Apparently this pop-punk duo, in its long history of dropping holiday tuneage, had not yet thrashed out a version of this ancient New Year's chestnut. Well, it's here for 2023. Download or stream, and if you insist, there's a CD on Bandcamp with a bunch of their past Christmas creations, including this one.
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Volume 1 with the same title, also curated by Rodney Bingenheimer, aka Rodney on the ROQ (until this year anyway, but I believe he's still spinning discs on Sirius XM), is currently pulling down collector money when you can find it, so you might be curious about the 2017 version. The title song by the Ramonas repeats -- same version and everything -- as does "The Characters Visit Rodney," a bit of filler where people ask Santa Rodney for gifts, but that leaves 12 other cuts (or 14 if you download it). The Dollyrots' "All I Want For Christmas is You" is here, the Donnas provide a slamming version of "Up On the Housetop," as do the Glitter Critters (featuring Clem Burke of Blondie) with "Little Drummer Boy," and C.J. Ramone offers a solid rocker in "Christmas Lullabye," in the spirit if not the actual sound of his namesake band. "Merry Christmas to You" by Peter 118 is a fine punk thrash, Karen Bassett performs a power-poppy "It's Almost Christmas Time" with a melody that reminds me of a song by Universal Honey, The Mansfields keep the onslaught going with "Broke on Christmas Again," Kat Meoz gives a holiday tour of the Sunset Strip on "Christmas in Hollywood," and Color TV's "This Christmas" is a solid slice of punk-pop. Kristeenyoung throws a little Phil Spector into her holiday ballad "I Won't Be Home For Christmas," the Tearaways poke fun at holiday traditions in "Helluva Christmas," Frankie & The Studs mine holiday coal with "I'm On the Naughty List," and Launch Control goes all "oi oi" with "My Name is Santa and I'm a Punk Rocker." Currently, the sitch with this lovely punk-pop-rock collection is that you can download it from iTunes or you can buy it on vinyl from Amazon or your favorite record store. If you go the download route you get two additional songs, a rockabilly "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" by the Mansfields (second tune for them) and the fabulous "Wake Up Christmas" by Lisa Mychols, which is unsurprisingly one of the best things on the album. Will it go for collector's prices down the line like the first one did? Who cares, just listen to it.
This 2008 collection is a collection from the artists on Joan Jett's record label, including her own take on "Little Drummer Boy" that was issued back around 1980 and isn't all that easy to find. Girl in a Coma puts a bit of a country shine on "Blue Christmas" and thrashes out on "I'll Be Home For Christmas." The Vacancies rock out on "The Elf Song" and the Kinks' "Father Christmas" while The Cute Lepers take on Billy Squier's "Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You" and what I think is their own "All I Ever Want (Under the Christmas Tree)." The Dollyrots do a crunchy rock take on "Santa Baby," and rock legend Kenny Laguna turns up with his "Home For Christmas." A full cast rendition of "Silent Night" in a rock waltz time, throwing in some speechifying by Barack Obama along with John McCain's concession, wraps things up, unless Sean Hannity gets wind of this, anyway. If you love rock 'n roll, you'll probably love this.
Results matching “dollyrots”
This was a fairly grumpy year in my estimation, mostly driven by war and political posturing. Even social media failed to cut loose any fresh fun memes, though I think we know who to blame for that. Ergo, a playlist title that remains satirical but not exactly ha-ha funny. Fortunately, we have a playlist of modern Christmas tunes that will hopefully lighten the moods of listeners everywhere. Let's run it down.
"Groovy Xmas," The Linda Lindas -- Everybody's favorite middle-school pop-punk band dropped this gleeful blast of rhythm for the holiday, which should get everyone's attention.
"Christmas Time With You," The Dollyrots -- More pop-punk from this cool husband-wife duo listing every family's holiday to-do list with a callout to Clement Moore's famous Christmas poem.
"I Don't Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime Is Here)," The Old 97s -- This classic Americana rock band got tapped to contribute to the "Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special," and they came through with this hilarious take on a space alien trying to explain to his off-planet pals what us crazy humans do this time of year.
"Cozy Christmas," Molly Burch -- A sweet midtempo original from this Austin singer-songwriter yearning for what we all want this time of year.
