How U2 turned a ‘Bomb’ into their last classic album 20 years ago

They still hadn’t found what they were looking for.

So a desperate U2 made a drastic 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 Nov. 22, 2004 (Nov. 23 in the US).

After months of working on the follow-up to 2000’s “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” — which had re-established the iconic Irish rockers as the biggest band in the world — the project imploded when they decided to fire producer Chris Thomas.

“They were feeling bad about that, because they’re such great employers that they don’t like having to let someone go,” Steve Lillywhite — who stepped in to produce “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” — told The Post. “But they felt, for the benefit of the album, that they needed someone who could maybe bring a certain energy into the studio.”

And turning to Lillywhite on “Hot to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” would produce 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 them eight of their 22 Grammys — including a second Album of the Year prize after 1987’s seminal “The Joshua Tree.”

Reinforcing their relevance as Bono’s boys gave way from alt-rock to aughts rock, it turned middle age into an “Atomic” age for U2.

Boom.

And who better to help U2 recapture their unforgettable fire than Lillywhite — who had produced the band’s first three albums: 1980’s “Boy,” 1981’s “October” and 1983’s “War,” while also contributing to “The Joshua Tree.”

“They were feeling a bit depressed,” recalled Lillywhite, 69. “When they see me, they perk up because it reminds them of when they were young, I suppose.”

Indeed, the British producer — who has also worked with everyone from the Rolling Stones to Dave Matthews Band and The Killers — has known U2 since Day One.

“When I first worked with them, I was 24 and the eldest member of the band was 19,” he explained. “Bono was 19 and Larry [Mullen Jr., the drummer] was 17 when we recorded their first album. They were very young. So I’ve known them all their life, you know?”

So there was an innate trust in Lillywhite, who had also worked on “The Joshua Tree,” “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” and another certified classic, 1991’s “Achtung Baby.”

“I was basically taking over an album that was halfway done,” he said “Basically, they played me all the songs and said, ‘What do you think?’ And I said, ‘Well, you know, this one’s good; this one, we need to do this; this one, I like the song, but we need to re-record it.’ My thoughts were that it just lacked a little bit of energy.”

Such was the case with the hit first single “Vertigo,” which would go on to showcase the Edge in all of his guitar-riffing glory to Grammy-winning effect. But the song didn’t take off to that special “place” when it was originally called “Native Son.”

“I didn’t like how it was recorded,” said Lillywhite. “So we recorded it again, and it sounded so good that Bono said he wanted to write a better song because of that. So that basically set him on to write ‘Vertigo.’ I mean, if ‘Native Son’ had been released, it wouldn’t have been as big a hit as ‘Vertigo,’ so it was absolutely the right thing to do to change that song around.”

Likewise, “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own” was taken to the next level with Lillywhite, who inspired Bono to find the falsetto heart of the chorus.

“Well, that song had been around for a few years, actually,” he explained. “And I remember listening to it and thinking that it didn’t really have a chorus. And just when I said that, Bono picked up the guitar and started singing, ‘And it’s you when I look in the mirror/And it’s you when I don’t pick up the phone/Sometimes you can’t make it on your own.’

“I think that’s the money part of the song, so I helped them unlock how great that song was as well.”

Indeed, with all those falsetto feels, “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own” — about the relationship Bono had with his father, Bob Hewson, who had passed away from cancer in 2001 — would go on to win the Song of the Year Grammy in 2006, while “City of Blinding Lights” won for Best Rock Song.

Meanwhile, Lillywhite would win the Producer of the Year gramophone in 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, yeah, we were very lucky, and we managed to get the Grammys and everything.”

But “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” also scored a big promotional win when “Vertigo” was used in iPod commercials upon its release. And there was even a U2 iPod with the same black and red color scheme as “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.”

“That was one of the greatest business deals ever done,” said Lillywhite. “I mean, Steve Jobs sold millions of iPods, and U2 sold millions of records.”

And who can ever forget U2 performing “All Because of You” on a flatbed truck through downtown Manhattan in promotion of the album — before giving a “secret” concert at 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’s “Atomic City” while helping them launch their groundbreaking Sphere residency in Las Vegas.

And while he’s semi-retired living in Bali now, Lillywhite is still keeping tabs on U2, which hasn’t released a new studio album in seven years.

“They’ve been in the studio, and apparently they’re all excited by how it’s going,” said the five-time Grammy winner, who predicts a new album in 2025 with a tour to follow in 2026.

But as “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” is being celebrated with “How to Re-Assemble an Atomic Bomb” — a new reissue including outtakes from those sessions — Lillywhite is proud of what they made 20 years ago.

“I’d say it’s in their Top 5 [albums],” he 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 that I got my name on a great record”