath that thin layer of trash it's blood and guts. It's a very heavy, loaded record. It's a dense record." He grins. "I told somebody I thought it was a dense record and word got around that we were making a dance record.

I think that the real rebels of the nineties are probably not musicians but comedians. Stand-up comics. Because they have people laughing while they're telling them where they're at. If people see you coming with a placard these days they just get out of your way. U2 has got to be careful. And smart."
 
Meghan said:
Didn't someone run around the studio (not a band member, but someone important) screaming "ACHTUNG BABY!!!!" ?

I've heard that was the reason why they called the album like that, me too!

And yes, achtung means attention!
 
an_cat said:
As for the name, they settle on something that no critic can take seriously: Achtung Baby. It is a reference-used frequently in Berlin by U2 soundman Joe O'Herlihy-to The Producers, the Mel Brooks movie about a pair of sleazy theater swindlers who try to create the biggest Broadway flop of all time by staging a musical called Springtime for Hitler.
Originally posted by lady luck
I've heard that was the reason why they called the album like that, me too!

And yes, achtung means attention!

I knew I wasn't crazy!








:eyebrow: or am i? :crazy:
 
I think it's Warning, not attention..... but hey, I might be wrong. Great name for an album though (and it just happens to be my favourite) :wink:
 
From a book I've got called 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die it says:

'The stupidest title for a great album could have been even worse. Before "Achtung Baby", taken from the movie The Producers, U2 reportedly considered "68 and I'll Owe You One".'

Hmmm :eyebrow:
 
1. it's in the Fly (@2:16 after "it's no secret at all")
2. larry can only pronounce it as axting baby
3. the album is a heavy mother so it needed a lighthearted Mel Brooks title.

all correct, but it is obviously another sexual reference:

4. from Love is Blindness

"A little death"
"without mourning"
"no call"
"and no warning"
"baby..."
 
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