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In 2010, a Facebook campaign was mounted with the aim of saving BBC 6 Music 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: "One of their finest albums".
Roger Holland, PopMatters: "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 [sic] still fantastic".
Dom Passantino, Stylus Magazine: "UK album of the year, by a landslide".
Track listing
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Restless Legs"
1:53
2.
"Corgi Registered Friends"
3:39
3.
"For What Is Chatteris..."
2:05
4.
"Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo"
2:41
5.
"Surging Out of Convalescence"
3:38
6.
"Upon Westminster Bridge"
2:45
7.
"Joy Division Oven Gloves"
3:10
8.
"Mate of the Bloke"
3:37
9.
"Asparagus Next Left"
2:55
10.
"Depressed Beyond Tablets"
3:00
11.
"Bogus Official"
1:22
12.
"Letters Sent"
2:38
13.
"Twydale's Lament"
3:31
14.
"We Built This Village on a Trad. Arr. Tune"
3:48
Notes
The album title is a satirical reference to the title of the 1991 album Achtung Baby by Irish rock band U2 and to its singer Bono.
"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.
Joy Division were an influential band from Manchester 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.
"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" by Starship.
"Trad. Arr." is short for "traditional, arranged (by)", and is often attached to recordings of folk music.
Brenda Blethyn starred in "Outside Edge", a 1990s ITV sitcom about a village cricket team.
