Holiday Music Doesn’t have to be Painful

Ten in the Key of the World Revolves Around Me

by Tony Reflex

I have found that like any dreaded or eagerly anticipated seasonal holiday, the music associated with it doesn’t have to be painful.  Winter holiday music is no exception. I have spent every winter seeking out and trying to ford that special music- the kind that gets me amped up and excited about the season, if for no other reason than to transfer that feeling to my kids. 

1. Groovie Ghoulies- Christmas on Mars. Holidays are for family, and besides feasts of traditional foods that go back generations, there are always those old favorites and new classics in film and music that help bring us together as a family unit. This year I was lucky enought to introduce Mars to the tribes, both mine and others. Nothing says Christmas like little green men. Kepi & the Groovie Ghoulies nailed it with Christmas on Mars. Of course, this  song was inspired by more than just the Ramones.

2. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians - Hooray for Santy Claus (1964). This movie, which was a holiday staple on KTLA for most of the 1970s, starred a very young Pia Zadora as a martian child addicted to television and, of course, to Santa Claus. Every year I marvel about how catchy the theme song is. An instant classic in any house, green or not. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tlF9UV3av0&feature=related

Joan Jett - The Little Drummer Boy (1981) which, at least in Youtube hits, is buried by well over 1 million to the yawn fest between Bowie and Bing, but which is infinitely more endearing to these ears. If  had to walk forever to get to Jeruselum, I’d hope it would sound more like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5_gk-1OGXU

4. The Humpers- Run, Run Rudolph (1995). In the late 1980s to the late 1990s, in the last of the great Rock and Roll revivals in Los Angeles, was a Long Beach five piece that blasted through every bar from Pasadena to Pomona.  Their version of a Chuck Berry standard, Run, Run Rudolph (1995) is a masterpiece, and to any of us that survived the cacophony of sonic joy that the Humpers delivered, it is nothing short of nirvana. Forget Bob Seger and Brian Setzer......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chod2CRhY2Y&feature=related 

5. The Damned- There Ain’t no Sanity Clause (1983). The last of the Chiswick singles, for many of us, this was an instant hit, and endeared us to the Damned even more. Taken from a quip in the infamous Marx Brothers A Night at the Opera (1935), this song gets as much play in July as in December.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiq-pAtuFCc&feature

6. Fear- Fuck Christmas (1982). The flipside of (Beep) Christmas is this wonderful charcoal nugget. The following live clip was taken from New Wave Theater which ran in the early 1980’s and hosted by Peter Ivers. Ivers wrote the music for the phenomenal David Lynch movie Eraserhead (1978). His New Wave Theater showcased many of Los Angeles’s underground bands.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbTULjLtKP4

7. Residents- Santa Dog (1972) Oiriginally released as Fire by Ivory and the Braineaters, Santa Dog would be the first of a kazillion releases by the Residents. What can be said about it? It works in my house.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cKbqOJiglY

8. Kinks- Father Christmas (1978). Any song that celebrates kicking Santa’s ass is gonna warm even the coldest of hearts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xEopHCtEUo

9. Peanuts- Christmas Time is Here. Besides the ever cynical Charlie Brown, this song will forever haunt me. It should sound like a celebration, but it plays out like a Christmas bummer for ol’ Chuck. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPG3zSgm_Qo

10. Captain Beefheart- There Ain’t Santa Claus on the Evening Stage (1972). Entering the boredline between Joysville and Bummer City, all out blues. The kind of coal I’d love to find in my sock..... that is if my dog didn’t chew a hole through all of them first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2Nc-s44tUc