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As promised, the second of two Christmas albums by this Buffalo ska-punk band. This one's title is sardonic, in that it's 14 covers of familiar holiday tunes in which they pull the arrangements apart and dance merrily upon even the actual melodies of the songs. Whether they're actually ruined, of course, is up to the listener; I found them highly entertaining. They thrash "Holly Jolly Christmas" to a fare-thee-well, go way upbeat on "Blue Christmas," take the familiar blues "Please Come Home For Christmas" uptempo and jaunty, impose a minor-key arrangement on "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree," make a waltz out of "I'll Be Home For Christmas," transform "Monsters Holiday," the Bobby "Boris" Pickett followup to "Monster Mash," and turn "Christmas In Hollis" into a more melodic ska anthem. They manage to not make too much of a change to "Mele Kalikimaka," and go crazy on "Christmas Vacation." This is fun all the way through, with playlist possibilities galore. Unlike the other one, this is only available through Bandcamp.

There's really no shortage of Christmas music done by modern surf-punk ska bands, so what was going through the heads of this bunch of folks from Buffalo, NY when they dropped two whole albums of Christmas music for 2024? Not sure, but I'm only sorry it took till the end of the season for me to discover them. This is the first of the two albums, consisting of 18 original, jaundiced, hilarious takes on the holiday, as the titles will attest. (They like to put everything in capitol letters, but it looks horrendous in practice, so humor me.) "Christmas Sucks!," "Guess What I Got You? Nothing!," "Drunk For Christmas!," "Ruin Christmas Just Because!," "You Ruined Christmas and My Life!," "Holiday Fist Fight!," "Merry and Miserable," and more of the same. I would note some might think the 19th tune, a cover of the Vandals' "Grandpa's Last Christmas!," is taking things a little too far, but given that the song mocks the mom who tells the kids the title every year for decades as much as anything else, I'll allow it. Streaming and downloads, and there's a separate review for the other album here as well.

The formerly middle school all-girl punk band (gotta be graduating high school by now) previously had a Christmas single and now they're back with this cover of the evergreen rock classic. No Amazon link, apparently this is an Apple Music exclusive for 2024.

Don't know anything about these guys, but here's yet another semi-jaundiced pop-punk take on Christmas ennui for 2024. It's cool and will definitely brighten up your playlists. Streaming and downloads from all the usual suspects.

Not satisfied with a decade's worth of Christmas goodies, members of Vista Blue created this side project to do songs related only to the movie "A Christmas Story." For 2024 their song regards the bandit from Ralphie's dreams that he dispatches with the famous air rifle. As with other songs by this group, the specificity to the movie might not be what you want for a Christmas playlist -- or it might just be what you're looking for. Downloads and streaming everywhere, and you can catch up with the whole discography at Bandcamp.

This Nashville punk band has been making Christmas songs for 10 years, and for 2024 they dropped this EP featuring the Ramones-like "I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter," "When the Christmas Tree is All Aglow," and the title song, based on the quote from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation." Weirldly, the version on most services drops "I'm Gonna Be Warm"; to get all three you must go to Bandcamp.

These guys are all over this site's archives going back many years with their irreverent punk-thrash take on Christmas tunes. For 2024, they went there, even bringing on a female vocalist to do justice to the inescapable Mariah Carey hit. Get it from Bandcamp, and enjoy yourselves.

The classic English Christmas tune by Roy Wood's Wizzard gets a pop-punk rendition for 2024 by this popular band. The Dollyrots have a long history of Christmas tunes, and they're reissuing their Christmas album on CD with this cut included. Check them out on Bandcamp, as the updated album and this song haven't yet migrated to streaming.

Well, this will wake you up on Christmas morning in a heck of a hurry. This southeastern Michigan band just dropped an album, Exhibition, and at the same time provided us with this solid ska-punk Christmas song. If you can't connect the title to the song, be advised that it's a reference to an episode of "30 Rock" in which some characters made up a fake religion to get out of Kenneth the page's Secret Santa giveaway. To quote singer Benny Capaul: "'Tis the season of disastrous relationships and crippling self-isolation mixed with stretched out and holey stockings overflowing with regret and jealousy. Deck the halls with subzero apartments and frostbitten appendages!" Downloads and streaming, natch.

We've had this Cleveland punk band's holiday offerings before, and they're back for 2024 with another EP featuring a solidly punk-pop version of the title song, "Auld Lang Syne," and "Alone on Christmas," an original with a few judiciously placed classic carol quotes. Great for the "dad punk" (their term) fans among us. Up for download or streaming in all the usual places.

