Christmas Songs That Rock

From the time I was old enough to know of its existence, Christmas has been my favorite time of year. Growing up in the Midwest, I'd always loathed winter, but no Christmas was ever complete without a little snow on the ground.

Having lived in California the past ten years, though, sometimes it's difficult to get into the Christmas spirit. A Christmas tree just seems so out of place, so much so that I've never bothered to put one up since landing in Cali.

This year, though, my girlfriend talked me into getting a tree and we spent most of the weekend shopping for a nice fake tree (I can't bear to buy a real one, nor cut one down) along with a crapload of ornaments. As much as I love what Christmas is about, after a day of shopping, I was ready to strangle someone. Ha ha, right? There's no "ha ha" about having people knock you out of the way to grab a can of spray-on snow, or drop a fart bomb right next to you in the Old Navy, then walk away moments before the scent hits you.

And the cell phones. Holy crap, how did some of these nitwits ever get by without them? They can't pick out anything without having to call somebody. "Should I get Dad the red one or the silver one?" "Didn't she get one last year?" "Are you sure the dog is allergic to polyester?" Sigh.

The other thing that kills me is the complete lack of new Christmas songs.

Seriously, over the course of an entire day of listening to the radio and the music being played in the stores, you'd think there were only ten or twenty Christmas songs in existence. That can't be right, can it?

It's enough to make you come right home and write your own Christmas song just to keep from taking a whiffle ball bat to the nearest plastic Santa.

So, yeah, I wrote a Christmas song and, yeah, if a Christmas song with a cowbell solo played by a chain-smoking elf is your thing, then your ship has come in.

It's called "Christmas Is A Big Fat Pain" and is most certainly the result of my eating too much papier mache paste as a kid, no doubt.

As if that weren't enough Christmas goodness, I've also included a handful of really cool Christmas nuggets for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

Band Aid-Do They Know It's Christmas (Live)
Radiohead-Winter Wonderland
Trans-Siberian Orchestra-Christmas Eve Sarajevo (live with narration)
Brian Setzer Orchestra-Jingle Bells
U2-Happy Xmas (War Is Over) [acoustic]
Travis-Last Christmas
The Beatles-Christmas Message 1963
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band-Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (live '2003)
Darren Robbins-Christmas Is A Big Fat Pain