“Tranquilize” (2007)
An admission: this is the song that got this writer hooked on the Killers. Another dark track, “Tranquilize” opens with a clunky, grimy bassline and becomes more and more claustrophobic, unsettling and grimly atmospheric. Oh yeah, and Lou Reed features.
A creepy but distinctive music video accompanied this track when it released as the lead single on Sawdust.
“Tranquilize” may be difficult to listen to (at least to begin with), but this is a majestic piece of song writing that is too often overlooked.
“Don’t Shoot Me Santa” (2007)
Yes, this is a Christmas song. Yes, the whole song is the band fooling around. “Don’t Shoot Me Santa” is disjointed and features one of the more unexpected bursts of brass in popular music, but all of that makes it fantastic. Somehow it all works, and it really shouldn’t.
It’s all pulled together by perhaps our favourite (and definitely the funniest) Killers music video of all time, featuring friend of the band (and former tour manager) Ryan Pardey as the vengeful red-haired Santa.
The story in the video and song continued with the equally good “I Feel It In My Bones”, which released last year.
“Battle Born” (2012)
This song is made to be performed live. Flowers’ ever-improving vocals are showcased perfectly here, fighting and winning against layers and layers of noise. “Battle Born” isn’t subtle, and certainly nothing is held back, but its triumphant tone will have you fist pumping along in no time.
Often performed to close out gigs on the Battle Born tour (and indeed, it ends the album itself), “Battle Born” fits its role perfectly. It only feels right for us to show off a live version of the song, although if you’d rather a version without crowd noise and shaky cam, the studio version retains much of its power if played loudly.
Honorable mentions
There are many other Killers songs we could have added to this list: “Joy Ride”, “Midnight Show”, “Sweet Talk”, “The Rising Tide” and “This River Is Wild” to name a few.
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