It’s Canada Day and Nickelback still doesn’t have a holiday album, so we’re covering two original Christmas songs by previously-featured Canadian pop stars, Carly Rae Jepsen and Justin Bieber. RJ has accepted the gospel of Carly into their heart, but Ian is skeptical. We resolve our differences and learn a valuable lesson about sneaking into people’s bedrooms to leave them clothing(don’t do it).
After 75 episodes and 150 songs, we’re finally opening the seal on an unforgettable album: A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector. By request, we discuss Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”, an actual-factual top-of-the-list contender. We pair it with Death Cab For Cutie’s more subdued version of the same song, what may be the least terrible of cover versions. Your mileage may vary. Thank you to Chris for the request!
This week we cover our 150th song, and you know what that means! Ian & RJ surprise each other with their picks for the top and bottom of the list. Ian goes for number one with a simple but evocative indie tune. RJ looks for the worst of the worst and lands on a little ditty sponsored by the Koch brothers.
It’s the second week of our fortnight celebration of the 1960s! We cover two classics from The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album, “Little Saint Nick” and “The Man With All The Toys”. Revelations follow.
For the next two weeks we’ll be addressing one of the more neglected decades on our list – the 1960s. This week we cover two songs that you might call Christmas music cult classics – “Close Your Mouth It’s Christmas” by The Free Design and “Rudolph Pouts” by Israfel’s Son.
By listener request, we tackle two Christmas songs from cartoon characters: “When the Saints Go Marching In” performed by the voice of Sailor Moon, Kotono Mitsuishi, and the novelty standard “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” performed by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. as The Chipmunks. Whether you find these tunes cute or cloying may depend on your level of nostalgia – listen in to hear which one causes our biggest ranking disagreement yet. Thank you to listener CJ for the request!
Join us, herald angels, for a sequel of sorts – our second Beatles-themed episode, this time featuring holiday songs written and performed by George and Ringo. If you want knowledgeable analysis of music greats, look elsewhere. If you want more Hogwarts house chatter and at least one sick McCartney burn, tune in.
Multiple people, or possibly one persistent person, requested this week’s first song, “It’s Called Christmas with a Capital C” by Go Fish. Because they hate us and our happiness, I guess? After suffering through it, we seek an antidote in the form of Eric Idle’s extremely rude “Fuck Christmas”.
May the… well, you know. This episode is all about Star Wars Day, which means we listened to some truly terrible holiday music – “What Do You Get a Wookiee For Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb)” by some nobody droids that no one cares about, and “A Day To Celebrate” by Carrie Fisher, which is a shining beacon of Life Day spirit in comparison.
This week we cover a request for a familiar song in a new context: “When You Wish Upon a Star”, performed by Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket, which has apparently gained Christmas classic status because of its inclusion in a Disney special aired annually in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. We also listen to a song by Disney Channel Original Series star Kyle Massey which involves someone yelling “REMIX!” Thank you to settlechaos711 for requesting “When You Wish Upon a Star”!