Question of the Week: What Christmas song drives you up the wall, like nails on a chalkboard?

Local Spins’ Question of the Week (Dec. 3, 2020)

What Christmas song drives you up the wall?

This week’s winner of Local Spins merch: Email subscriber John Mulder, who responded to the Question of the Week and was entered into a drawing for a bandana. Sign up for email updates and the weekly newsletter here: https://localspins.com/subscribe-local-spins-mailing-list/

THE READER RESPONSES:

Jeannine Lemmon – “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” UGH!

Geoff Fields – “Santa Baby” is wretched. Sexism: Check. Materialism: Check. It’s time to chuck that song out of the catalog.

John Mulder – That’s an easy call: “Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart.” It grates at my soul more than anything I’ve ever heard. It’s nonsensical and repetitive. I hate it. And I’m not sure I can say that about any other song.

Drew Behringer – There is absolutely no way that any Christmas song, “Christmas Past, Present and Future,” is worse than this one by Ashlee Simpson. I dare you to even get through the whole thing without stopping.

Randy Duke Lidgard – Paul McCartney is brilliant. “Wonderful Christmastime” is not.

Radel Rosin – “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” So Grim. And also, why?

Kim Masters – The last couple decades just about every artist signed to a major label was required to release a Christmas album. None was more nauseating than Bret Michaels version of “Jingle Bells.”

Lown Rich-n Ann – My wife has Christmas music on ALL THE TIME so I hate them all!

Michael Dause – “Text Me Merry Christmas.” Too on the nose.

Amber Buist – All of them. That’s why I made a less annoying playlist for this year.

Kristen VanArnam – “Wonderful Christmastime”

Chad Michael Wedeven – “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” is the worst of the worst. Only two Christmas albums allowed at my house: Charlie Brown and Bing Crosby.

Monique Bova – “Feed the World.” That “thank God it’s them instead of you” line.

Steve Middendorp – “Little Drummer Boy.”

Caleb Waldvogel – I second this (“Little Drummer Boy”)

Kelly McGee Clark – Oh so much this (“Little Drummer Boy”). Ugh!

John Sinkevics – I have several candidates, but “A Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives tops my list, followed by “Santa Baby.”

Stephen Aldrich – Paul McCartney, “Wonderful Christmastime” sends me off the edge.

Paul Wyatt – Stephen Aldrich beat me to it.

Thomas Leonard Saxe – The worst is “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.” Cringe-inducing.

Josh Giebel – “Wonderful Christmastime” is maybe the worst song ever recorded.

James R. Murphy Jr. – “Wonderful Christmastime” tops my list.

Robert Silarski – Think you (finger)nailed it, John…

Hope Pearse Kolker – “Last Christmas” by Wham.

David Winick – Any Christmas song sung by Dolly Parton.

Cole Hansen – David Winick: Come on! Really? Why you gotta hate on Dolly like that?

David Winick – I greatly admire and respect her as a role model. And as a business woman. But not a fan of her voice.

Matt Kago Fever – “Christmas Time is Here” – It sounds like seasonal depression

Deb Vanderlaan – “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”
Bruce E. Matthews – Definitely “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”

Elle Lively – “Little Drummer Boy.” Kill. Me.

Jerry Kolb – If I was Mary, I’d break that drummer kid’s sticks and then put his head through the drum head. SHUT UP.

Mike Phelps – “Feliz Navidad.”

Karen Nuttall Love – “The Christmas shoes” by NewSong

Harry Oman – I am not sure of the title. “This Christmas”? Ugh.

Dave Adams – “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”

Dansir McCullough – Joe Diffie – “Leroy The Redneck Reindeer”

Karen Dunnam – “Home for the Holidays.” Where the hell else would I be? “Gee the traffic is terrific,” no it is not. (My parents are long gone and we never had a tradition of traveling for hours to visit anyone)

Daniel P Hudelson – I agree with some of these, but some of you are obviously scrooges.

Brian Kelly Rampenthal – Any Chipmunks Christmas song.

Jackie Sirianni – Jackson 5 – “I Saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus.”

AJ Dunning – +1 for the Macca track (‘Wonderful Christmastime’). The worst.

Daniel P Hudelson – Yeah, “Wonderful Christmastime” is one of his worst ever.

Emilee Petersmark – “C H R I S T M A S S H O E S” I recently rediscovered the song on my buddy Justin Stover’s “Worst Songs to Have Sex To” playlist. It’s still bad. It’s still so, so bad.

Ted Smith – I absolutely love both “Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Santa Baby”!

Jonathan Beaver – That Mariah Carey thing is possibly the worst Christmas song I’ve ever heard mostly because it’s so overplayed.

Jennifer Alexander – I like Paul McCartney but *cannot* stand his song “Wonderful Christmastime”

Barb Steffler – “The Twelve Days of Christmas” – Hands down the worst EVER.

Bill Vits – “Little Drummer Boy” has no hot licks. Historically inaccurate to boot.

Shahara Quashinaenae – Bill Vits: I hate that one.

Scott Kelly – Bill Vits: Agreed!

Mike Thinnes – “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer”

Jason Roseboom – Well, I know the best one: “Ding fries are done”

Cole Hansen – In no particular order, these all make me cringe: 1. “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”; 2. “Santa Baby” (anyone!); 3. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (Band Aid); 4. “Hey Santa” (Wilson Phillips); 5. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” (Jackson 5)

Dave Adams – “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth”

Shahara Quashinaenae – “I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas.” OMMFG

Scott Stefanski – All of the above (except Wham; I like that one!)

