Sgt. Pepper and Achtung Baby changed radically the sound of their previous creations; it is enough listening to them in succession of Revolver and Rattle and Hum to realize the huge difference between the pairs. Not even the experimentation in “Tomorrow Never Knows” (Beatles) or “Night and Day” (U2) could have predicted such a transition. And this transformation had to be reflected in the image, the album covers, and the costumes. Personas were created to communicate effectively, and they mutated in a crescendo of irony with such power and inertia that it didn't dissipate until several albums later. The Pepper Band, The Walrus, The Egg-man, The Fly, Mirror Ball Man, Macphisto, greasy waiters serving pasta, Village People impressions, were all personas both bands created during this period. It was all a shocking surprise and at the same time the only honest and sane step to keep everything going.

The album covers of Sgt. Pepper and Achtung Baby are explosions of colors, which come after black and white predecessors (Revolver, Rattle and Hum).

The square in the upper right corner of Achtung’s cover is later reproduced full size inside the CD booklet. In it, U2 is in the middle surrounded by a crowd, as indicated by the arrow, much like The Beatles in Sgt. Pepper. Also, The blue, red, yellow and turquoise in both compositions have the same pitch and are distributed in similar positions.

Consider as well, that with the booming TV culture of the sixties a Sgt. Pepper cover without a TV set would’ve not been complete, so a TV was included in the cover as one of the “adored idols”, precisely what ZOO TV made of it in order to ridicule the disintegrated and alienated life of TV culture. Also, in correspondent positions are the five-petal flower and the five-corner star. And wait, what is that? It seems like a Beatle, maybe John, and he is standing backwards dressed a la Sgt. Pepper!!!.