How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is an album by the Irish rock music group U2. It was released on November 22 2004. U2 lead singer Bono has described the album as "our first rock and roll record". The album deals with the world at the crossroads of its existence. Love, war, peace and harmony are running themes throughout the album.

The album is produced by Steve Lillywhite. Others involved in the production are: Flood, Jacknife Lee , Nellee Hooper and Chris Thomas .

Following the November 22 2004 release, the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, the UK album chart, and the Aria charts.

The album has debuted at #1 for 34 countries.

Album Worldwide Sales (Current) 7.3 million (Consumer sales)

Contents

1 Track listing 2 Singles 2.1 "Vertigo" 2.2 "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" 2.3 "All Because of You" 3 Charts

Track listing

1. "Vertigo"
2. "Miracle Drug"
3. "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own"
4. "Love and Peace or Else"
5. "City of Blinding Lights"
6. "All Because of You"
7. "A Man and a Woman"
8. "Crumbs From Your Table"
9. "One Step Closer"
10. "Original of the Species"
11. "Yahweh"
12. "Fast Cars" (released on UK version)

Singles

"Vertigo"

The first single from the album, titled "Vertigo", was released for airplay on September 24, 2004. The song received extensive airplay in the United States in the first week after its release and debuted at #18 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and #46 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the weeks after its release, the track jumped to #1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and also moved from #27 to #3 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and from #35 to #9 on the Adult Top 40 . It also debuted at #1 on the Hot Digital Tracks chart and, after falling to #4, returned to the top position. The track later moved into the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #31; it spent over 20 weeks on the chart.

In the United Kingdom, the song moved from BBC Radio 1's B-list on the first week of its release to the A-list in the second week. The song was released on 15 November; it debuted at #1 and remained there for one week; it spent 8 weeks in the top 40.

The track debuted at #5 on the Aria charts.

U2 performed "Vertigo" in a commercial for the Apple iPod as part of a cross-marketing plan to promote both the album and Apple's music products.

As noted by Rolling Stone and many other music publications, the song sounds extremely similar to Sonic Youth's 1990 single "Dirty Boots", taken from the album "Goo".

At the beginning of the song, one can listen a voice counting these numbers in Spanish to start the guitars playing on: un, dos, tres, catorce (It could be also in Portuguese as noise cannot let distinguish clearly the pronunciation). Indeed, it's a joke as the translation into English is "1, 2, 3, 14". We can also hear a background greeting behind the "Hello, hello" of the refrain, saying "Hola", pronounced as well like the Spanish and Portuguese salutation.

"Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own"

The song is planned for worldwide release as a single on 7 February, 2005. The song was added to BBC Radio 1's "C List" Playlist on 29 December 2004. It moved to the B List a week later and to the A List a week after that. The song was also playlisted by XFM. The song debuted at #1 in the UK, marking the first time that a U2 album has produced two UK #1 hits.

The single is slated as the next release in the United States, where its airplay has been increasing. It entered the Adult Top 40 chart at #32 and is set to enter the Modern Rock Tracks chart in early March.

Bono wrote the song about his father, Brendan Robert "Bob" Hewson, and his love for the opera, after his father died of cancer in August 2001, and later performed the song at his funeral.

"All Because of You"

This is the second single in North America. Upon the album's release, "All Because of You" was released for airplay in the United States. The song debuted at #27 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and later peaked at #6. It entered at #39 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart three weeks after its release and has moved to #20 since then. However, the single's airplay is now diminishing. The song achieved significantly less success than the second American single released from U2's last two album, both of which charted on the Hot 100.

"City of the Blinding Lights" received considerable airplay on US alternative rock radio in mid-February 2005.

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
2004	Billboard 200	1
2004	Top Internet Albums	1
2004	Top Canadian Albums	1

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
2004	"Vertigo"	Adult Top 40	9
2004	"Vertigo"	Canadian Singles Chart	2
2004	"Vertigo"	Hot Dance Music/Club Play	8
2004	"Vertigo"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	3
2004	"Vertigo"	Modern Rock Tracks	1
2004	"Vertigo"	The Billboard Hot 100	31
2004	"Vertigo"	Top 40 Mainstream	35
2004	"Vertigo"	Top 40 Tracks	37
2004	"All Because of You"	Modern Rock Tracks	6
2005	"All Because of You"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	20
2005	"Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own"	Adult Top 40	17
2005	"Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own"	Modern Rock Tracks	29
2005	"Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own"	The Billboard Hot 100	99