U2 announce 30th anniversary edition of classic album ‘Achtung Baby’

U2 are releasing a special edition of their classic album Achtung Baby to celebrate its landmark 30th anniversary.

The Irish rockers seventh album was originally released on November 18th, 1991, with the 30th anniversary edition arriving this week on Friday, November 19th. It will come as a standard or deluxe vinyl and can be pre-ordered here.

That will be followed on December 3rd by the release of a huge 50-track digital boxset of the album that will feature remixes and B-sides. 22 of the songs will never have been available digitally before, making it a must-have for fans.

And if that wasn’t enough, Bono and co. have a special one-time installation at the legendary Hansa Studios in Kreuzberg, Berlin. They worked alongside the Berlin-based French artist Thierry Noir to produce the project, which will run for one week from November 19th to 26th.

The installation will have a newly painted Trabant car, a nod to when they painted a series of Trabant cars back in 1991. A section of the Berlin Wall will also be painted for the occasion. Further details about the installation can be found here.

Check out ‘One’ by U2:

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Achtung Baby was a departure for U2, containing a darker and more intense style than their previous work. Working with the legendary Brian Eno, they were more influenced by industrial and dance music than they had been before. They used German reunification for inspiration and recorded the album at the aforementioned Hansa Studios.

It all paid off – Achtung Baby topped the U.S. Billboard 200 and won the Grammy in 1993 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The band cleverly marketed the record too, embarking on the now-famous Zoo TV Tour in arenas in 1992 and 1993. It completely changed the public and critic’s image of the band.

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