''Achtung Bono'' is the tenth album by UK indie rock band

Half Man Half Biscuit Half Man Half Biscuit are an English rock band, formed in 1984 in Birkenhead, Merseyside. Known for their satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs, the band comprises lead singer and guitarist Nigel Blackwell, bassist and singer Neil Cr ...

, released in 2005. In 2010, a

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

campaign was mounted with the aim of saving

BBC 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

from threatened closure and, as a sign of protest, to get "Joy Division Oven Gloves" from ''Achtung Bono'' to No. 6 in the UK Singles Chart on 12 April 2010. In the event, it entered the Singles Chart that week at No. 56 and the Independent Singles Chart at No. 3. Whether or not the campaign was influential, BBC 6 Music was saved.

Critical reception

Reviews were generally favourable: * Stewart Mason,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

: "One of their finest albums". * Roger Holland, ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'': "''Achtung Bono'' is a worthy addition to the HMHB canon". * Ben Granger, '' Spike Magazine'': "This is probably not one of Half Man Half Biscuit’s best albums. And yet its still fantastic". * Dom Passantino, ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'': "UK album of the year, by a landslide".

Track listing

Notes

* The album title is a satirical reference to the title of the 1991 album ''

Achtung Baby ''Achtung Baby'' ( ) is the seventh studio album by the Irish rock music, rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 18 November 1991 by Island Records. After criticism of their 1988 documentary film and ...

'' by Irish rock band U2 and to its singer

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...

. *

Restless legs syndrome Restless legs syndrome (RLS), also known as Willis–Ekbom disease (WED), is a neurological disorder, usually chronic, that causes an overwhelming urge to move one's legs. There is often an unpleasant feeling in the legs that improves temporaril ...

is a poorly understood neurological disorder. * Until 1 April 2009, gas fitters in the UK had to be "Corgi registered" to practise their trade. Corgi stands for the Council for Registered Gas Installers; since replaced by Gas Safe. * Chatteris is a small town in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

. * "Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo" has been suggested to refer to the cover of the eponymous second album by the Libertines, released 2004. Nigel Blackwell of Half Man Half Biscuit has, however, denied such a connection. Date . * ''Upon Westminster Bridge'' is an 1802 poem by

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...

(17701850). *

Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge crossing over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats ...

is a major bridge over the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

in central

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. *

Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...

were an influential band from

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The song "Joy Division Oven Gloves" satirises band merchandising. * "Asparagus Next Left" is the sort of sign that can be seen on British country roads advertising farm products for sale at the farm gate. * "Depressed Beyond Tablets" is from a line in the "Crime" episode of Chris Morris's controversial TV comedy ''

Brass Eye ''Brass Eye'' (stylised as brassEYE) is a British satirical television series parodying current affairs news programming. A series of six episodes aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001. The series was created and presented by ...

''. * "Bogus Official" is asterisked on the album track listing as a 'Public information tune'. * Twydale is a fictional person. * The title "We Built This Village on a Trad. Arr. Tune" parodies that of the 1985 song "

We Built This City "We Built This City" is the debut single by American rock band Starship, from their 1985 debut album '' Knee Deep in the Hoopla''. It was written by English musicians Martin Page and Bernie Taupin, who were both living in Los Angeles at the time ...

" by

Starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 1 ...

. * "Trad. Arr." is short for "traditional, arranged (by)", and is often attached to recordings of

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

. * Brenda Blethyn starred in " Outside Edge", a 1990s ITV sitcom about a village cricket team.

References

External links

* The oldest-established Half Man Half Biscuit fansite. * The Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project. {{Authority control 2005 albums Half Man Half Biscuit albums