25 beloved holiday albums to rediscover this winter

(Red) Christmas EP – The Killers

When you think Christmas music, The Killers probably aren’t the first people to come to mind. But they have actually put out some unconventional Christmas tracks in the past, and they were all for a good cause. The band put out a Christmas single every year from 2006-2011 in support of the Product Red campaign, which was started by Bono and Bobby Shriver.

The first song they released was “A Great Big Sled” in 2006, followed by “Don’t Shoot Me Santa” in 2007, which, as you can probably tell by the name, was not your average holiday track! The music video featured a dirty, sleazy looking Santa kidnapping the band’s lead singer Brandon Flowers and tying him up with garlands. They went on to release another song every subsequent year until 2011, which is when they decided to compile all six of their Christmas songs on an EP. The proceeds went to Product Red, which helps fight against the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

(Red) Christmas featured a couple pretty big names, too. On the track “Joseph, Better You than Me”, the band performs with the legendary Elton John and Neil Tennant, of Pet Shop Boys.

Since they released the 2011 EP, The Killers have continued their tradition of releasing a Christmas song for charity every year, with “I Feel It in My Bones” (2012), “Christmas In LA” (2013), “Joel the Lump of Coal” (2014), and “Dirt Sledding” (2015). The songs benefited Product Red once again. Unfortunately, they announced in 2016 that they were done with Christmas singles, but released another compilation with all of the songs titled Don’t Waste Your Wishes that featured the new cover of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”.