U2, The #17 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Four

 (Continued from Part Three)

 

This song represents a breakthrough not only for the album but for U2 in general.  They had hoped to draw inspiration from the falling of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany after defeating Communism.  But the members struggled and this great song was all they had to show for their efforts in Berlin.  But they were once again inspired and finished the album back in Ireland.  "It was a pivotal song in the recording of the album, the first breakthrough in what was an extremely difficult set of sessions," The Edge said to Q magazine in September, 2005.  "One" also topped the Singles charts in Canada and Ireland.

 "Even Better Than The Real Thing" got as high as #3 in Canada and Ireland but only #32 in the U.S., yet another underrated song from U2.  The band won MTV Video Music Awards for Best Group Video.

"Salome" refers to the Biblical story where King Herod asked a dancer, Salome, if he could give her a present.  She requested the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

"Lady With The Spinning Head" was originally a demo that was much more productive than first thought.  As The Edge explained in U2 by U2:

     There was a song called "Lady With The Spinning 

     Head" which we were really struggling with.  It 

     eventually ended up as a B-Side.  But we tried and

     failed to develop it so many times.  It actually 

     spawned three different songs, "The Fly",

     "Ultraviolet (Light My Way" and "Zoo Station".  If 

     you listen to "Lady With The Spinning Head", you 

     will hear elements of all of those songs.

Bono wrote "Love Is Blindness" on piano while the group was recording the album Rattle and Hum in 1988. 

 

The title of "Zoo Station" is from Zoo Bahnhof, a train station in Berlin where the underground portion of the U2 line begins.  The group went to the Berlin Zoo after arriving in Berlin to record the album and the theme reappeared on the group's next album, Zooropa.

"Until The End Of The World" is a conversation between Judas and Jesus, whom Judas betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.

 "Acrobat" finds Bono acknowledging inadequacies, something he and the band intentionally set out to do on this album.  Bono dedicated the song to Delmore Schwartz, who inspired the track with his works, including In Dreams Begin Responsibilities.

 Achtung Baby earned U2 a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and they were nominated for Album of the Year.  “Ultraviolet (Light My Way)” is another of U2's most popular songs among fans.

The Zoo TV tour was an elaborate production which satirized television and its blurring of news, entertainment and home shopping.  In 1993, U2 signed a six-album contract with Island Records/PolyGram.  At the time, the newspaper The Los Angeles Times estimated the deal to be worth $60 million, making U2 the highest-paid Rock group in history.

 

U2 recorded "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" for the movie Faraway, So Close!, which scored a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song.  The group recorded the album Zooropa during a break in the Zoo TV tour.  

 

U2 continued to break ground with Country legend Johnny Cash singing lead vocals on "The Wanderer".

 Zooropa was a unanimous #1 album throughout the world and generated two million in sales in the U.S.  U2 earned a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance for their work on the album.  "Dirty Day" is about the relationship between a father and son, and there is a lot of Bono's Dad in the tune.  His father often gave him fatherly Irish sayings such as "I don't know you and you don't know the half of it" and "No blood is thicker than ink." 

 

The titles of songs that didn't make the album are featured on the cover.  "Zooropa" includes snippets of advertisements from companies such as Colgate, Daz, and Fairy Liquid.  The German phrase "Vorsprung durch technik", which opens the song, is an Audi slogan which means "Lead through technology."

 

"The First Time" is about losing your faith.  "I hadn't lost my faith but I'm very sympathetic to people who have the courage not to believe," Bono said.  "I've seen a lot of people around me be so badly abused by religion they feel they just can't go there any more, which is a shame."

When U2 finished their Zoo TV tour, they had performed before 5.3 million people and they won their seventh Grammy for Best Music Video, Long Form for Zoo TV:  Live from Sydney. 

More more incredible music from U2 still upcoming, exclusively on Inside The Rock Era!