Fa la la la la, my friends. Xmas is doomed to be musical. How 'bout takin' a break from "Deck the Halls?" (Don't get me wrong: there's a caroling soft spot in my Tiny Tim-loving heart of hearts.) Like everything else these days music has a major visual element, as strange as that sounds.
So at your service: a list of top Xmas music videos. Some are straight-up music videos, others extracts from films or even TV specials, which you may want to rent (or find the other parts on Youtube). Many of them are quirky, some underground. All of them "rock," on some level. More could certainly be added, and this hierarchy could easily be shuffled around. May ye find something new here, remember something you forgot, or just have a good laugh.
20. Kurtis Blow, "Christmas Rapping." Wow, 1980, this was that seminal moment when rap emerged between funk and disco. Blondie's "Rapture" (which came out one year later and was mistakenly referred to by some critics as the first rap song ) sounds a lot like this.
19. Steve Earle, "Christmas in Washington." Perhaps Earle's best song.Golden.
18. "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas," Gayla Peevey is the 11-year-old singer. Totally silly. Just shut up and laugh, would ya?
17. Run D.M.C., "Christmas in Hollis." The Old Skool rappers give you a grinworthy tale about finding Santa's wallet, apparently dropped from the sleigh on high. Shits and giggles category.
16. The Wombats, "Is this Christmas?" Wombats new single for Christmas 2008? Good indie pop fun.
15. Kinks', "Father Christmas." This song rocks any time of year. It also gives a nice class reflection on this consumerist holiday.
14. Fall Out Boy, "What's This?" (also from The Nightmare Before Christmas) Okay, so this list is a bit NBC-heavy and could be Halloween as well as Christmas, but that’s the point of that film and its music; and the soundtrack’s creativity and vocal performances are extraordinary.
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