A favorite of mine about U2 that begins with A is Achtung Baby. Sorry Adam fans. When AB was released almost 21 1/2 years ago in November 1991, I must admit that I did not like it.  It was such a departure from The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum, and actually from all of their previous albums. I had to listen to it several times before I fell in love with it, and then AB was the only thing I listened to for the next several months. It had a completely different sound from any of U2’s previous albums, but the lyrics were still amazing. And for me, music is all about lyrics – and drums. Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses is my favorite song off AB and one of my top five favorite U2 songs. It is a very emotional and angry song. In fact, I made my first love sit down and listen to the lyrics as I read them to him after he had broken up with me. If I could have written a song about us, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses would have been it. Other favorites of mine off AB are One, So Cruel, Acrobat, and Tryin to Throw Your Arms Around the World – but really all the songs are my favorites. AB has become my second favorite U2 album (since I consider The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum one album).

Besides being a great album, Achtung Baby is significant to me because the ZooTv tour (in support of AB) was my first U2 tour and it was in those four months between the release of AB and the ZooTv tour, that I was transformed from a U2 fan into a U2 fanatic. This was the start of my ‘On the Road with U2.’ I was almost 20 and drove around the East Coast going to eight shows on the ZooTv tour: Hampton VA, Philadelphia, Hershey PA, two shows at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, two shows in Washginton DC, and back to Philadelphia again. AB was also the start of “it’s all about drums” – one of my favorite quotes that I have repeated constantly over the past 20 years. The first time I ever heard it was on the Achtung Baby documentary when Larry said, “I don’t think the lyrics are worth a shit to be honest if you ask me, I think it’s all about drums.”

This blog post is part of my A to Z April Challenge about ‘My U2’ – what I love about U2 from A to Z. Thanks for stopping by. I am also blogging the A to Z Challenge on my other blog Deena’s Days about ‘My Music’ – music I love from A to Z.