Swagger, Not Style

11. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

“I like the sound of my own voice / I didn’t give anybody else a choice.”

— “All Because of You”

Admit it: You were even more surprised by how hard “Vertigo” rocked in the fall of 2004 than you were to see U2 shilling for Apple in an iPod commercial. Bono’s en Espanol opening count-off of one-two-three-fourteen kicked off the giddiest U2 single in a decade. It was one of the half-dozen keepers on this album — see also the Who pastiche “All Because of You” and the shiny, happy “City of Blinding Lights,” which sounds like a U2 parody at first, but eventually pummels you into submission with its sheer earnestness — if it doesn’t incite you to take hostages. It’s sequenced fifth on the record, inexplicably. With its slow build and an arena-ready chorus, it’s obviously the opener, which is the position it held for most shows on the subsequent 2005-6 Vertigo Tour.

So how does the album place this low? Two reasons:

1) Though it’s immaculately crafted and quintessentially U2-y, it’s also the first album of U2′s career to add nothing new to the story. Somehow they needed 18 months in the studio and at least three producers — including Chris Thomas, who they’d never worked with before and who stomped off in frustration after a year — to make something that sounded good but utterly familiar. (Contrast that with the grueling but hugely rewarding year they spent shedding their sonic skins that birthed Achtung Baby.)

2) Like October, this one is tarred by some of the most laughable lyrics of Bono’s career. From “Miracle Drug”:

“Freedom has a scent / Like the top of a newborn baby’s head!”

Bono, you sound insane. Unless, of course, you’re singing about Washington Post pop music critic emeritus J. Freedom “Babyhead” du Lac, in which case this line makes perfect sense.

But also like October, one of its highlights is a requiem for a Bono progenitor. He’d sung an early version of the shimmering ballad “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own” at his father’s funeral in 2001.

Bono, The Edge, and lifelong manager Paul McGuinness are all separately on record as saying they think this is U2′s finest work. Madness! But God bless these guys for the way they can always keep a straight face while proclaiming their latest album their best. McGuinness actually thinks the album would have done better if not for its curious mouthful of a title. It sold three million copies in the U.S. and won five Grammys including Album of the Year, so I’m not sure how successful he thinks it should have been.