They Made A Christmas Album?- Advent 2018: Day 11

Today's featured artist is one of my all-time favorites. In fact, the holiday song that they sing is also one of my all-time favs. It might just be my favorite out of the entire Advent. The band I am focusing on today is U2. A prog-rock band from Ireland, the quartet holds the distinction of being one of the longest continuous line-ups in all of rock history. 

The band is know for a ton of hits. Where the Streets Have No Name, Mysterious Ways, With or Without You, and Pride (In The Name of Love) are just a small sampling of the U2 song book. But they aren't really known for being holiday artists. 

Both Bono and Adam Clayton performed on the epic 1984 holiday hit Do They Know It's Christmas? Bono contributed vocals. Clayton was on bass. But the two band mates didn't perform as U2 but as a group collective known as Band Aid.

In wasn't until 1986 that U2 officially went festive. During their Rattle and Hum project, U2 decided to borrow a Phil Spector/Darlene Love classic as a part of one of their December tour legs. As the song was to be included on the Rattle and Hum movie, it was necessary that U2 cut a performance of the song. 

So in 1987, U2 with Darlene Love on back-up vocals, the band recorded Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) As track producer Jimmy Iovine just happened to be working on the Special Olympics fundraising record A Very Special Christmas, U2 actually received zero payment for their version of the song. But that's okay. U2 isn't a band known for lacking funds.

So without any further to-do, I present to you a U2 and their live recording of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)!

Enjoy!