12 Days of Christmas Songs that Don’t Annoy the Hell Out of Me
Like a lot of people, I can’t stand the over-played, tired, old Christmas music that gets played on loop non-stop by every radio station on the planet from November to January. I get frustrated and annoyed after the first hour. A man can only hear “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer” followed by “All I want for Christmas is You” so many times before ripping his own ears off! Luckily, I have a very wide pool of music I can dip into to find songs that embrace the spirit of Christmas from a fresh perspective, and I’m here to share some of them with you over the next 12 Days! Whether they be original songs or new takes on old songs, hopefully you’ll enjoy them as much as I do. Thus begins…
12 Days of Christmas Songs that Don’t Annoy the Hell Out of Me!
Day 1:
“X12 Days of XXXMasX”
by From First to Last
This is a satirical version of the 12 Days of Christmas from the perspective of a douchey hardcore bro! And since most people hate douchey hardcore bros and love satire, this is a pretty great song. 😀
(It’s not a very good quality video, but it’s the best I could find in 5 minutes that had the lyrics so you could understand what’s being said, and I feel like 5 minutes is enough time spent looking)
Day 2:
“Yule Shoot Your Eye Out”
by Fall Out Boy
It would be completely impossible for me to make a list of songs of any kind and not include Fall Out Boy. Lucky for me, and all of you readers out there in Internetland, they actually have an original, fun, acoustic, ex-girlfriends-related, pop-punk, Christmas song. ENJOY!
(I really wish there were better videos of this song, because I hate how the punctuation is either non-existent or in the wrong places, but this was the best quality audio I found so I guess I’ll live with it.)
Day 3:
“Christmas at 22”
by The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years is one of the many bands that has gotten me through some tough times in my life, so I feel a personal connection to every song they write. “Christmas at 22” is no exception. The whole theme of spending winter days just hanging out with friends while eating frozen pizza and going to house parties, and being thankful that the year ended up not being a complete failure is something I definitely relate to. Hopefully you’ll enjoy this as much as I do 😀
(No complaints about the video this time… Just a complaint that they didn’t play this song last night when I saw them in Boston.)
Day 4:
“Joy to the World”
by Rush Coil
I’ll admit, I’m not a very big fan of 8bit music when it’s not accompanied by a little blue guy jumping gaps and blasting robots. This is definitely an exception. Rush Coil takes such a classic, easily recognizable Christmas song and shapes it into something brand new. It’s like when you put potato chips inside your sandwich. That’s not how sandwiches are supposed to be, but the crunch makes it a million times better. This is pretty much the same thing– someone added chips to Christmas and got something a millions times better.
(This track is on Rush Coil’s album “8 Bit Christmas” with 11 other 8bit versions of classic Christmas songs, which you can check out >>HERE<<)
Day 5:
“Christmas in Hollis”
by Run–D.M.C.
I don’t think I need to tell you that Run–D.M.C. are awesome. They’re legends in the game for lots of reasons, one being that they kept their lyrics clean which made it possible for more people (i.e. young’ns) to listen. I considered other rap/hip-hop songs for this list, but most of them were about murdering Santa Claus, doing drugs, or stealing presents from people, and I’m not really cool with that in relation to Christmas. Run-D.M.C. decided to stay on the “Nice” list with their track, and told a story about returning Santa’s lost wallet and having dinner with their mom, and I think that’s a much better way to go about a Christmas rap. Plus the video is ridiculous.
(That elf creeps me out, man… I can’t get over it no matter how many times I watch this video)
Day 6:
“Blue Christmas”
by Seahaven
Considering the first piece I wrote for SquarePop was on Seahaven, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that they’ve shown up here. The surprising thing is they haven’t really changed the song from it’s original form all that much. In fact, they sort of dumbed it down. I think that’s why I like it. They kept it simple. That slick sax solo doesn’t hurt, either. Also, I just enjoy the song in general because it makes me think of The Year Without a Santa Claus, when the little girl sings it and colors the Christmas tree wrong, and that always make me laugh. Stupid little girl… doesn’t know colors… hah!
