21 Facts About Achtung Baby

Thematically, Achtung Baby is darker, more introspective, and at times more flippant than their previous work.

Achtung Baby is one of U2's most successful records; it received favourable reviews and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 Top Albums, while topping the charts in many other countries.

Achtung Baby has since been acclaimed by writers and music critics as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Whereas Bono exhibited a full-throated vocal delivery on the group's previous releases, for Achtung Baby he extended his range into a lower register and used what Fast described as "breathy and subdued colors".

Achtung Baby said that lowering his voice helped him find a new vocal vocabulary, which he felt was limited to "certain words and tones" by his tenor voice.

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Flanagan interpreted Achtung Baby as using the moon as a metaphor for a dark woman seducing the singer away from his virtuous love, the sun; he is tempted away from domestic life by an exciting nightlife and tests how far he can go before returning home.

Sleeve artwork for Achtung Baby was designed by Steve Averill, who had created the majority of U2's album covers, along with Shaughn McGrath.

Achtung Baby was released on 18 November 1991 in the UK and 19 November in the US on compact disc, tape cassette, and vinyl record, with an initial shipment of more than 1.

Achtung Baby was U2's first album in three years and their first comprising entirely new material in over four years.

Achtung Baby said the album is a difficult one for listeners because of the dark, introspective nature of the songs, which contrasts with the group's uplifting songs of the past.

Achtung Baby commended the band's musical transformation, saying, "U2 proves much more adept at the dance-trance thing than the Happy Roses or Stone Carpets or other indistinguishable haircut bands".

Achtung Baby praised the group for improving their songwriting and incorporating "black humour" into darker lyrical themes.

Achtung Baby called the album "quite an achievement" in following up a successful record, responding to emerging musical influences, and expanding the band's sound while still pleasing existing fans.

Achtung Baby praised Lanois' production and said that due to the Edge's guitar playing, "U2 sounds punkier than it has since its 1980 debut, Boy".

At the 35th Annual Grammy Awards, Achtung Baby won the award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and was nominated for Album of the Year, and it earned Lanois and Eno the award for Producer of the Year .

Achtung Baby peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, spending 93 weeks on the chart.

Achtung Baby is certified 8× platinum in the US by the RIAA, and according to Nielsen Soundscan, the album had sold 5.

Band, Achtung Baby was a watershed that secured their creative future, and its success led to the group's continued musical experimentation during the 1990s.

Achtung Baby argued that U2 were able to take advantage of the alternative rock movement and ensure a successful future by "set[ting] themselves up as the first of the new groups rather than the last of the old".

Achtung Baby concluded that few artists at that stage in their career could have "recorded an album as adventurous or fulfilled their ambitions quite as successfully as U2 [did]".

Achtung Baby has been acclaimed by writers and music critics as one of the greatest albums of all time; according to Acclaimed Music, it is the 82nd-highest-ranked record on critics' lists.