“With or Without You” quickly became U2’s first No.1 in the US. But Bono
wasn’t satisfied, claiming: “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. That
gave Edge the idea for a song – which they added to the album – and that went
to No.1, too.
Only the fourth rock band to grace the cover of Time
magazine, U2 were now "Rock's Hottest Ticket". According to Edge’s
dad, Ledge. And The Joshua Tree bagged them their first pair of Grammys.
How to follow such success? Well, Bono & the boys
decided to make a documentary of the JT Tour (as in: Joshua Tree, obviously.
Justin Timberlake hadn’t been born yet, had he?). They called it Rattle and
Hum. Then made a (double) album of the same name; a ‘tribute to American
music’.
Unfortunately it was a case of 'After the Lord Mayor’s Show', Rattle and Hum taking the role of
the donkey-cart. The only thing it cleaned up was a steaming pile of manure
from the Lord Mayor’s stallions.
As is so often the case after you strike gold in music (or
art generally), you get complacent and follow up with a turkey. R&H was
roundly panned by film and music critics alike, forcing U2 into hiding… on a
yacht just off the coast of Barbados.
The band had to bounce back with studio album #7 – and did
so, inspired by the bulldozing of the Berlin
wall and German reunification. November 1991’s Achtung Baby was the result.
Recording the album was a fraught, fractious affair, as the
band argued over their musical direction, quality of material – and whose
turn it was to wear their hair as either a mullet, Afro or crew-cut. Edge
rebelled, scowling: “Screw you! My hair’s receding faster than a tour promoter's budget. I’m
wearing a woolly hat (/toque) from now on. I need a new edge.”
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