Zoo Station (4:36)

“Zoo Station” is a song by rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1991 album Achtung Baby, which was a musical reinvention for them. As the opening track, “Zoo Station” gives the listener an introduction to the band’s new sound. The song features industrial-influenced percussion and several layers of distorted guitars and vocals, along with lyrics suggesting new intents and anticipations. The song’s introduction, which features an “explosion” of percussion and the song’s hook, a descending glissando played on guitar, was meant to make the listener think the album was mistakenly not U2’s latest record or that their music player was broken.

Musically, “Zoo Station” originated from another song that the group were working on for Achtung Baby. The song’s lyrics were inspired by a story that lead vocalist Bono heard about Berlin from World War II, when overnight bombing damaged the zoo and allowed animals to escape and wander around the city’s rubble. Bono was also inspired by the city’s Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station and used it as a metaphor for a reuniting Germany. During the Zoo TV Tour, “Zoo Station” opened every concert except for one. The song received positive reviews from critics, many of whom analysed the song as a representation of the band’s reinvention.