Achtung Bono is the tenth album by UK rock band Half Man Half Biscuit

Half Man Half Biscuit

Half Man Half Biscuit, often "HMHB", are an English rock band from Birkenhead, Merseyside, active since the mid-1980s, known for satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs. The group comprises Nigel Blackwell , Neil Crossley , Ken Hancock , and Carl Henry...

, released in 2005.

The title is a satirical reference to the title of the 1991 album by Irish rock band U2

U2

U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

 – Achtung Baby

Achtung Baby

Achtung Baby is the seventh studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 19 November 1991 on Island Records. Stung by the criticism of their 1988 release Rattle and Hum, U2 shifted their musical direction to incorporate alternative...

.

The track "Joy Division Oven Gloves" entered the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 on 10 April 2010 (chart date: week ending 17 April 2010) at number 56 following a Facebook-campaign in aid of saving BBC 6 Music

BBC 6 Music

BBC 6 Music is one of the BBC's digital radio stations, was launched on 11 March 2002 and originally codenamed Network Y. It was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years....

.

Track listing

1. "Restless Legs"
2. "Corgi Registered Friends"
3. "For What is Chatteris.."
4. "Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo"
5. "Surging Out of Convalescence"
6. "Upon Westminster Bridge"
7. "Joy Division Oven Gloves"
8. "Mate of the Bloke"
9. "Asparagus Next Left"
10. "Depressed Beyond Tablets"
11. "Bogus Official"
12. "Letters Sent"
13. "Twydale's Lament"
14. "We Built This Village on a Trad. Arr. Tune"

Cultural references in song titles

• 1. Restless legs syndrome
  Restless legs syndrome
  Restless legs syndrome or Willis-Ekbom disease is a neurological disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to move one's body to stop uncomfortable or odd sensations. It most commonly affects the legs, but can affect the arms, torso, and even phantom limbs...
  
   is a poorly understood neurological disorder.
• 2. 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.
• 3. Chatteris
  Chatteris
  Chatteris is a civil parish and one of four market towns in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England, situated in The Fens between Huntingdon, March and Ely...
  
   is a small picturesque town in Cambridgeshire
  Cambridgeshire
  Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
  
  .
• 4. The title is said to be a reference to the cover of the eponymous second album
  The Libertines (album)
  The Libertines is the second album by the British indie rock band The Libertines. Released on 30 August 2004, it is particularly biographical of the relationship between frontmen Carl Barât and Pete Doherty. The album instantly reached #1 in the UK and is on its way to achieving platinum...
  
   by the Libertines
  The Libertines
  The Libertines were an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât and Pete Doherty . The band, centred on the song-writing partnership of Barat and Doherty, also included John Hassall and Gary Powell for most of its recording career...
  
  , although Nigel Blackwell has denied that the song is about the band.
• 6. Upon Westminster Bridge
  Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
  "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802" is a sonnet by William Wordsworth describing London and the River Thames, viewed from Westminster Bridge in the early morning. It was first published in the collection Poems in Two Volumes in 1807....
  
   is a poem by William Wordsworth
  William Wordsworth
  William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
  
  . Westminster Bridge
  Westminster Bridge
  Westminster Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames between Westminster on the north side and Lambeth on the south side, in London, England....
  
   is a major bridge crossing the Thames in central London
  London
  London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
  
  .
• 7. Joy Division
  Joy Division
  Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
  
   were an influential band from Manchester
  Manchester
  Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
  
   in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The song satirises band merchandising. Half Man Half Biscuit fans now commonly make their own Joy Division oven gloves, usually using the graph image from their first album, Unknown Pleasures
  Unknown Pleasures
  Unknown Pleasures is the debut album by the English post-punk band Joy Division, released in 1979 through Factory Records. Martin Hannett produced the record at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, England. The album sold poorly upon release, but due to the subsequent success of Joy Division with the...
  
  .
• 9. '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.
• 10. The title is from a line in the 'Crime' episode of Chris Morris
  Chris Morris (satirist)
  Christopher Morris is an English satirist, writer, director and actor. A former radio DJ, he is best known for anchoring the spoof news and current affairs television programmes The Day Today and Brass Eye, as well as his frequent engagement with controversial subject matter.In 2010 Morris...
  
  's controversial TV comedy Brass Eye
  Brass Eye
  Brass Eye is a UK television series of satirical spoof documentaries. A series of six aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001....
  
  .
• 11. The government constantly warn people, particularly the elderly, to beware of bogus officials knocking on doors in order to steal. The song is asterisked on the album track listing as a 'Public information tune'.
• 13. The lyrics end with "Gouranga Gouranga, yes I'll be happy, when you've been arrested for defacing the bridge." in reference to an influx of Hare Krishna stickers reading "Gouranga
  Gouranga
  Gauranga is a term popularized by the Hare Krishna movement in the 1970s.It is derived from Sanskrit "having a white or yellowish body", a bahuvrihi compound from "white, yellowish, reddish" and "limb, member; the body"....
  
  " began appearing on bridges in England.
• 14. This title is a play on words from "We Built This City
  We Built This City
  "We Built This City" is the title of a song written by Bernie Taupin, Martin Page, Dennis Lambert, and Peter Wolf, and originally recorded by the American pop rock group Starship and released as its debut single on August 1, 1985....
  
  " by Starship
  Jefferson Airplane
  Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
  
  . 'Trad. Arr.' (traditional arrangement) is usually given when a folk song is recorded by a band in their own arrangement.

Video

A fan-made video available on YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 for Restless Legs is a parody of the David Lynch

David Lynch

David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...

 film Eraserhead

Eraserhead

Eraserhead is a 1977 American surrealist film and the first feature film of David Lynch, who wrote, produced and directed. Lynch began working on the film at the AFI Conservatory, which gave him a $10,000 grant to make the film after he had begun working there following his 1971 move to Los Angeles...

.