"Christmas Anyway," Stars -- A fine ballad from this Montreal group about star-crossed lovers trying to keep Christmas in their own way.
"Santa Baby," Sug Daniels -- There are so many diva takes on this song, all inspired by Eartha Kitt's original of course, so it's cool that this Philly singer broke out her ukulele and gave us a straight reading of what, at heart, is a funny song.
"December Back 2 June," Alicia Keys -- Some straight-up R'nB from this popular singer-pianist on a cool new original from her recent holiday album.
"Little Drummer Girl," The Yule Logs -- Not particularly related to the drummer boy song, this power-pop holiday tune is about checking out the title character's band.
"Drummer Boy," Titus Andronicus -- A cool companion piece to the previous song in which the famous carol is rejiggered to fit into a Billy Joel setlist.
"Merry Christmas Everybody," Norman Nardini -- Here's a little blues from a veteran of the Pittsburgh music scene, but with a punchy beat to keep the dance floor full.
"Violent Night (A Christmas Tale)," Chubby and the Gang -- Old school punk rock steals a title from a Christmas-themed horror movie and goes to town on the holiday.
"Christmas Harmony," Pep Rally -- Enjoy this Philly band's rocking take on holiday celebrations and singing.
"Reason For the Season," Modern Temple -- Nice midtempo pop-rocker covering the usual holiday verities. Also makes a half-baked title song to this collection.
"Mr. Scrooge," Cindy Lawson -- Cool oldie given a fresh coat of 60s girl-group paint by Cindy, in which a taciturn boyfriend gets compared to the grumpy antagonist of a favorite Christmas story.
"Daddy's Kissing Santa Claus," Havanna Winter -- Well, it could happen. Not that there's anything wrong with this, as George Costanza would say.
"Secret Santa," Salem Ilese -- Boisterous modern pop take on the holiday pumped full to the gills with up-to-the-minute cultural references.
"Must Be Santa," Bastard Bearded Irishmen -- An occasional Celtic take on the holiday is always welcome here, though in this case these Irishmen are coming to us via CBGB's.
"Hungover For the Holidays," Latewaves -- Because, yeah, some of us are going to end up that way.
"Happy New Year," Let's Eat Grandma -- Kinda synth-poppy, kinda wordy, but any excuse to not end the playlist with "Auld Lang Syne," I say.
Popular pop-punkers The Dollyrots have a history with Christmas, which we've chronicled here at Mistletunes. For 2022 we get a new free single from them with this great punk thrash original song about coupling for the holidays. Flip it over (OK, not literally) and you get the Dollys playing around with their family on "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)." If you're on their mailing list, they probably sent you free download links; if not, head over to Bandcamp for it.
We're still fighting off that unique pandemic that crushed much of the life out of 2020 and isn't doing much for the current year either. Nevertheless, those of us whose luck has been better still want to observe the Western world's most prominent holiday in the ways to which we've become accustomed, and in our case that means going outside the usual repertoire of holiday music to throw down with a slightly more frivolous choice of Christmas song, or in this case, 21 such choices. Strike up the Bluetooth and join the chorus.
"It Was a ... (Masked Christmas)," Jimmy Fallon with Ariana Grande and Megan Thee Stallion -- Given the choice of cover art and playlist title, you knew we had to lead off with this.
"Christmas Comes Tonight," The Incurables -- A nice bluesy rocker gives us a brisk change-up from the opening blast of chart-friendly funk-pop.
"A Very Merry Christmas," Lisa Mychols & Super 8 -- Here's how they used to do pop in the days when the Top 40 ruled the airwaves. Lisa's been doing this kind of retro-pop for many years and the Mistletunes mix is happy to welcome her back.
"Christmas Day," The Weeklings -- More rock 'n roll with a Sixties flair, these guys are known for their Beatles-esque covers and stage shows.
"It's A Peppermint Christmas," The Peppermint Kicks -- Power pop from Boston keeps our holiday party jumping.
"This Is Life (Merry Christmas)," The Lumineers featuring Daniel Rodriguez -- Colorado folk-rockers who came along around the same time as Mumford & Sons take a poppier approach to their sound with this original holiday tune.
