Friday, December 17, 2010

Even more subversive songs to get through the holidays

Last week I provided a list of five songs that offer a different take on the holiday season. With Christmas a week away and the pressure to create the perfect holiday building up, I am presenting five more songs to ease the tension.

"Christmas In Hollis" — Run DMC (1987)
This is a happy hip hop holiday song about Christmas in Queens, N.Y. The song includes such endearingly goofy lyrics as "It was December 24th on Hollis Ave in the dark/When I seen a man chilling with his dog in the park/I approached very slowly with my heart full of fear/Looked at his dog, oh my God, an ill reindeer."

"I Won't Be Home for Christmas" — Blink 182 (1997)
Goofball pop/punk rockers wrote this anthem for all those who are driven up the wall by the holiday season. The song features bitter, but funny lyrics like: "It's time to be nice to the people you can't stand all year/I'm growing tired of all this Christmas cheer"

"O Holy Night" — Eric Cartman (1999)
"South Park" dedicated a whole episode to satirizing holiday music back in 1999. This is one of the tamer songs from the episode with the spoiled Cartman butchering the holiday classic to hilarious effect.

"Oh Shit, It's Christmastime!" — Mad Tea Party (2009)
This uke-abilly band — that would be rockabilly with a ukulele — vents their frustration for Christmas in this infectious two-minute ditty. The cheerily sung cynical lyrics include sentiments that anyone can relate to, if only fleetingly: "It's Christmas, forgot about the pagans and Jews/It's Christmas and it makes me blue."

"Christmas Night of the Living Dead" — MxPx (2009)
It was perhaps inevitable, especially with their increasing prominence in pop culture, that there would be a zombie-themed Christmas song. Punk rockers MxPx present this bloody tale of Christmas carnage featuring the chorus: "Christmas night of the living dead/My face is green and the snow is red."

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