From The Sky Down (or, a brief history of U2)

"We have to go away and dream it all up again..." said U2's Bono at the band's famous 1989 New Year's Eve shows in Dublin. The band had spent the previous 2 years in the hurricane that was the Joshua Tree album and tour, during which time they became the world's most famous rock and roll band. From The Sky Down documents both this time period and the recording of Achtung Baby. The band members talk about how difficult aspects of this time were and that they became the band "too stupid to enjoy their own success." They also were dealing with changes in their personal lives, most notably The Edge's disintegrating marriage and subsequent divorce, which affected the band members deeply since they had all grown up together.

After taking some time off the band reconvened in 1991 to start recording the follow-up to The Joshua Tree, which became Achtung Baby, considered by many to be U2's best album, although I consider it a toss-up between it and The Joshua Tree. (I'll digress here and explain why...if I'm in an "American" mood, it's The Joshua Tree, and if I'm feeling more "European" it's Achtung Baby.) From The Sky Down documents the recording process, both with archival footage and with recent interviews with both Bono and The Edge. As a long-time fan, most of what's discussed in this DVD isn't news to me, but seeing the archival footage is pretty cool. If you're a casual fan or don't know much about the band at all it may come as news that there was serious internal strife within the band during the recording of Achtung Baby, enough that the band nearly broke up.

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