"I'll Be Home For Christmas," Ziemba -- I always go for original takes on familiar tunes, and this more upbeat look at the popular holiday ballad fills that bill nicely.
"Christmas Isn't Cancelled (Just You)," Kelly Clarkson -- Normally we don't spend a lot of time considering performers who are household names for the mix, but this is a pretty smart holiday breakup song, so we're going with it.
"Santa's On a Rampage," Patricia Vonne with Rosie Flores -- Always ready for a song about Santa throwing down for the holidays. After all, his regular gig is a lot of work....
"Jingle Jangle Heart," Librarians With Hickeys -- I could have picked this just for the band name, but it's a great Christmas come-on song.
"One More Sleep," The Dollyrots -- This "Elf"-inspired tune originated with Leona Lewis, but I think I like this pop-punk take on it better.
"Christmas Caller," Beach Bunny -- Love this bouncy modern radio-ready pop-rocker, and I think you will too.
"My Ugly Sweater," Jade 10 and Sisters Noel -- In which our performers forego style in favor of warding off the typical Christmas weather. Of course, ugly doesn't necessarily mean unfashionable nowadays.
"Feliz Chanukah," Six13 -- I could have probably gotten away without a Hanukkah tune this year given how early it was, but I couldn't pass up this Yiddish take on a Latin/English classic.
"Catch Myself Some Rays," Shaggy featuring CARYS -- And of course, the Mistletunes annual mix never fails to remind us that much of the world isn't cold at Christmastime, in this case by throwing in some reggae.
"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," Wrabel -- Most versions of this song key off the bombastic Phil Spector original, but this slow electro-folk take on it lets the song shine through the performance.
"You Ain't Getting Nothin'," Beebe Gallini featuring Cindy Lawson -- Do you get the feeling this garage-rock anthem isn't just about Christmas presents?
"Holiday Rock," Neon Trees -- Pretty much as advertised, the FTC won't be handling any complaints about the title of this song.
"Run Rudolph Run," Norah Jones -- Never heard this song done as a samba? Well, here's your big chance.
"Gone For Christmas," Amanda Shires -- Another breakup song with a little more Nashville added to the formula.
"The After Christmas Song," Bob Malone -- Bringing you in for a soft landing before it's time to ramp up for New Year's Eve. Merry Christmas.
The Leona Lewis holiday hit from 2013 gets reimagined for 2021 as a punk-pop powerhouse song, which is only natural as that style is this band's wheelhouse. Singer Kelly Ogden is, of course, best known lately as a Little Steven's Underground Garage hostess, but the band keeps coming on stronger and stronger in the marketplace with its non-holiday fare. Also, don't forget they have history in the holiday realm. It's on Bandcamp.
Earlier, when mentioning their 2020 single, I noted the band had enough Christmas tunes for their own single-artist playlist. Apparently this gave them an idea, and so there's now a single-click opportunity to round up all 12 of their holiday recordings in one place. Apparently there are a couple here that I missed, like their version of "Let's Turkey Trot" and their originals "Because I'm Santa" and "Messed Up Xmas." Like always, it's at Bandcamp and you can name your price.
Jaret's from Bowling for Soup and Kelly's from the Dollyrots, the latter of whom are already accounted for in 2020's holiday sweepstakes. But the two of them previously recorded a duet album and this year went for a holiday single that's all about the various ways to celebrate the holiday. Few of them are practical this year because of the pandemic, unfortunately, but you'll enjoy thinking about them as you listen to this 60s pop-rocker with a Specter twist. It's on Bandcamp.
Punk-poppers The Dollyrots have been pushing out Christmas singles for a number of years now. and this 2020 double-sided single extends their repertoire to the point that you can have an all-Dollyrots playlist if you want. Their signature semi-Ramones style gets lent to the Darlene Love classic, and also to a version of "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" featuring their son River on lead vocal. Unlike a lot of kid vocals on Christmas songs, this one is tuneful enough to escape this site's usual stink-eye toward kid vocals. This is a pay-what-you-want duo, available on Bandcamp.
