Saturday, July 14, 2007

Desert Island Discs: Achtung Baby

Well, I figure it’s about time I post another Desert Island pick. I was thinking that when I was on the island I wouldn’t just want the mid-tempo potentially depressing stuff that I generally chose as my alltime favorites. Sometimes you want something else. Maybe a classic. Well, Achtung Baby is the best of both worlds for me. It has the tunefulness and artistry that I consistently like and the rocker sense that U2 always maintains.

My dad, who is crazy, has a fondness for Atomic Bomb, but I prefer Achtung. I pretty much love every song on the album, and I especially can’t get enough of the haunting tone of “Love is Blindness.” I like the wry, complex tone of all U2’s writing (and performance) in the ‘90s. I even like Pop, which is everybody’s least favorite U2 album.

I was sort of late coming to the U2 fanbase. While Achtung Baby was released when I was eight years old, I really got into it in college, over 10 years later. In fact, everybody at my college was into U2. It was more popular than a Calvin sweatshirt or floor dating. “Beautiful Day” was the song of choice to blast out of your dormroom window. And while I am sometimes loathe to follow the crowd, there are some things that everybody likes because they are undeniably good.

Previous Picks:
Ohio

Other Players:
Dad
Jim
Matt

5 comments:

Bob K said...

Great pick and, no, I'm not "crazy" and, in fact, mentioned it as an album that could easily have been on my list.

James Kammin said...

I'm not a U2 fan. Someone at work gave me a copy of Atomic Bomb and I listened to it multiple times and I just couldn't get into it.

bethany said...

Atomic isn't the best gateway album, IMO. But I won't heap scorn on your clear guilt for liking music and not U2...

Morgan said...

Just for the record, I love Pop. One of my favorites. Zooropa is not everyone's least favorite U2? It's probably mine.

Anonymous said...

rumour has it in ireland that they didnt write achtung baby.