Year-round Yuletide oddities
Styx’s progrock culminated in this tune which as a single charted at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100… helped The Grand Illusion achieve multi-platinum sales in 1978.
Soaring to higher and higher notes The Mistletones go nearly a cappella with their “Come Fly Away” about Rudolf’s reindeer magic. Watch out for your dogs’ sensitive hearing.
Storyteller Harry Chapin’s enduring hit topped the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1974… his only No. 1 hit song… nominated for the 1975 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance… inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011.
Saturated with symphonic folk ApologetiX nails it with “Christ in the Stable.” Appreciate me now, Dad?!
Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s anthem reached number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100… number 6 on the Cash Box Top 100… number 3 on the Canadian RPM charts… spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, longer than any other BTO single.
Here comes the original singer Randy Bachman with his seasonal cash-in “Takin’ Care of Christmas.”
Led Zeppelin played with reggae in Houses of the Holy to mixed results. Their number (i guess you pronounce it ‘Jamaica’) hit #16 for US Cashbox… #15 for US Record World… and #20 US Billboard Hot 100.
Bob Rivers cleans it up for a sleigh ride in a “Sled Zeppelin.” Hold on, it sways.
Pink Floyd’s single became the band’s first hit in the United States… reached No. 10 in Cash Box magazine… No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100… noted for its unusual 7/4–4/4 time signature, and the tape loop of money-related sound effects.
Despite the obvious tie in to Xmas shopping, Mike Wallace makes a merry masterpiece with “Christmas Money.” He’s gifted.
Lou Reed’s journey of seediness peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts… in the United States, RCA released the single using an edited version of the song without the reference to oral sex… in the UK, the reference slipped past the censors, who were apparently unfamiliar with the term ‘giving head’… the term ‘colored girls’ was also an issue in the US and RCA provided radio stations with a version in which it was edited out.
The Blenders get pretty damn funny with their “Sleigh Ride.” And a cappella, too. Damn.
John Lennon’s introspective wandering was released on the Imagine album in 1971… not released as a single until November 1985, five years after Lennon’s murder, and (four-and-a-half years after Roxy Music’s cover hit number one)… the single reached number 65 in the UK charts… in the United States, the single reached number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100… also peaked at number 22 on the Hot Adult Contemporary chart.
Let’s give Duncan G and Brian the benefit of doubt here taking an odd hit and making it high concept about a regular guy apologizing to St. Nick for his bad roof conditions in their “Careless Guy.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_miZ7f-dNbQ
Jethro Tull’s hit was never a single, though its eponymous album was their first American Top 10 album… reached number seven.
Make room for Bob Rivers with a down and dirty expose of store Santa work conditions–“Aquaclaus.”
The opening track on the Rolling Stones’ 1968 album Beggars Banquet charted only up to #10 on the US Billboard rock listing… #2 in Finland… Rolling Stone magazine placed it at number 32 in its list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.
Rolling Stones gather little mock, but juggernauts must be teased at times.
Balderdash and Humbug sub Santa for Satan with “Sympathy for Santa.” Writes itself, dunnit?
This avatar of punk-metal originally appeared on the Beatles’ so-called White Album… a product of McCartney’s attempt to create a sound as loud and dirty as possible… Rolling Stone magazine ranked it 52nd on its list of the 100 Greatest Beatles songs. (So much for inspiration.)
Kris Sciba delivers a plugged-in slow-moving “Helter Santa.” I dig this.
But i dig THIS more: cutbacknj has the same “Helter Skelter (Christmas Parody)” with bells and whistles. Psychedelic.