This prolific Indiana punk band has a history of cutting Christmas records that I wasn't aware of until now. For 2023 they dropped this EP with four tunes, "It's Christmas Time," "What Are You Gonna Get?," "Christmas Every Day" and "The Rain Washed the Snow Away." All are cool pop-punk numbers you should like. Having enjoyed this, you should head over to Bandcamp and check out A John Waters Christmas Tribute, in which they cover four tunes found on the classic Waters Christmas compilation, Nobody Told Me It Was Christmas, The Carols That We Sing, and Christmas Sounds. Further on, you might also be interested in their side project, Ralphie's Red Ryders, in which all the songs relate to the popular movie "A Christmas Story." However, I would note that despite the association, the songs actually don't come off as Christmas songs to my ears. Still, you might have a movie-related playlist or two that these songs would work with.

A long time ago we were constantly posting punk-rock Christmas parodies by this group, and then they released an album they billed as their greatest hits and we forgot all about them. Appears they've been sneaking tunes out all along, and in 2023 they dropped two new ones, a cover of "Last Christmas" and this tune, a parody of Blink 182's "All the Small Things." Head over to Bandcamp and graze their discography page.

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.

This is a bunch of UK punks from other bands pulling together a side hustle, and they have a few records out before issuing this one, a 2022 single featuring "Violent Night (A Christmas Tale)." No surprise, it's a cool punk rave-up with horror-movie vibes from the title. Flip side "Red Rag to a Bull" is in a similar vein but is not Christmas oriented, near as I can tell. Grab it on Bandcamp. There was vinyl but it's all gone now.

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.

This is a label compilation from the New York-based I Surrender Records featuring a selection of their artists performing original punk Christmas tunes. If you've never heard of this label or its artists, this is a cool collection of high-octane holiday music. (The first four tunes all come with content warnings.) Valencia offers "How Valencia Stole Christmas," a pastiche of holiday readymades; The High Court's "Rico Christmas" is a swipe at over-commercialization; the band latewaves thrashes through "Hungover For the Holidays," because of course they do; Mattstagraham goes even faster tempo through "I  Can't Keep Up With the Holidays"; Pollyanna's "Christmas Garbage" sounds like an homage to the more famous band whose name is the second word of the title; We Are the Union drops the almost-mandatory ska offering, "Yr Always Alone (On Christmas)"; Alex Amiruddin & Vinnie Caruana give us a downtempo "December 26th," which is about escaping town and not so much Boxing Day; Punchline's "Together" is a poppy rocker; and Raccoon Tour leave us with the wild farewell "Happy New Year I'm Still a Piece of Garbage." A short (tailored for vinyl no doubt) but enjoyable collection of tunes.

Last year we got a punk-rock Christmas album from these guys, and they're back in 2022 with another thrashy helping of holiday goodness. This is more of a long EP, seven songs, with three covers, a reggae version of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and fast punked-out versions of  "Deck the Halls" and "Silver Bells." Their own tunes include a mid-tempo grinder about "Krampus," a thrashy protest against "Fruitcake," an almost pop-punk opener in "It's Christmas!," and "If You Show Me Yours, I'll Show You Mine," which is about presents, right? A short but solid collection, following on from last year's collection. You'll find it on Bandcamp.

These LA-based middle schoolers landed like the Allies on D-Day a couple years ago with their song "Racist Sexist Boy," and for 2022 they took a swing at the holidays with this cool pop-punk single. Think Ramones by way of Green Day, only with girls, and you've got it. Now add it to your playlists. Available wherever you get your music. 

Here we go with still more holiday punk rock. There's a Canadian thrash-metal band called The Annihilators, but this isn't them; Bandcamp reveals that this 2021 album is the work of one Richard T Pflueger of Cleveland, OH, who notes this is the work of himself and "whoever's available." Nine originals and one version of "Auld Lang Syne" are on offer here, and I'd like to note these are pretty sharp originals, though their point of view ranges from jaundiced to snotty, as you'd expect from a punk album. It appears that "How Do You Gift Wrap a Throat Punch" is the breakout tune from this collection, judging by the track breakdown in the iTunes Store, and justifiably so given its hilarious premise. Things kick off with a Public Image Ltd.-sounding "Joyride to the World," "I Know What You Got Me" is a rant against overspending on the holiday, "Skip the Holiday" is a duet with Jenny Dangerously about blowing off holiday celebrations (good advice in yet another pandemic year), "Christmas Really Sucks (When You're a Dad)" veers more into traditional hard rock territory in its tale of keeping a family afloat while spending for Christmas, and "Uncle Stu" is a crunchy lament about an uninvited reprobate relative crashing the party. "Merry Christmas Baby" is a ballad, "Under My Tree" is a thrashy invitation to share companionship, and "The Christmas Tree Is  All Lit Up" is a bit of an oomp-pah number about the tree catching fire. Great fun and eminently listenable all the way through.