Amazing to me that this song has managed to become a Christmas classic, and I sincerely hope this website had at least a little to do with that. The fact that it has appeal across the rock, pop, and Celtic music fields certainly helps with that. There have been a few punk-rock versions over time, and the Dollyrots have now tried their hand with their own such version for 2019. As has been their custom, it's a free download from Bandcamp, costing you only an email address. I can imagine many fans of the original song not being too fond of this, but the band is great and the performance is peppy.
Indie pop-punkers The Dollyrots keep sneaking Christmas tunes out to their fanbase every year, and for 2018 they push an amped-up medley of familiar holiday tunes out to folks. Within three minutes they romp through "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," "Silent Night," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Frosty the Snowman," and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." If you haven't surrendered an email address to them, you should, especially if you like this kind of happy thrash.
Volume 1 with the same title, also curated by Rodney Bingenheimer, aka Rodney on the ROQ (until this year anyway, but I believe he's still spinning discs on Sirius XM), is currently pulling down collector money when you can find it, so you might be curious about the 2017 version. The title song by the Ramonas repeats -- same version and everything -- as does "The Characters Visit Rodney," a bit of filler where people ask Santa Rodney for gifts, but that leaves 12 other cuts (or 14 if you download it). The Dollyrots' "All I Want For Christmas is You" is here, the Donnas provide a slamming version of "Up On the Housetop," as do the Glitter Critters (featuring Clem Burke of Blondie) with "Little Drummer Boy," and C.J. Ramone offers a solid rocker in "Christmas Lullabye," in the spirit if not the actual sound of his namesake band. "Merry Christmas to You" by Peter 118 is a fine punk thrash, Karen Bassett performs a power-poppy "It's Almost Christmas Time" with a melody that reminds me of a song by Universal Honey, The Mansfields keep the onslaught going with "Broke on Christmas Again," Kat Meoz gives a holiday tour of the Sunset Strip on "Christmas in Hollywood," and Color TV's "This Christmas" is a solid slice of punk-pop. Kristeenyoung throws a little Phil Spector into her holiday ballad "I Won't Be Home For Christmas," the Tearaways poke fun at holiday traditions in "Helluva Christmas," Frankie & The Studs mine holiday coal with "I'm On the Naughty List," and Launch Control goes all "oi oi" with "My Name is Santa and I'm a Punk Rocker." Currently, the sitch with this lovely punk-pop-rock collection is that you can download it from iTunes or you can buy it on vinyl from Amazon or your favorite record store. If you go the download route you get two additional songs, a rockabilly "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" by the Mansfields (second tune for them) and the fabulous "Wake Up Christmas" by Lisa Mychols, which is unsurprisingly one of the best things on the album. Will it go for collector's prices down the line like the first one did? Who cares, just listen to it. 
As you fans of the Netflix series are no doubt aware, these residents of a small town stumbled onto monsters that were kidnapping their friends and dragging them into an alternate dimension called the "upside-down." Gotta say it feels like 2016, looking in the rear-view mirror -- the passenger-side one, where objects appear smaller than they actually are -- is when we all slipped into the upside-down, where, like Barbara from the show, we lost so many good souls before their time. And it sure feels like the malevolent crowd at Hawkins Laboratories just got their hands on the keys to everything.
Nevertheless, it's Christmas time, and the need for a playlist of joyful noises never goes away, and that's why we're here.
"You Show Me Yours at Xmas," The Senti-mentals -- And I'll show you mine. Presents. Why, what did you think we were talking about?
"All I Want For Christmas Is You," The Dollyrots -- Because there's no adult contemporary anthem that doesn't perk up when you do a punk rock version of it.
"Liquor In My Stocking," Guns of Nevada -- I fully endorse this proposal. Just make sure it's still in the bottle when you put it in the stocking.
"Sleigh Full of Toys," The 60s Invasion -- The Yardbirds never managed to make a Christmas record, so these guys stepped up to correct the historical record.
"I Don't Want to Trim Your Tree," G Matthews -- She's playing hard to get on the holiday -- or at least, she doesn't want to be stuck with the decorating.
"Little Drummer Boy," piKziL -- I'm always down for arrangements of familiar carols that subvert the popular versions, and making the drummer play tropical rhythms instead of martial beats certainly qualifies.