(Gotta love the Stick to Your Guns sticker in the background of the photo)
Day 7:
“This Christmas”
by I Call Fives
As stated in the description of myself on this site, I do indeed have “a healthy admiration for pop-punk.” Days 1 and 2 have sort of shown that, and so will days 7 and 8. Because I’m lame like that and, not gonna lie, I didn’t really do much research before choosing the songs for this count down. Sorry. Anyway, I Call Fives is a great pop-punk band in the same vein as The Wonder Years and New Found Glory, and I really enjoy everything I’ve heard by them. I’m also a sucker for xylophones, so when I came across this gem, I just had to include it. Enjoy!
(There’s also a decent live video of them playing this song, but one of the guitars sounds out of tune, so I decided to just use another lame still photo video.)
Day 8:
“Decemberism”
by Man Overboard
Like I said yesterday, today would be another pop-punk related Christmas Song. The song itself doesn’t have a very pop-punk feel to it, but Man Overboard is definitely a pop-punk band. A great one, at that. This song is about thinking back on a significant past Christmas and wanting that feeling back, which is something all of us can probably relate to in some fashion. I mean, who wouldn’t want to feel the way they did when they opened their first N64 on Christmas morning?
Day 9:
“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
by I Am Alaska
Wow… Just… Wow… The way I Am Alaska perform this song is just amazing. It’s so unlike the original that if there were no vocals, you’d never know it was the same song. The almost haunting verses and the heavy, over-driven bridges come together flawlessly to paint a much darker, much more sinister picture of The Grinch. It’s beautiful.
(Also, Tay Zonday.)
Day 10:
“My First Christmas as a Woman”
by The Vandals
This is actually my absolute favorite Christmas song just because it’s so ridiculous. It’s about a transgender woman’s first Christmas without a penis. It’s great. There’s not much else to say. There’s also not a whole lot of safe images related to “trans gender Christmas” to use as comedic links… :/
(This song is off The Vandals Christmas album, “Oi! to the World.” I couldn’t find a link to a playlist, but I’m sure it exists somewhere…)
Day 11:
“Twas the Night Before Christmas”
by La Dispute
So… this might not be much of a song, but La Dispute did some fun stuff on this track. It’s basically just them reading the poem, but they did a bunch of foley, and added some soundtrack, and it all sort of feels like an old radio show. I really enjoy listening to it, and it totally fits because tonight is Christmas Eve… 😀
Day 12:
“Carol of the Bells”
by Pretty much everyone…
Of all the classic staple Christmas songs, Carol of the Bells is hands-down the least annoying. It’s just a straight up well put together song. That makes it extremely hard to screw up. Because it’s so hard to get wrong, I didn’t feel right only showcasing one version of it. That’s why I made it day 12. It’s like opening all the presents under the tree 😀
August Burns Red does it with chuggas and a breakdown:
(definitely my favorite Carol of the Bells, for sure)
(they also do a pretty brutal version of O Come, O Come Emmanuel)
Trans-Siberian Orchestra does it Epic Fantasy Metal-style:
(Bro, they totally sweep.)
Celtic Women do it with help from a bunch of dudes dudes:
(The dudes may not be Celtic, and that might be why they don’t get credit)
Pentatonix does it A’ Capella:
(Even though one guy looks like a try-hard extra from Glee and one guy might actually be a lady, this is still an incredible rendition of the song)
Alphabet Photography does it with office supplies:
(I’ve tried it, and 9-5-9-1 actually is Carol of the Bells O_O)
The Bird and The Bee do it in a Lounge:
(I could totally sip on a martini while listening to this… if gin wasn’t disgusting)
Darth Vader even does it with a Flash Mob:
(I’m a little disappointed he didn’t use the guitar more, but super stoked that this actually happened)
Bonus Muppets video:
(Heh heh. Statler and Waldorf are so silly. They don’t like anything.)
AND THAT’S 12 DAYS!!
K THNX BAI!!
(BTW, a lot of the songs I chose for these 12 days were off the “No Sleep ‘Til Christmas” compilation albums from No Sleep Records. They’re free, so there’s no excuse to not check them out and download them.)
About the Author
Corey St Jean Corey is a great dude with a healthy admiration for pop-punk, Pokemon, and classic movies. He also strums guitar, writes words real good occasionally, and has a super gnarly beard.
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