The Damaged Goods label remains a mainstay of the British punk scene, and their artists have had a fairly active Christmas life -- indeed, a number of the label's holiday works have featured on Mistletunes in the past. For those who haven't been following the Damaged saga, this collection will bring you up to speed quickly -- and enjoyably. The site has previously reviewed such items as Holly Golightly's "Christmas Tree On Fire," Wild Billy Childish's "Christmas 1979," TV Smith's "Xmas, Bloody Xmas," Goldblade's "City of Christmas Ghosts" featuring Poly Styrene, and Severe's version of "Stop the Cavalry." Add to that the Singing Loins' "Ding Dong Merrily On High," an almost skiffle-like tune that cops from traditional carols; Helen Love's much poppier take on the Ramones' "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)"; another Holly Golightly song, the sweet ballad "Little Stars," done with the Greenhornes; Cuckooland's punked-out "Silver Bells"; Monkhouse's thrashy "Guinness and Wine," necessary holiday beverages for many; and Buff Medways wraps things up with "Merry Christmas Fritz." Thee Headcoatees are billed as providing their version of the Sonics' "Santa Claus," but my copy came with a different song by the band that has X-rated lyrics and is not about Christmas. I've tipped the label. UPDATE: Damaged Goods has chosen to press this collection on vinyl for 2021. They've rejiggered the playlist, adding The Courettes' "Christmas (I Can Hardly Wait)" to the proceedings. We'll see if they corrected the above-mentioned error with Thee Headcoatees' "Santa Claus."

Just uncovered this CBGB-era punk rock single, circa 1978. It's a great number, more power pop than punk, and it was produced by Jimmy Destri of Blondie. Gotta love this. The Student Teachers managed to be headliners in the New York scene, though they only ever released a single and EP before breaking up. A 2013 album compiling all their available songs was released and is still available in hard copy, to download or stream.

From 1978, the height of the British punk scene, this thrashy little number is about a junkie on the holiday (the title is probably a pun, according to some historians). But it's got a nice jumpy tempo, and if you like throwing the occasional turd in the holiday punchbowl, this song is a great way to do it. The Fall, as punk obsessives know, is the band that brought the late Mark E. Smith to prominence.

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.

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.

These guys bill themselves as a "punk supergroup featuring members of the North Pole underground" according to their Bandcamp page, and this is pretty much what it appears: a 2020 EP of five classic carols done in punk rock style. Aficionados will note tributes to classic groups like Rancid and Bad Brains, and the performers apparently have experience with other similar kinds of groups like Prancid, Dead Kringles and Sleigher. Results are solid, professional and fun to hear, even if you've got a pretty solid collection of punk Christmas tunes already. Tunes include "Deck the Halls," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "Do You Hear What I Hear," a fairly swingy take on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and "Carol of the Bells." Get it from Bandcamp. The band threatens a followup this year on December 11, so we'll keep an eye open for it.

Indie label Cleopatra previously gave us Volume 1 in the series, along with a number of other holiday-oriented releases, and for 2019 they give us this epic sequel to the original, likely to be double discs both on CD and vinyl. I have to admit I'm not familiar with the majority of band names represented here, but I recognize some of them. From the original punk era, The Members lay a driving beat under John & Yoko's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," the Vibrators chronicle the sad tale "Santa Had to Go Into Rehab," Reagan Youth give us the nominal title tune "Punk Rock Christmas" as a shambling folk-rock shuffle, and original New York Doll Johnny Thunders contributes a live, and rather tuneless, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" from back in the day (since he's no longer with us). Tsunami Bomb kicks things off with a thrashy "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," Pulley takes the same tack on an even faster-tempoed "O Holy Night," Parasites do the Kinks' "Father Christmas," Punchline punks up "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," Slap of Reality does the same to "Last Christmas," Down and Outs speed up Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody," and Chief State fakes us out with a mock-sincere "All I Want For Christmas Is You" that breaks into a punked-up arrangement halfway through, and the Widows hammer "Please Daddy Don't Get Drunk This Christmas." Some original takes on the holiday include Ship Thieves' "Who Put the Gum in Santa's Whiskers," M.D.C.'s "(Merry Christmas) World's On Fire," Naked Aggression's "What We Buy," Down By Law's "Merry Christmas (Feels So Right)," Bankrupt's "When Johhny Saved Christmas," Unsteady Heights' "Around Christmas," The Spears' "Christmas Sucks (I'll spare you the subtitle)," Splinter's "Fairy Tales," and The Queers' "Ramones Christmas." For you "Fairytale in New York" fans, The Rumjacks take a crack at a similar sort of Celtic-punk performance with "Christmas in Killarney." An outlier on this collection is "Merry Christmas Happy Holiday" by Amber Pacific, which is a front-porch acoustic shuffle full of good cheer. I'd wonder whether 26 tunes is a lot for a punk-rock collection, but just about all of these performances are worthy of being showcased, so dig in.

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.

If you're not familiar with Alice, she goes back to the beginnings of the 70s punk uprising in Los Angeles with her band the Bags. After working as an artist, educator and activist over the years, she's come back under her own name as a recording artist. For 2019, she revisits her roots with this slamming little blast of punk calling out facism and racism with the holidays as a backdrop. Great stuff. No availability through Amazon, but it's on iTunes and Bandcamp.