This year's RTÉ Choice Music Prize for Classic Irish Album has been awarded to U2, for their 1991 album Achtung Baby.
Recorded over six months at Hansa Studio in Berlin and Windmill Lane in Dublin, Achtung Baby was U2's seventh studio album. The record saw the band reinvent themselves musically, and cemented the Dublin quartet's status as one of the world's most popular bands.
Produced by long time U2 collaborators, Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno with Steve Lillywhite, Achtung Baby was released on 18th November 1991. Led by The Fly, four other hit singles followed: Mysterious Ways, One, Even Better Than The Real Thing and Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses.
Upon its release, U2 frontman Bono described Achtung Baby as "the sound of four men chopping down The Joshua Tree", with reference to the band's eagerness to abandon the signature sound that had informed their earlier work and explore new musical territory.
The album won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance and became one of the most significant records of U2's five decade career; to date, it has sold 18 million copies worldwide.
Presented in association with IMRO & IRMA, the Classic Irish Album prize was was announced today (Thursday February 22nd) on RTÉ Gold by Will Leahy.
The inaugural winning Classic Irish Album last year was Sinéad O' Connor's I Do Not Have What I Haven't Got.
The judges for the prize are Sinead Crowley (Coimisiún na Meán), Michael Kealy (RTÉ TV), Maeve Quigley (Irish Daily Mail) and Will Leahy (RTÉ Gold), with Paul Russell (2FM) as the chairperson.
Announcing the prize, the panel issued a statement explained why Achtung Baby was chosen for the accolade: 'The panel is unanimous that you cannot deny the album's authenticity and significant cultural impact as one classic song after another unfolds over 55 minutes. To this day, it still resonates as a collection of songs that capture the spirit of change at both a personal as well as a societal level, when the Berlin wall came tumbling down, and Ireland sensed a change in the air.
'The ground-breaking Zoo TV Tour in support of the album helped to re-invent the stadium show and now over 30 years later, Achtung Baby is at the heart of the globally acclaimed 'U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere’, a string of ground-breaking performances which launched Sphere, the cutting-edge new venue in Las Vegas'.
The Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year 2023 will be announced live from Vicar St on RTÉ 2FM in a special show on Thursday 7th March - the night will feature live performances from some of the shortlisted acts, with further details to be announced soon. Tickets are on sale now - find out more here.
