ASM

“Christmas Is All Around” By Billy Mack Okay, this is kind of a cheat. Billy Mack doesn’t exist, and his song was written for a movie. Featured in the 2003 romantic comedy “Love Actually”, this is a remake of “Love Is All Around”, only they replaced the word “love” with “Christmas”. Awkwardly. The meter of the song is ruined by adding an extra syllable. Putting in the pun “Come on and let it snow” is painful to listen to. The whole point of the song in the movie is to give aging rock star Billy Mack, played to perfection by

“Hannukah Blessings By Barenaked Ladies The Jewish religious holiday of Hannukah started at sundown tonight, and will go for the next eight days. Celebrating the miracle of the lights, when oil for lamps lasted days longer than it should, the menorah is lit every night to remember. I’ll be honest. Growing up, I knew almost nothing about Hannukah and the Jewish faith, and what I did know turned out to be mostly inaccurate in varying degrees. So, all my knowledge of this holiday has come as an adult. And surprisingly, this song helped me in my education. Barenaked Ladies released

“O Come All Ye Faithful” By Twisted Sister I’m not a metal kind of guy. When someone says “That’s so metal” it’s not me they are referring to. Yet, I have a soft spot for Twisted Sister, and I don’t know why. I loved “We’re Not Gonna Take It” as a kid. Loved the song, loved the video. It’s iconic and a true 80’s anthem. So when I first heard this version of “O Come All Ye Faithful”, I instantly loved it. It’s basically a mashup of the Christmas song and the rock anthem, and it just works. The same

“Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24” By Trans-Siberian OrchestraSavatage I remember being instantly mesmerized by this song the first time I heard it in 1995. The rock group Savatage, having produced one rock album already (“Streets”), decided to give it another go on their album “Dead Winter Dead”. After looking at that album in Best Buy, I thought to myself, “I really don’t want to buy this album. But man, that song is so good….” Producer/songwriter Paul O’Neil and guitarist/vocalist/pianist Jon Oliva were the brains behind both operas. A year later their non-Savatage plans came to fruition with their new group, the one

Welcome to Monday Music Monstrosity, where each Monday I will talk about a holiday song I absolutely detest. I won’t link to it because it sucks so hard. I just want to share my pain because misery loves company. Monday Music Monstrosity #1 The Christmas Shoes By NewSong Not to pile on top of all the other people who complain about this wretched piece of holiday sap — well, okay, yes, I want to do that. This song absolutely sucks. It’s horrific. It’s banal. It’s treacle. It’s an awful story wrapped up in feel-good wrapping paper that can’t disguise just

“Because It’s Christmas” By Barry Manilow I’m wondering how many of you are going, “Wait. Barry Manilow? BARRY “COPACABANA’ MANILOW?” And then I’m wondering how many of you are going, “… Yeah, that tracks.” For those of you who are astounded I put him on my list, well, it’s my list, not yours. There are several Barry Manilow songs I love. Remember what I wrote a few days ago, about things I like in songs? Well, some of those things are present in this song. First, it starts off with an excerpt from Handel’s “Messiah”, in an orchestral arrangement with

“Snoopy’s Christmas” By The Royal Guardsmen This is not your typical Christmas song. No mention of Santa, no mention of presents, no mention of snow, no mention of children, no mention of reindeer, tinsel, toys, or almost anything you’d associate with Christmas. It does mention Christmas bells, though. In fact, Christmas bells are pivotal to the story in this song. You see, it’s during the first World War, and Snoopy is fighting that dastardly Red Baron one Christmas Eve. But it’s not looking good for our World War I Flying Ace; in fact, the Red Baron targets him and could

O Tannenbaum By Vince Guaraldi One of my all time favorite Christmas specials is “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. That and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” are the two Christmas shows that I always watched as a kid every year. These days, I try to make sure I’m home and watching them on TV. Yes, I have both on DVD, but there’s something traditional about watching them on TV as they’re broadcast. (The “CBS Special Presentation” spinning logo is also forever linked to “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, but that hasn’t been showed in quite a long time. And definitely won’t now, thanks,

“Overture: Silver Bells” By Gloria Estefan As I alluded to in day 1, many years ago, I realized a few things about my musical tastes, or, more precisely, what songs that I like usually contain. I don’t necessarily love full songs, sometimes. I know that there are songs that I don’t really care for, except there will be this one little bit that I’ll absolutely love. Or there may be a song that the reason I love it is because the musician does a certain chord progression in the live version but not the studio version. “Overture: Silver Bells” has