BLOG BATTLE! "Achtung" vs. "Unforgettable"

Like most U2 albums, the new No Line on the Horizon will inspire great debate — and a few bar fights. But most everyone will agree it’s not their best. So which U2 album is tops? Stuck in the ’80s hosts Sean Daly and Steve Spears have been battling about this for years. Spears picks The Unforgettable Fire from 1984...or right before Bono shaved his mullet. Daly claims that 1991’s Achtung Baby is 12 tracks of brutally painful, pop-smart perfection.

Why Achtung Baby Rules
1. EVEN BETTER THAN THE OLD THING Bono called it “the sound of four men chopping down The Joshua Tree.” The dark, disorienting Achtung Baby, an electro-popping concept album about love and all its ghastly shadows, proved that U2 could totally implode its signature sound and be the best band in the world — again.

2. TAKE NOTES, BOYS I was 21 years old, a junior at Syracuse University, when I first heard Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses and Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World. And while the songs didn’t help me pick up women, they did teach how to act if I ever did.

3. ONE “Did I ask too much / More than a lot / You gave me nothing / Now it’s all I got.” One is U2’s calling card, their legacy, the most brutally honest song about love’s cracks and fissures you’ll ever hear on the radio. And yet, people still pick it as their wedding song.

To read Steve's Unforgettable prose, go HERE.

Comments

[Kazz]

Sean,

Ultraviolet (LIght My Way) is a great underrated tune from Achtung Baby. The song makes me lean towards this album.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=u2%20ultraviolet&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=u2+ultraviolet&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv&start=20

[Dominic]

Love UF, but AB is the better album. The argument begins and ends with "One," which is their greatest song hands down.

[don in tulsa]

this isn't even close. "achtung baby" is more like the sound of 4 men sucking mightily whereas "the unforgettable fire" is intelligent, important and it plain rocks out. personally i'd take "war" over any other u2 release but that's just my taste.

[erin]

Oh now this isn't even a contest. It's Achtung Baby, baby! And I'm not just saying that because I fell in love with Bono and this album in 1993 when I was a sophomore in high school...OK, maybe I am. But from Even Better Than the Real Thing to The Fly to Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World, this is hands down my favorite U2 album. The Joshua Tree is a close second.

[scooterbucs]

I have to side with Tommy here on album selections. But between AB and UF, I have to pick AB.

[80sfan]

This is probably my favorite U2 album but that definitely was not the case when I first heard it. It was not at all what I expected. But once I heard it live everything changed.

[sparky]

I think I am with Chad. I like Rattle and Hum and Joshua Tree more than either in the battle.

[Tommy]

You're shortchanging readers with a bogus choice, and it's sort of sad that you don't know better: Neither of those are the band's best, in terms of being musically significant and having a ginormous impact on pop culture and influence on other bands.

A smarter question: Which of the below U2 albums is the best?

The Joshua Tree, their sole true masterpiece, and probably the only U2 disc anyone will be listening to decades from now

OR

War, the first U2 recording to fully capture their artistry, and suggest their potential for rock 'n' roll greatness

[Lori]

Did Spearsy draw the short straw, or he is seriously defending his position? Whatever.

"Wild Horses," with the style change, the irregular drumbeat kills me every time. "You're an accident waiting to happen." Lyrics are just... WOW.

"Until the End of the World" hits me at a gut level, too. I don't even know why.

"One" is almost perfection. (Do people seriously play it at weddings? Guess they never bothered to listen to the lyrics.) I got a full orchestral version of "One" through file sharing once upon a time: it was incredible. I grieve every day over the permanent loss of it when the hard drive died. I've never found it again.

[Roy, UK]

Personally I think U2 lost it the moment Bono put on his sunglasses. Does anyone hold the early albums (Boy, October, War) in high esteem? Personally I think they were better than anything U2 produced in the 90s and beyond, certainly more creative.

[dave]

Of course this is all so very subjective, but I've read several U2 books (Bono in Conversation, most recently) and even the band seems to know Achtung is better than JT (or UF). Think of how many follow-ups fall short of expectations, but AB is not one of those. To me when you can set the bar so high and then surpase it that is the true mark of greatness. That is also why I would say The Godfather Part II is superior to Part 1, but the people who say Part 1 is better have a valid point in arguing that it came first and orginated the greatness.

.....c'mon, though Joshua Tree!? I love the album but it doesn't rock :)

[Jeff]

Love UF but Achtung Baby is a better album. It's more adventurous, tells a bit of a story (focusing on both spiritual and marital infidelity), and is less abstract.

While I may love Unforgettable Fire more in many ways it still just isn't at the level of the better fleshed out Joshua Tree. They needed UF to get to JT just as what happened with JT gave us Achtung Baby and the underrated masterpieces that are Zooropa and POP.

Honestly, I love all their albums. Guess that's why I like them better than any other band before or since.

[ian (in CT)]

We can't agree on snack food, but we can agree on this. Achtung Baby is much better than The Unforgettable Fire.

While this album may have defined your years as an Orangeman, this album did define my high school experience.

You win... hands down!

[Brad]

Sean,

I've made my case for Joshua Tree over on Steve's blog. That said, Achtung came out during a dark time in my life, and listening to it got me through some tough times.

It doesn't really have anything to do with the album quality but I had 16th row seats for the Zoo TV tour in LA, and the concert was a religious experience. I guess if Steve is going to use ditching class as a reason Unforgettable Fire is better, I can use that. Edge to Achtung Baby, but basically you guys are arguing about second place.

[Miguel]

I think Spears will win this one Sean. I`m with him on this. Unforgettable Fire,although not as good as The Joshua Tree (my personal favorite),is better (in my humble oppinion) than Atchung Baby. They made their best music in the 80s i believe.

[CHAD]

ok, i'm a u2 fan, but not the fanatic kind of fan that salavates with the mere mention of the band. i like their music. while i admire them for their longevity and stamina, and the ability to survive after all these years, i only listen to them on ocassion. i have all the cd's. i'll pick up the new one tomorrow. but i'll have to side with neither of you. the joshua tree is their crowing masterpiece. i know that's kinda an easy way out, but the proof is in the songs. sure actung baby and the unforgettable fire have some great songs on them, but they aren't as consistent as joshua. in fact, i might like rattle and hum more than the two cd's in the battle. i know in us circles, that's a big no-no, but i can't help but feel that way. i do have to agree with sean though, one is a brilliant piece of pop. it's my favorite u2 song as well.

[Bassnote]

While I like "Achtung Baby", I did not buy it until almost two years after it came out. I did not like the way the band came across in the media when they promoted the album. They had truly become rock stars, and acted like it. I preferred the more idealistic band they were a few years before. That's why I have to side with Spearsy on this one.

[Marissa]

Hmmmm I didn't own either album. I'm stepping out of this one.