The band finally got back together in October 1990 during the reunification of Germany at the Hansa Studios in Berlin with Daniel Lanois as the producer and Flood in charge of the engineering. The band knew they wanted to explore the darkness created in "With or Without You", it took them some time to figure out the right sound. According to Bill Graham from his book "U2 at the End of the World", the band had been split in their decision - Larry, Adam and Daniel wanted a sound similar to "The Joshua Tree" and "The Unforgettable Fire" while Bono and the Edge wanted something totally the opposite - industrial hard-edged music. At one stage, their differences could have threatened a split in the band, had it not been for Brian Eno, who decided to see if he could take the ideas of Bono and the Edge further.

  Fortunately, U2 were able to pull in some new songs during this session at Hansa Studios. This gave them the confidence to return to Dublin, moving into a rented mansion at Dalkey (just south of Dublin) to finish off the record.

  "The Fly" was the first single on their new album to be released in October 1991. The song lives up to U2's exploration of the dark side by looking at the carnal aspects of humanity and the realisation of the difficulty in changing this behaviour.  Not surprisingly, the music style and U2's new image surprised everyone. The single debuts at Number 1 in the UK and Australia.

  U2 follow up this release with "Achtung Baby" in November 1991and surprised many with the light-hearted name for their album. But the seriousness of the songs revealed the irrelevance of the title. The album explored darkness through cruelty in relationships such as "So Cruel", "One" and "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses". The album also looks at relationships through the dominance of women, putting them on a pedestal before men, in "Mysterious Ways". Finally, the album explores the reason behind living in "Even Better Than The Real Thing". Nevertheless, U2's actions pay off and the album debuts at 1 in the UK, US and Australian charts.

  U2 started their new tour on February 1992 in the US and titled it "Zoo TV". The new stage took the band to new heights in rock performances. In the past, U2's concerts were rather conventional, but this one was to be more challenging to the band and those that organise and construct it. The new stage made it possible for U2 to "overload" the audience with different images, sounds and video with four large video screens and lots of TV sets. U2's inspiration for the stage came from Bono's experience of viewing the Gulf War on TV.

  During each tour, Bono dressed up into a different persona - from the cool, egomaniac "the Fly" to the heart-stealing preacher dressed up in a lame jacket. At some stage, Bono even made phone calls during the show - from George Bush and John Mayor to ordering pizzas and booking a cab (in their Sydney concert). It was clearly obvious that his choice of characters came from his experiences during "Rattle and Hum" as being arrogant and pretentious. So Bono thought that this tour gave him the best opportunity to act like one. The Zoo TV tour clearly demonstrates U2's passion in being in a band, by challenging the minds of their audiences, with the band left to explore the fun and creative aspects in performance and songwriting.

  During the spring of 1992, U2 and Greenpeace joined forces to head up the most major environmental protest against the building of the Sellafield 2 nuclear power station. With B.A.D. II, Public Enemy and Kraftwerk as supporting acts, U2 based their Manchester Zoo TV concert around the Sellafield 2 and Sellafield power stations, putting slogans like "Chernobyl" , "Plutonium" and "Fallout". But British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) was granted a injunction by the courts to stop the concert on the grounds of "public safety". Bono retaliated by saying that the injunction contradicts BNFL's management of the Sellafield Nuclear Power Station, citing the dumping of large amounts of radioactive waste as evidence.

  After the concert, U2 set out on their attempt to land on the beach near the power station by heading for the Greenpeace ship "Solo" since there were roadblocks set around the site to prevent Greenpeace and U2 from coming in by road. Dressed in white anti-radiation suits, U2 and Greenpeace set out in rubber rafts and sped out to the beach before dumping barrels of radioactive sand (from Ireland that were contaminated by the Sellafield power station) near the site and spelling out the words "Help" with semaphores. Not only this, U2 managed to erect 700 placards with "React - Stop Sellafield".

  At the end of the protest, U2 managed to escape the roadblocks since the police were expecting U2 to come to the power station!!

  The Sellafield 2 incident clearly demonstrates U2's commitment to the community, free speech and their anger against government bureaucracy, even if their new image does not really make this clear