Results matching “skids”

Hello to everyone who made it through this dangerous and vexing year! I don't want to dwell too much on the sad and infuriating parts of the year, but, well, we did base the cover of this year's mix disc on one of those -- the attempt by an election loser to deny reality. Fortunately, the ludicrous exploits of his enablers have brought us many hours of laughter, leavened only by the fact that we're being asked to share our humorous reactions via social media, Zoom or FaceTime rather than in person. Hopefully, all this will be just an entry in a future VH-1 "I Love the '20s" special by next holiday season. Meanwhile, here's our annual rundown of rocking, funky, hilarious holiday music just made for soundtracking your Tic Tok dance videos.

"Blame It on Christmas," Bebe Rexha & Shea Diamond -- Some old-school soul music freshly made to compliment a new romantic comedy on Hulu richly earned the kickoff berth in our annual compilation.

"Joe and Mary," Bryan Adams -- The singer of "Summer of '69" is back with a Chuck Berry homage to the baby Jesus' parents. You'll want to drop the top if you're listening in your car, except we're getting a white Christmas this year, so don't be like this guy.

"It Doesn't Often Snow at Christmas," Lee Aaron -- Canada's heavy metal queen of the 1980s is still out there performing to this day, and she puts a fine barroom spin on this Pet Shop Boys holiday tune.

"Pandemic Christmas," Tom Dyer and the True Olympians -- Well, you'd have been disappointed if there wasn't a COVID anthem on this year's collection, so here it is, straight out of the Pacific Northwest.

"Santa Baby," Love Renaissance (LVRN) -- The Eartha Kitt classic stands up well to modern covers, especially of the hip-hop variety, as this performance illustrates so well.

"Let It Snow," Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets -- Two veteran rockers from two continents combine (via technology) for this gentle rockabilly cover of a familiar holiday classic.

"Santa Stay Home," U.S. Girls -- This modern alternative rock original expresses the concerns of 2020 by asking the jolly elf to enlist the courier services to deliver his packages. After all, he's in a high risk classification ....

"Surfing on Christmas Day (Santa Won't You Bring Me Some Waves)," Southern Culture on the Skids -- Ah, for some surf-ready weather on the holiday. This fine Southeastern party band brings the beat to the season.

"Santa's Watching You," Kelly Finnigan -- Another modern take on old-school soul, in which the premise behind "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" gets overlaid with some contemporary paranoia.

"Donde Esta Santa Claus?," Mento Buro -- I just heard of this West Coast ska band this year, and I'm pleased to present a version of this song performed in that particular Caribbean musical style.

"Feliz Navidad (Yves V Edit)," F4ST -- The electronic dance music style really agrees with this Jose Feliciano original. Play it over your next Zoom conference and see if anyone can stay seated.

"This Xmas," Running Lights -- Here's a modern ode to holiday loneliness that should resonate with a lot of people in this pandemic year.

"Snowstorm," The Raveonettes -- This 50s pop ode to winter weather reminds me a lot more of Hawaii than Alaska, thanks to the steel guitar flourishes throughout the tune.

"Get This Christmas Right," Jaret and Kelly -- A pair of punk rockers put together a holiday original that will make you think less of mosh pits and more of variety TV shows from the 1970s.

"Gonna Be Christmas," The Weeklings -- We've had these guys on the Mistletunes compilations before with their overt Beatles holiday parodies; this year they've come up with an original that still retains that Merseyside style.

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," Mona Lisa Twins -- Following on from the previous tune, Mona and Lisa (and yes, they really are twins) put an "All My Loving" spin on their arrangement of this popular holiday song.

"San Ta!," Merkel and the Merkelettes -- This bunch of Philly goofballs tinsels up a classic hip-hop hit from Outkast and sneaks in a commercial for holiday charity and compassion while they're at it.

"Puppy For Hanukkah," Daveed Diggs -- The rapper-actor known for being in the original cast of "Hamilton" does a kosher take on hip-hop with this request for a holiday present.

"Last Christmas," Eli Paperboy Reed -- Wham's Christmas classic gets a soulful remake from this New England singer-songwriter that's worth hearing.

"Christmas Curry," Chris Daily -- Not sure I share this singer's fondness for curry, no matter the holiday, but I love how he built this song on the bones of "Yakety Yak."

"A Chinese Restaurant on Christmas," Jeremy & the Harlequins -- A humorous take on being dumped at Christmastime and having nowhere to go on the holiday except a restaurant run by folks for whom the 25th is just another work day.

"Some Kind of Christmas," Stop Calling Me Frank -- A fine holiday rocker. I wonder if Frank is married to Shirley?

"I'm Not Coming Home For Christmas," Jagger Holly -- Keeping the rock 'n roll streak going along with a title that suggests the proper course to take on a holiday during the pandemic, although that's not what the song is about.

"Look Outside (A New Year's Coming)," The Go! Team -- A sprightly new original about the end of the year to wrap up 2020.

The Southeast's greatest party band is no stranger to the holiday music scene, and they've got a new single in 2020 that is a fine tribute to 60s surf music, right down to the Wilson-esque falsetto yelps, not to mention the Dick Dale guitar that is a factor in most all this band's songs. Must have.

Another good-cause album from 1996, this one benefits Witness. Lots of big-ish names here, a little better than Rock For Choice's album, although Beck's "The Little Drum Machine Boy" and Sonic Youth's "Santa Doesn't Cop Out On Dope," a cover of the Martin Mull classic, failed to live up to my expectations. And "Thanks For Christmas" by XTC has appeared elsewhere under the name The Three Wise Men (produced by The Good Lord). But Aimee Mann and Michael Penn's "Christmastime" is nice, Elastica take on "Gloria" and Southern Culture on the Skids does one of the better arrangements of "Merry Christmas Baby" I've yet heard. And in the "whatever happened to" department, Prince protégés Wendy and Lisa reappear here as The Musical Cast of Toys with "The Closing of the Year." The Roots cover De La Soul's "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa." Ted Hawkins' "Amazing Grace" didn't seem to belong, however, though I've often been quoted here as being cool to generic hymns being used as Christmas songs. Click through to Amazon for copies from 3rd-party sellers, as this is long out of print.

This may be the first rock 'n roll Christmas song. Predating "Jingle Bell Rock," it's more of a blues tune, first done by Charles Brown in 1947 and widely covered by everyone from Elvis Presley to Chuck Berry to Bruce Springsteen to Otis Redding to Southern Culture on the Skids. It's this wide adoption by the rock world that justifies the first sentence of this post. Blues and Christmas seem not to go together, but this one has more of a happy ending. Note that Chuck Berry contemporized it by changing "radio" to "stereo" in the line "I'm feeling fine, got good music on my radio." From Mojo magazine, January 1997: "Brown... was approached by a songwriter named Lou Baxter who tried to sell him a seasonal ditty titled "Merry Christmas Blues." Brown then, allegedly, revamped the song... but listed Baxter's name as composer so that he would get a cut. Brown... recorded it as lead singer with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers and Exclusive Records promptly placed Moore's name on the label." Brown has recorded this several more times since the original performance under his own name. He recorded two Christmas albums in his career, one in 1961 and another in 1993.