I was studying in Europe (Rome) for the first time when AB came out.
I had heard rumors of a new U2 album coming out but nothing specific. Late one night I was in a bar in Rome, not far from the Pantheon. There was a tv (with the sound turned down) up above the bar in the corner. Out of the corner of my eye I happened to catch the end of a music video and I thought the little box of white text in the corner said it was U2, but all I saw was a guy in black leather and huge sunglasses and a drummer in the background that looked vaguely like Larry Mullen. Nah, couldn't be - must be some European group I had never heard of.
A few weeks later I was browsing through a CD shop looking for U2 bootlegs (Record stores in Rome were filled with all sorts of bootlegs at the time and I had never seen any in the US).
Almost all the bootleg covers emulated the "U2 look" with a single mono-chromatic picture of the band or Bono or something like that. Then I noticed in the front was this crazy, multi-colored, multi-pictured CD cover that said "U2" on it - but U2 was spelled out on these garish looking rings on someone's hand, and there were naked women and little cars and all sorts of weird stuff on the cover. I figured it had to be one messed up bootleg, so it was worth a listen.
I took the CD up to the counter and (in my best combination of english/italian) asked the store clerk if I could listen to the CD before I decided to buy it. I was worried it might be some horrible audience recording or maybe not even U2 at all. The guy was gracious enough to oblige my request and tossed the cd in the stores cd player.
Within seconds of the CD starting to play I just shook my head and wondered what the hell the music was, because it was clearly not U2. I quickly turned to the clerk and told him he could turn it off because I was looking for a U2 cd and not whatever industrial techno-band was currently playing over the speakers. The clerk just smiled, laughed, and said in Italian what I interpreted as "That is U2 my friend, it's their new album". I was stunned. Zoo Station rolled into EBTTRT and I figured either my Italian was worse than I thought and I misunderstood this guy or he was just trying to sell the naive American some techno album. I was too embarrassed to ask again if he was sure this was U2, so my Lira and I soon parted ways and I left the store with my new Achtung Baby CD (still half convinced the guy had just sold me an album by another group).
Nevertheless, I headed back to the library of the school where I was studying, popped the disc in my Cd player and put my headphones on to hear whatever it was I just purchased. From the very first listen through the CD I loved One - and knew that this was indeed U2 - but I thought the rest of the disc was so out of character for the band. I wasn't sure if I should love it or hate it. My instinct was to like it, but I definitely didn't "get it" for the first few weeks I owned the CD.
About a month after buying the CD I happened to travel to Berlin for the first time. Upon arriving at Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten my inner U2 geek made the otherwise obvious connection between the song Zoo Station and where I found myself standing. People and trains heading off in all directions, train schedules and times in German emanating from overhead speakers, echoing all over the station. It was all so disorienting to me. It took all of 10 seconds, but suddenly the opening riff, the lyrics, the distortion of Zoo Station made a lot more sense. The train station was that song and that song was the perfect soundtrack for this train station.
After that, I couldn't get enough of the CD. All the layers of the album started to slowly peel back after that. The perfect soundtrack for a year studying and traveling in Europe for the first time. I was hooked.
Right time, right place, right album. Will never forget it.