Category: pop music

2012 was notable for yet another doomsday scenario. The Mayans apparently ran out of calendaring for whatever came after 12/21/2012. So getting to Christmas was not in the cards. Or was it…?

Not mentioning the year, “Mayan Christmas 2012” is a hoot of an excuse for why I got you nothing for Christmas. Cowbell pop from King Everything.

New Justice Team also expect you to know the year with their lounge-tastic “Mayan Doomsday Christmas.” A little premature, but waddya expect from The Something Awful guys?

Bill Burns chants a charming “(Have a) Merry Mayan Doomsday” carol for the attention deprived. Tom tom along!

Jeff Govednik leans on ‘Blue Christmas’ for his “Mayan Christmas.” This club recording has a bit more research/personality than the others. Paints a picture, including regretful dark corners.

Polly Wolf gets in and out with their sweet pop “Apocalypse Not Now.” Were the Mayans lyin’?

Karl Miehl gets amusing with his pop folk “Christmas 2012 (The Mayans were Wrong)” and gets me right in the funny bone. The talent’s in the lyrics, boys and girls.

When you’ve suffered a loss around Christmas, that becomes a focal point of the holiday. “#Remembering” from Son Scotty raps that loss while clinging to Grammy ambition.

To turn it around, The Holderness Family is back with “#JammieTime,” family home movies that make them seem better than us–with R.E.M. music to back them up.

“Christma$ Twenty Fourteen” may not speak the date, but honors the time with a pop/rap mashup torn from interior sentimentality. Jay Stansfield is xylophones of fun.

“2016 Hurray Hurray for Christmas” is so happy the election is over (goodbye to Trump and Hillary!). But that was short sided, not a good look for folk. Mostly about Greg Helmer’s friends and family, not the world at large.

A parody from BSam “Don’t Worry, Be Jolly” also mentions how shocking this year is–

So, back to The Holderness Family with a “Merry Christmas 2016” music rap: all the positive news of the year including the Cavs, Gilmore Girls, ‘Hamilton,’ the mannequin challenge, and a new puppy. The big deal is IT’s ALL IN ONE TAKE. Infectious.

Now for historical documents: songs that salute the year they hail from. Hindsight? Not much! Anger? Oh, yeah.

Malinda does her annual Xmas card with “An Honest 2020 Christmas.” Her angel/devil debate over how sucky the year was includes murder hornets, John Krasinski, TikTok, and global death totals. Much witty parodising of carols.

A different approach comes from The Holderness Family, whose “Christmas Jammies 2020” (a tradition beginning in 2013) celebrates drive throughs, less pollution, UFO acknowledgments, ‘Parasite,’ and the Christmas Star (juxtaposition of Saturn and Jupiter). Rap (The Killers) parody upness.

“2020: A Virtual Christmastime” by Sam Gecko (feat. Kristen Leah) is a lively pop tune about Covid and masking and isolating and whatnot. Party! I said, Party! I can’t hear you! No, you’re on mute.

Actual parody–now about Hanukkah!–The Waitresses don’t quite take a back seat for Haim’s “Christmas Wrapping 2020 (all I want for christmas is a vaccine).” The election, cutting one’s own hair, emotional meltdowns… oy vey.

Buck Æ Down appropriately downers the year with superlatives. Fine folk is “2020 Christmas” with its class warfare, police brutality, racism, and economic failure. And Alex Trebek?!

Upbeating, The Sons of Pitches (feat. Dan Bull) a cappella “Best Christmas” about hand washing and vaccines and whistling!

Desperate for positivism, Nathan Ro goes lounge easy listening for his “2020 Christmas.” Great masking joke.

Dominique’s “2020 Christmas” is ethereal pop about over drinking and all the reasons to do so (12?).

Multiples of two thousands aren’t as easy to graph into our curve, but “Smell of Christmas” by Johnathan Boggarty and the Yoghurt Man must not be overlooked due to its experimental pop and grisly nature. The tons of whiskey needed to get through the horrors of the holidays outweigh the dead dog, blindness, broken families, suicidal tendencies, and overpowering odors of Santa. Happy merry.

Jonathan Coulton and John Roderick hearken us back to 1977 and the best present a kid could hope for, the Atari Computer Video System–a game you could play on your TV that wasn’t Pong. Also known as the “2600,” this quantum leap in technology began the decline of Western Civilization. Who didn’t want to be the first kid on the block with one?! Repetitive pop madness.

Michael Shelton’s biochemistry lesson “3,000 Xmas Lights” is a tripping rock romance fantasy in which the Xmas metaphor is the least disturbing aspect. in the final line.

Mindy Smith isn’t getting home for Christmas. “The Snow and Three Thousand Miles” is yet another missing-you missive to music, this time slow country pop. Chin up, ye separated ones, love will find a way.

Crooning with tremolo, Stan Rogers laments that “First Christmas” 3000 miles away from home, working the holiday shift in the shop. Classic country downer. But, wait, maybe he’ll meet that runaway girl escaping domestic abuse….

OHEI & 500 Year Food duet a sparkly jazz mood with “Christmas in LA (or NY)” about taking sides for Xmas. Long dee relationships, a’know?

This Century is also closing the gap between long distance lovers. “Kiss Me Like It’s Christmas” smacks the pop with gusto and hope, despite being a continent away.

Sarah Golding notices how empty the beautiful Christmas Day is with you thirteen thousand kilometers away. “Same Sky” seems empty, though the slow piano pop is fulsome. ‘Scuse me, need a hanky.

What’s love got to do with a million?

The million faces passing by make you and me “Always Christmas.” Heather Nova’s take on pop loving.

Davis Mallory may be looking for love with his hot pop “Christmas Giving,” but his outsider angst tips him off bad-boy charm and into weirdo. A million people celebrating but you feel so lonely and sad….

“Christmas with You” is the best of a million things, a thousand things to see for Madisen Renee (feat. Riza Singal). Breathy diva pop.

Fats Domino don’t need a million dollars, because you are enough for him. “I Told Santa Claus” is a boogie woogie proposal. Awww.

The million love songs holds no candle to what I want–“All I Want” is not the songs. Snappy soul from Jamie Jones, Matt Wong, Hanna Asres Jones (feat. Pau).

Robbie Williams sang a song a million sing in “Idlewild,” a hipster pop love meet-cute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS5_Ihfoyes