Scrooge Alert! It’s quite possible that the following missive about Christmas songs may have quite a bit of Grinch-like attitude buried within it, however, every year we’re all faced with a new glut of recordings of holiday music. Sometimes, like in the case of the cute kids in She And Him, you get a lovely record filled with fresh takes on old standards. Other times though, you get Scott Weiland’s new submission, which leaves mostly head-scratching and deep sighs of relief once the record is done playing.
Part of the issue is that there are only so many great, instantly recognizable and lovable Christmas songs from which to choose. So each new artist that wants to put their stamp on a song is retreading over decades worth of renditions, thereby leaving us with mostly flat, carbon-copied versions of the same songs, year after year. Here now are the five worst offenders, the five most overplayed Christmas songs. Let’s hope they get retired soon.
“The Christmas Song” – We all love roasting chestnuts. Most of us love Jack Frost nipping at our noses. What we don’t love though is every re-tread and re-cut of this classic song. Let’s face it, if it’s not Nat King Cole or Frank Sinatra singing this one, it’s probably not going to hold up.
“I’ll Be Home For Christmas” – Part of the reason this song needs to go away is that there really just isn’t much anyone can do for it. It’s a slow-tempo song about not coming home for Christmas. Short of picking up the pace and rocking out a little bit, there just isn’t much sprucing up of this track. It’s a beautiful song, but it needs to be permanently put to rest.
“White Christmas” – It’s not that this song isn’t a wonderfully sentimental song about that perfect Christmas complete with little white flakes falling from the sky. It’s most certainly all of those things. However, this is another tune whose best rendition was done decades ago and every other version just sounds like a cliche or a knock-off. Let Bing Crosby have this one, please.
“It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” – From commercials to stores in the mall to celebrity Christmas albums, this song gets far too much play time. Perhaps it’s because the most wonderful of the year now starts just after Halloween, but by the time the actual day of Christmas rolls around, we’ve been smothered with this one.
Any Song on Scott Weiland’s “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” – Look, I’m a huge fan of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver. This isn’t some thinly-veiled grudge against one of the most dynamic front men I’ve ever seen perform. Honestly though, I want to go back in time and stop Scott from making his Christmas record. It sounds contrived, and poorly phrased, which is just not normal for him. I’ll give him a pass, but only if everyone in the world promises to never speak of this debacle ever again.