Each day in November, I’m revisiting a song from the 90’s — a decade that was a sorta coming of age for me. In that span, I experienced high school, college and my time as a young single guy in New York City. It was a decade of ups and downs, and the music never stopped playing during that span. It was always there with me. #30DaysOf90sSongs
In my freshman year in college, I think I unconsciously surveyed everyone’s taste in music that I came across, focused mainly around my hall mates. The tastes were varied — from grunge feigns hooked on Nirvana to funk rock freaks who couldn’t get enough of the Chili Peppers to industrial rockers whose daily intake consisted of Skinny Puppy, Ministry and Front 242. But the one universal album that everyone seemed to play and revere was U2’s Achtung Baby. In college, it served as the great equalizer because there seemed to be something for everyone on that album, from the distortion-soaked banger “The Fly” to the quiet-loud dynamics of “Until the End of the World” to the pop-soaked and melodious “Mysterious Ways”. For me, the finest track was the second to last song on the album: “Acrobat”.
It may be one of the most overlooked tracks on the whole album, but I don’t know why. I saw somewhere that the band didn’t play it live until 2018. It certainly wasn’t a common U2 anthem, but what it had going for it were these great experimental elements. The time signature felt somewhat eccentric, but slightly reminiscent of the cadence that the band took for “Bullet the Blue Sky”. The eccentricity carries over on The Edge’s guitar work, from the sonic surges in the verses to those jaw-dropping cascading effects coming out of the chorus. I think what I appreciate most about “Acrobat” is that it’s a track that’s not reliant on a single, signature guitar riff. Instead, each hook seems to evolve and grow out of one other throughout the entire song.
“You know that your time is coming 'round, so don't let the bastards grind you down.”