fpb

ghastly xmas songs meme

Dec 11, 2009 19:41

Having come back from shopping with a strong feeling that Xmas muzak ought to be made a crime, I want to get a little of my own back. Hence I invite all my friends and readers to mention the worst song they can think of - one or many, as many as you like - and a description of what the sentence on the criminals who wrote and/or performed it should ( Read more... )

music meme, christmas, ghastly christmas music, music, muzak, snark unleashed

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Comments 32

elegant_bonfire December 11 2009, 20:08:29 UTC
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer

It's in the mall muzak rotation, and if I work in the calendar kiosk in the hall I have to listen to it at least once each shift x_x

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fpb December 11 2009, 20:34:51 UTC
So what would you do to its authors?

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elegant_bonfire December 11 2009, 20:39:27 UTC
Hmmm, maybe let them listen to some really good music, like Beethoven or Gershwin, just for a half hour or so, then make them listen to their own songs on headphones for a day, just to emphasize the contrast.

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tsk tsk fpb December 11 2009, 20:44:23 UTC
You suffer from an unfortunate lack of bloodlust. The world would probably be a better place with more people like you - but it just might be less fun.

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rosedemon December 12 2009, 04:21:30 UTC
I don't know, I always thought Santa Baby was pretty clever. The Golddigger trying to score with the man who has all the best presents makes me laugh. As if Santa wouldn't all ready know she had been bad all year.

Personally, The 12 Days of Christmas works on me. A bit too long and far too repetitive. I think I am more offended when advertisers warp a good song to fit their hard sell package. There is a GPS system that is currently using Carol of the Bells to hawk their wares and it bothers me to no end. I adore the song and hate to have it used in this manner.

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fpb December 12 2009, 09:03:55 UTC
I don't agree with you at all, I'm afraid. As far as I can see, there is nothing ironical about that slutty song. And since ambient muzak is inevitable - would it were otherwise - it might as well be decent rather than repulsive. I would always use good music for background.

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rosedemon December 12 2009, 15:50:54 UTC
The song was written for Eartha Kitt and basically styled for her voice. She is, to this day, the only one that was able to capture the tongue-in-cheek meaning in the lyrics. I would agree with you that the song is rather slutty but only by the standards of who has sung the song since. None have been able to repeat what Kitt managed to do and sadly her version is the least played these days.

As far as good music for the background...it is in the ears of the beholder. At this time of the year I could do with a little less of Sir Paul's attempt at forced Christmas cheer and want to avoid It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year renditions. They smack me as song writers who had to write something cheerful and so holiday happy in June or July in order to make the December pressing. At the same time I am astounded at the fact that many lists of the worst holiday songs also include The Little Drummer Boy and O Holy Night. I suppose it up to whoever is making up the list.

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fpb December 12 2009, 16:00:38 UTC
It is. I agree that The Little Drummer Boy and O Holy Night are among the good ones, even though the former belongs to a category I find dubious - building up extra material outside the gospel narrative. But you may have noticed that I would like Sir Paul to be condemned not to publish any more songs until, according to impartial judges, he has come up with at least two of Beatle level. I find what has happened to his genius since at least Ebony and Ivory deeply depressing.

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fellmama December 12 2009, 05:43:37 UTC
Last Christmas--The ex members of Wham should be locked in a very small closet together. Forever.

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fpb December 12 2009, 09:06:52 UTC
There are a million other reasons to punish George Michael, but that song is certainly not the least.

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sanscouronne December 12 2009, 07:56:48 UTC
You and I are of the same mind, because those two songs immediately came to mind. Also, I agree with the above nomination of "Last Christmas," which I have been horrified to hear on the radio long AFTER Christmas. "Santa Baby" has to be the worst, in my opinion, because it is so crudely suggestive of everything opposite to what Christmas does/should represent.

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fpb December 12 2009, 09:01:13 UTC
Well, it is right to play Last Christmas away from the Christmas season, because it has practically nothing to do with Christmas. The same story could be told any day of the year. And I never did like Wham! nor George Michael on his own either.

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sanscouronne December 12 2009, 14:39:58 UTC
Come now! Wham did such classics as... and there was... that was a band, right?

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fpb December 12 2009, 14:44:37 UTC
Many thanks for the laff. That's about how I feel about them.

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rfachir December 12 2009, 14:49:08 UTC
Eat more Sugarplums, you silly Scrooges! Santa Baby is older than all of us - over half a century. Grandma has been drinking too much eggnog for 30 years. Tchaikovsky's ballet became as ubiquitous as Chocolate Santas in the 50's, when Santa Baby was first a hit.
Classics get that way because they work. There *are* people more focused on getting than giving, and drinking themselves happy (and other people miserable). Yet we STILL expect the best from everyone and everything this time of year. Isn't it wonderful to be reminded of what makes this season special?
The Santa Speedo run is today. Started ten years ago by five drinking buddies, it now has raised close to half a million dollars for charity. All because a bunch of drunks lost a bar bet, and wore Santa Hats and beards as a disguise as they ran more than half-naked down the toniest street in Boston in 26 degree (-4C) weather. Aren't unexpected consequences wonderful?

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fpb December 12 2009, 14:56:10 UTC
It is exactly because Christmas is eternal, that these temporary horrors are the more repulsive. When someone wrote Silent Night to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child, what excuse is there for Santa Baby?

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rfachir December 12 2009, 15:05:28 UTC
Madonna gave it to the Very Secial Christmas project, which raised hundreds of millions for the Special Olympics? You can't convince me to develop taste now, my friend. I'm having too much fun.

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fpb December 12 2009, 15:16:51 UTC
Madonna Ciccone being of course a fine moral example. I'll take Tiger Woods myself, thank you.

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