They still didn’t find what they were looking for.
So a frustrated U2 took a big U-turn on the way to making their last classic album, 2004’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” which dropped 20 years ago on November 22, 2004 (November 23 in the US).
After working for months on the follow-up to 2000’s “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” – which had re-established the iconic Irish rockers as the world’s biggest band – the project fell through when they asked producer Decided to remove Chris Thomas. ,
“They felt bad about it, because they’re such a great employer that they don’t like to let anybody go,” Steve Lillywhite — who helmed the production of “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” — told The Post. told. “But they felt, for the benefit of the album, they needed someone who could bring a certain energy to the studio.”
And turning to Lilywhite on “Hot to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” would have explosive results for U2: on the strength of hit singles such as “Vertigo,” “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own” and “City of Blinding Lights”, the group’s 11th studio LP would go multiplatinum and win eight of their 22 Grammys – including Album of the Year, their second following 1987’s seminal “The Prizes are also included. Joshua Tree.”
When Bono’s Boys moved from alt-rock to aughts rock, cementing their relevance, it marked middle age for U2 into the “nuclear” era.
Boom.
And who better to help U2 recapture their unforgettable fire than Lilywhite – who produced the band’s first three albums: 1980’s “Boy”, 1981’s “October” and 1983’s “War”. , while also contributing to “The Joshua Tree”.
Lillywhite, 69, recalls, “They were feeling a little sad. When they see me, they get happy because it reminds them of when they were younger, I think.”
Indeed, the British producer – who has also worked with all rolling stones For Dave Matthews Band and The Killers – has known U2 since day one.
“When I first worked with them, I was 24 and the oldest member of the band was 19,” he said. “Bono was 19 and Larry [Mullen Jr., the drummer] Was 17 when we recorded his first album. They were very young. So I’ve known him his whole life, you know?”
So there was an instinctive trust in Lillywhite, who also worked on “The Joshua Tree,” “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” and another certified classic, 1991’s “Achtung Baby.”
“I basically took an album that was half finished,” he said “Basically, they played me all the songs and said, ‘What do you think?’ And I said, ‘Okay, you know, this one, we need to do this; I love this song, but we need to re-record it.’ My thought was that it just lacked a little energy.”
Such was the case with the hit debut single “Vertigo”, which would showcase The Edge in all his guitar-riffing glory with Grammy-winning effect. But the song never reached that special “place” when it was originally called “Native Sun”.
Lillywhite said, “I didn’t like how it was recorded.” “So we recorded it again, and it sounded so good that Bono said he wanted to write a better song because of it. So that basically inspired him to write ‘Vertigo’. I mean, if ‘Native Sun’ had been released, it wouldn’t have been as big a hit as ‘Vertigo’, so changing that song was the perfect thing to do.
same way, “Sometimes you can’t make it on your own” Taken to the next level with Lilywhite, which inspired Bono to find the falsetto heart of the chorus.
“Well, that song had actually been around for a few years,” he explained. “And I remember listening to it and thinking it didn’t really have a chorus. And as soon as I said that, Bono picked up the guitar and started singing, ‘And when I look in the mirror it’s you/And when I don’t pick up the phone it’s you/Sometimes you just can’t do it on your own Can .’
“I think that’s the money part of the song, so I helped them know how great that song was.”
In fact, all those falsetto sounds, “Sometimes you can’t make it on your own” – about Bono’s relationship with his father, Bob Hewson, who died of cancer in 2001 – make the song winning. GRAMMY year in 2006, while “City of Blinding Lights” Won the Best Rock Song Award.
Meanwhile, Lilywhite would win the Producer of the Year Gramophone award the same year for turning the album from a “bomb” to a blockbuster.
“I just came in and did what I do,” he said. “And, yes, we were very lucky, and we managed to get the Grammy and everything.”
But when “Vertigo” was used, “How to Destroy the Atomic Bomb” also achieved a huge publicity victory. ipod ad Upon its release. And there was even a U2 iPod with a black and red color scheme like “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.”
“That was one of the biggest business deals ever done,” Lillywhite said. “I mean, Steve Jobs sold millions of iPods, and U2 sold millions of records.”
And who can forget U2’s performance “All because of you” On a flatbed truck through downtown Manhattan to promote the album – before giving a “secret” concert in Brooklyn Bridge Park?
Lillywhite would continue to work with U2 on 2009’s “No Line on the Horizon”, 2014’s “Songs of Innocence” and 2017’s “Songs of Experience”, and he also produced the group’s latest single, 2023. “Nuclear City” Helping him launch his groundbreaking Sphere Residency in Las Vegas.
And while he’s now semi-retired and living in Bali, Lilywhite is still keeping an eye on U2, which hasn’t released a new studio album in seven years.
“They’ve been in the studio, and obviously they’re all excited about how it’s going,” said the five-time Grammy winner, who predicts a new album in 2025 with a tour in 2026.
But as “How to Dismantle the Atomic Bomb” is being celebrated with “How to Reassemble the Atomic Bomb” — a new reissue including the findings of those sessions — Lillywhite is proud of what He made it 20 years ago.
“I would say it’s in their top 5 [albums],” she said. “‘Joshua Tree,’ ‘Achtung Baby,’ ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’ and then, for me, I love ‘War.’ And then this one. I’m just proud of That I got my name on a great record”
