Fifteen years ago this month, on Nov. 19 1991, U2 released “Achtung Baby.”

It’s strange how certain slogans stick over the years – oh to be the marketing executive that comes up with one of those long-lasting, lucrative phrases that becomes a part of society.

Do you think the “Where’s the beef” creator has ever struggled to find a job again? How about the person who convinced Chevy to use Bob Seger’s “Like A Rock,” the one behind the Nike swoosh or the McDonald’s Big Mac jingle?

There’s also something to be said about a company that can take a tired adage, and over time assimilate the phrase with a product’s image.

“Head & Shoulders” shampoo has done this as well as any. The saying, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression,” has become so closely tied to the anti-dandruff market, that using it in everyday vernacular now just sounds like a spoof of a Procter & Gamble commercial.

And as obvious as the statement is, it doesn’t mean the first impression is always right – or more importantly the longest lasting.

Professional athletes benefit from inaccurate – but longer – second impressions all the time.

They’ll get a rookie contract and perform at a certain level for a few years (impression No.1). Then two dominant seasons cause everyone to rethink the player’s potential and results in a bank-breaking payday (impression No.2). And no matter how much he or she underachieves from then on, the memory of those good years and the salary keeps the athlete labeled as one of the elite for longer than not.

Often times it’s years removed from the player’s prime before hindsight is 20/20 and it’s clear how gullible everyone was (impression No.3) – to realize the initial perception was right.

Are you listening to this A.J. Burnett? Eddie Curry?

If people are willing to pay for potential, to buy into a memory and a wish, then more power to them. Good luck, and keep us posted how it works out. But for those with an ounce of guilt, we can’t help but feel partially responsible for furthering the misconceptions – for buying into the hype and believing that maybe, just maybe, this prolonged mediocrity is just a phase.

You know, like a kid wanting a nose ring or listening to heavy metal. Eventually they’ll grow out of it and return to the form that certainly has to be lurking somewhere inside still. Right?

But they’re not. Secretly everyone knows it, no matter what they say – or pay.

And U2’s 1991 “Achtung Baby” was the band’s breakout season.

Well, actually, that’s not entirely true. U2 has never been a bad band; and aside from a few scattered missteps, the quartet’s library is consistently above average. In fact, at times, the band has been great.

No, the acclaim for “Achtung Baby” didn’t catch anyone by surprise. After all, the Irishmen were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s.

Instead, the record was Bono’s breakout moment.

For five years – starting when he and his mates went on hiatus in 1988 to “go away and dream it all up again,” until after the Zoo TV tour that culminated in 1993 – the singer was the coolest person on the planet.

Or at least we thought he was.

Born Paul Hewson, the now 46-year-old, has always been a great frontman. He’s larger than life, personable, charismatic and knows how to play to a crowd. But all that doesn’t mean he’s not also a complete tool. He’s music’s equal to Tom Cruise – undeniably great at what he does, but annoyingly cheesy while doing it.

Like Cruise, it’s the posturing and off-the-job peripherals that have worn the thinnest for Bono.

Looking back, it’s silly to think the same self-righteous, flag-waving, Jesus-posing guy from 1984’s Live Aid could turn around and mock his entire existence a few years later.

Which is what we thought Bono was doing with his Mr. Macphisto/The Fly characters he created during that misleading “Achtung Baby” period. The alternate personas came during the Zoo TV Tour – the 22-month trek that followed the release – and who were designed to poke fun at over-serious rock stars.

The tour was one of the largest ever. Its 52 trucks transported 1,200 tons of equipment, 300 miles of cable, 176 speakers and 1 million watts of power to each of the 157 performances. It was nothing short of a multimedia spectacle.

But Bono’s alternate personalities were the highlight.

The Fly was Bono at his most memorable. The shiny, black leather get-up. The over-the-top sexual innuendos. The bug-eye sunglasses that have become his signature look since. He would prank call the White House from stage, and on occasion order 25,000 pizza to the arena mid-set.

Maccphisto dressed like a Vegas-style lounge singer – with slicked hair, satanic horns and who would make cameo appearances in later U2 music videos. If this was supposed to be a commentary on devilish rock’n’roll and global politics, it worked.

There’s a joke that goes something like this:
A man stands at the gates of Heaven next to John Lennon, Kurt Cobain and Bono. He asks Saint Peter, “What is he doing here, he’s still alive?” To which Peter replies, “Oh, him? That’s just God pretending to be Bono.”

During the “Achtung Baby” period, it seemed like Bono was the only person who didn’t want to be Bono.

Which would have been fine, except that when Bono put those characters on the shelf, he returned to the holy figure we thought had run its course. Bono is at his best as a singer in a rock’n’roll band, not leading comedic rants about how the “God he believes in isn’t short on cash,” or demanding that Edge “play the blues!”

There was an interesting article a few years ago in Spin Magazine in which the writer posed the question, “Is Bono full of (crap),” or is he like this when the cameras go away. After an extended time with the members of U2, the front man and legions of Dubliners who have grown up with the performer, the question was never answered.

One thing is certain, during “Achtung Baby” he was full of (crap) – and he was also at his best.

The same guy who sang, “How far are you gonna go, before you lose your way back home/ You’ve been tryin’ to throw your arms around the world,” has spent the better half of a decade trying to save the world. Quite possibly by throwing his arms around it.

So it’s a good question that Hewson should probably answer himself.

After all, he is the person whose recent activism has included raising money by… shopping on Michigan Ave. with Oprah Winfrey? What? Is there anything further from the heart of rock’n’roll than that?

Which is why that 1991 album is so special.

It was the moment when the biggest band in the world became even bigger, one of the most iconic frontmen became more iconic, and one of the most legendary bands of the era became even more legendary.

Despite all those olive branches – err – more like olive trees, the blatant palm greasing and coddling of the masses before and after 1988-93, it doesn’t change the music.

And “Achtung Baby” is great. Career saving, in fact.

As legend has it, the band’s recording session in Berlin was so taxing, that the band had officially called it quits after a treacherous few months. Luckily, while members where packing up their equipment and giving each other the silent treatment, The Edge sat down and played the riff to “One,” – the song that would become the album’s most recognizable. Bono penned some tentative lyrics on the spot about being united individually, and within moments the foursome was engaged in an impromptu jam session.

It sounds fantastic, but if it were true Disney would have been all over this years ago. It’s that heartwarming.

But it’s this kind of lore that has helped the record’s reputation, to the tune of almost 10 million sales.

Its fusion of electronic dance rhythms, Bono’s developing falsetto and experimental effects created a release that paralleled the early 1990s. It had the previous decade’s extravagance with the new era’s social consciousness. The world was changing and U2 was with it. And in the spirit of the times, nobody knew where anything was headed.

There was a changing global landscape – new leaders, new problems and even entirely new countries cropping up in an age of cautious optimism. Which is exactly what “Achtung Baby” sounds like.

It’s a record by and for people on the heels of turmoil and maybe on the doorstep of opportunity. But then again, it might have been the opposite.

We didn’t know what was next, and U2 didn’t know either. But we believed Bono did.

At the time, he was the guy accurately mocking his past. If he could do that, then maybe he had a handle on the future, too.

So we hoped. We watched. We listened. We literally and metaphorically paid for it.

But it’s okay.

You see, it took a dozen years of Bono’s masquerading before the band released “Achtung Baby,” and it’s been 13 since the end of Zoo TV. Which means he’s is right on schedule for another breakout season.

Let’s just hope his bandmates can put up with him while waiting for that next second impression.

Daily Herald BEEP, Nov. 30, 2006