Tom Dunne: Achtung Baby signalled that U2 were going to be the next U2

It was the question that dogged the Irish music scene for years. With a brilliant album in 1991, U2 showed why it wasn't worth even asking

U2 as they appeared on the cover of Achtung Baby in 1991. 

U2’s Achtung Baby turns 30 this week. It was the album that proved The Joshua Tree was no fluke. It has since divided fans into two camps: those who prefer the purity of The Joshua Tree and those who prefer the devilish fun of Achtung. Naturally, I am in neither camp.

I am in a camp marked ‘Those Who Were Also in a Band at the Time of U2'. This is not an easy camp. It is a camp of bitterness and division. Many in this camp were once labelled 'The Next U2'. History, that cruel mistress, has since revealed that U2 were in fact the next U2, and the U2 after that as well.