10 Amazing Follow Ups To Masterpiece Albums

3. Achtung Baby - U2

From their presentation both on and off the stage, U2 didn't really feel like they should be equipped to survive the '90s. Coming into the next decade that set a focus on the authenticity of a rock star, there was no room for the kind of rock bombast from a band that killed it at Live Aid just a few years before. No, this was the where rock started getting real, and U2 made it to the other side by playing things up that much more.

Going for a more glitchy production akin to the kind of industrial and dance music styles they were hearing, Achtung Baby is a much more artistic affair than what we had gotten on the Joshua Tree. Compared to the earnestness of a song like With or Without You, the characters in these songs are a lot more unsure of where they are in life, looking to find some sort of connection but putting up a mask of irony to hide the pain they're really feeling.

Even with some of the more over the top moments like Bono assuming the role of the Fly, songs like One and Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses might be some of the most open hearted songs they have ever written, looking at their connection with people as some sort of communal brotherhood amongst each other. You can try to be the big bad rock star, but it's gets lonesome at the end of the night, and Achtung Baby is U2 trying to find an almost spiritual connection with their music.