"It's Christmastime," The Empty Hearts -- A bunch of guys from the Cars, Blondie and the Romantics decided the holiday needed some power pop, and they've proven to be right.
"Marshmallow World," The Regrettes -- Nice that this young, mostly-girl band saw fit to pay tribute to the Darlene Love version from the classic Phil Spector Christmas album.
"Everybody's Having Fun (It's Christmas Time)," Natalie Prass -- This slinky little number is all about having a good time on the holiday, and so are we.
"Christmas Trees (feat. Proteje)," Major Lazer -- Reggae seems to be tapering off as a popular musical form, but it doesn't look like these guys got the message. Also sounds like they've got other kinds of plant life in mind, and that they're not waiting for the after-Christmas bonfire to break out the lighter.
"Some Hearts (at Christmas Time)," Low -- This band practically invented "shoegaze" as a form of indie-pop music, and this stop-motion ballad has a nice melody.
"The Sweetest Season," Deerheart -- Nice 12-string jangle-pop anthem celebrating the Christmas season.
"O Christmas Tree," Mike the Prophet -- Because you always wanted to hear this done to a Latin rhythm, right?
"This Is a Christmas Song, My Love," Jaymay -- Well, that's stating the obvious. Still, it's got a great beat and you can dance to it.
"All Alone on Christmas," Work Drugs -- This Philly band gives us a fine ode to feeling left out on the holidays with just a taste of that soulful Philly-Jersey sound.
"Back For Christmas," Andrew Belle -- A melancholy little synth-pop number to provide us with a change of pace.
"Lets Have a Rockin Christmas," Jackie Kringle & the Elves -- Some garage-rock for the holiday. As long as you're out there, bring the aluminum tree into the game room, OK?
"Winter Wish," Oh, Hush! with Hanna Ashbrook -- That a great pop-rock tune like this one isn't on your local radio station is probably why nobody listens to the radio anymore.
"Never Had Christmas," Rope Store -- These English guys still remember 70s glam rock, or at least their grandparents told them about it....
"Christmas Is a Time For Giving," The Prissteens -- One of those almost-made-it bands produced by the same guy who gave us Blondie dipped their toe in the Christmas pool, and we get a little Phil Spector and a little Go-Go's for the holiday.
"Creepy Christmas Party," Las Pistolas -- Bobby "Boris" Pickett, white courtesy phone, they're stealing your act, dude!
"Christmas Time Is Cruel," The Bayonets -- One of the guys in Paul McCartney's touring band got together with Little Steven to put together this cautionary holiday tale that would fit right in on the Underground Garage.
"Last Christmas on Planet Earth," Palma Violets -- Nah, it just feels like it right now. Right? Right?
"New Year's Eve," Brian Cullman -- Because when all else fails, usher the old year out with somebody you just hooked up with. Happy Holidays!
Not much to say beyond that this fun pop-punk duo doubled the speed and brought the guitars to the fore on this 2016 cover of the Mariah Carey tune. It's a name-your-price download at Bandcamp, so go on and grab it. UPDATE: Video!
Another female punk group takes on Chuck Berry, and the result is good fun, with the driving punk crunch taking precedence over the Berry riffs. Yes, I know there are similar versions of this practically growing on trees, so whether you go for this probably depends on whether you're a fan of the band or you actually don't have a similar version of this song. But I like this 2015 single without reservations. It's on Bandcamp and NoiseTrade.
This 2008 collection is a collection from the artists on Joan Jett's record label, including her own take on "Little Drummer Boy" that was issued back around 1980 and isn't all that easy to find. Girl in a Coma puts a bit of a country shine on "Blue Christmas" and thrashes out on "I'll Be Home For Christmas." The Vacancies rock out on "The Elf Song" and the Kinks' "Father Christmas" while The Cute Lepers take on Billy Squier's "Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You" and what I think is their own "All I Ever Want (Under the Christmas Tree)." The Dollyrots do a crunchy rock take on "Santa Baby," and rock legend Kenny Laguna turns up with his "Home For Christmas." A full cast rendition of "Silent Night" in a rock waltz time, throwing in some speechifying by Barack Obama along with John McCain's concession, wraps things up, unless Sean Hannity gets wind of this, anyway. If you love rock 'n roll, you'll probably love this.
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