Ten Christmas Songs That Don't Suck
Categories: lists
So we've pulled together this list of ten Christmas songs you won't be hearing on KOST... sure the subject matter get kind of dark at times (poverty? Not so fun), but at least it also won't make you wish you stayed home and just shopped online instead.
1. The Pogues - "Fairytale of New York"
All that Flogging-Molly-Dropkick-Murphys, traditional Irish music-infused rock/excuse to get wasted that's fucking huge these days? You can thank the Pogues for a lot of that. In addition to claiming the Clash as a major influence, the Pogues brought in traditional Celtic instruments like whistles, accordions and citterns with the Celtic punk. This song? Total drinking anthem. Perfect for the holidays.
2. James Brown - "Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto"
Without getting too much into blah academia: Funk was the music of the working class (some say derived from slavery-era work spirituals), and James Brown here is directing the message of not forgetting the ghetto or impoverished at, well, the listener. America. You know. Kinda deep for the holidays. We'll stop now, but sorry if we took all the fun out of a Christmas tune. Uh.
3. The Kinks - "Father Christmas"
This 1977 single by the Kinks tells a tale from the point of view of a department store Santa who gets his ass kicked by a group of poor kids, insisting that toys should be given to "the little rich boys"--while demanding money for themselves. At one point, the kids request: "But give my daddy a job 'cause he needs one/He's got lots of mouths to feed." Poverty? A not-so-rare reality check that unfortunately pops up a lot this time of the year.
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The embedding to the only video of this Low track has been disabled by request, so here's a link instead. The Duluth, Minnesota band known for innovating the uh, "slowcore" (we know) genre, but Low's best known track is actually another holiday tune: An incredibly moody processional version of "Little Drummer Boy" that was featured once in a GAP commercial--you know, before those got annoying, too--with a touch of droney shoegaze.
5. Otis Redding - "Merry Christmas, Baby"
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