Stacy Slikkers Noonan – Pretty much can’t stand holiday music, but I’ll agree that “The Christmas Shoes” probably tops the list.

Rachel Watson – I don’t know if it’s the worst (though it’s definitely an ear worm) but “The Happiest Christmas Tree” clearly has Stockholm Syndrome.

Brian Ferriby – Baby It’s Cold Outside. A how-to manual on non-consent.

Bryan Heany – When I took my driver’s license final exam at Sears in 1995, they were playing a cassette of Christmas music on loop. All of the songs on that tape constitute my list.

Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk – I think novelty songs need their own category. If they were intended to be tongue-in-cheek, we shouldn’t take them seriously anytime. Then there’s interpretation. If Eartha Kitt’s “Santa Baby” is delicious (spoiler alert: It is), then it can’t be a bad song. Just a bad cover by someone else. Similarly, I don’t really dislike “Blue Christmas,” per se. I dislike Elvis Presley’s take on it. Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” and Wham!’s “Last Christmas” ride high on my list. Those songs popping up every 15-16 minutes are enough to stop me from listening to The River or Star 105.7 even on Christmas Eve.

Dave Adams – Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk: What about Porky Pig’s version of Blue Christmas?

Mark DeWitt – Ugh, the Paul McCartney song. Yuck.

Jonathan Beaver – How about Siiiiiimply Haaaaaving A Wonderful Christmas Time.

Steve Grinczel – Dear Ebeneezer: There’s a bad one?

Julie Bernat Swanson – “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
 

Lauren Lukasik – “Dominic the Donkey”

Zae Turcott Smith – Lauren Lukasik: Noooo!

Ria Faber – “Carol of the Bells”.

Greg Chandler – “Last Christmas” by Wham.

Brien Dews – Anything Chipmunks

Sandra M. Effert – “12 Days of Christmas.” I just realized there are so many birds in that song. Why??

Alicia Marie Scott – It’s a tie between “Little Drummer Boy” & “Christmas Shoes.”

Alex Austin – They’re all terrible, in my opinion. I’m sure you can hear me saying “humbug” already.

Katy Barzedor – “Little Drummer Boy” and “O Holy Night.”

Joshua Tree – All of ‘em.

James R. Murphy Jr. -“Wonderful Christmas Time” is the song that makes me reach for the dial. “Holly Jolly Christmas” always reminds me of stop-action Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. But really, I tend to avoid Christmas music as much as possible, and this year, I don’t foresee the need to even review the songs I usually play at Christmas every year, because I sure won’t be playing them anywhere.

Jeremy Ensley – “Christmas Shoes”

James R. Murphy Jr. – I just remembered another wretched song I had to learn about 10 years ago “Mary, Did You Know?” Mary did you know, this song is execrable garbage?

Matthew Borr – “I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and that horrific Paul McCartney song.

Diana VandeWater – “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.” Eeek.

Brian Adams – “Last Christmas” by George Michaels

Sue Harkema Jeurink – “Sleigh Ride” – I swear it’s on repeat at work.

Honest John Kowalko – McCartney must have written a clunker Christmas tune as it’s been mentioned many times over the years. It took me years but I still can’t call it a favorite but I appreciate it a little more each year. I tend to want to accentuate the positive of the of the season not the negative. So I keep my mouth shut about the tunes I don’t like. but I must admit I do like most of the songs of Christmas. It does help that I don’t listen until 1 week before Christmas . A good Local Spins survey may be when do musicians actually start their Christmas music listening in earnest?

Kevin Riley – Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” irritates the hell out of me for some reason.

Michele Terpstra – Kevin Riley: Agreed. I love McCartney but it’s so bad.

Dale Wicks – I’ll pile onto the hokey, sentimental schlock that is “Christmas Shoes.” If “Wonderful Christmastime” were only a minute and a half long and I only had to hear it once per year, I’d actually like it, but we all know that neither is the case. Oh, and anything Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

David Marin – “Here Comes Santa Claus (Down Santa Claus Lane)”, by Gene Autry; any Christmas music by the Jackson 5.

Mary Ellen Murphy – Jackson Five “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” It’s loud. Hard to take considering what Mr. Jackson probably would have done to the Mrs. had he caught her. The cast from Glee does a horrible version of Joni Mitchell’s “River,” too. Ugh.

Ted Jauw – Jan Terri – “Excuse My Christmas”

Sara Woroniec-Holland – The Barking Dogs – “Jingle Bells.” My ears are bleeding.

Michael Packer – I cannot think of one, ONE, Christmas song that I like. I’d like to hibernate during this dreadful season!

Ryan Michael – Thematically, my (non-FB-having) wife would love to cast a vote for John Denver’s “Daddy, Please Don’t get Drunk this Christmas”

Randy Cleves – “Last Christmas,” “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” “All I Want For Christmas Is You” I love Christmas music, but these songs make me want to burn my tree.

John W. Hartel – “Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer”

Matthew Farage – I once sang “Santa Baby.” Maybe you’ll appreciate the song knowing that it was sung by someone that also sings Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Michele Terpstra – Worst ever is the “Christmas Shoes”. It’s beyond bad.

Dan Terpstra – Michele Terpstra: I was just going to second Alicia Marie Scott on that one.

Eileen Briesch – “The Christmas Shoes”

Bradley Raffenaud – The shoes one…

Andrew Millard – It is easier for me to select from the very few good Christmas songs that exist, rather than try to eliminate the worst, which are many. But the Pogues sell it best, followed possibly by the Royal Guardsmen. I might add the Kinks in there. Father Christmas.

Donna Mills – ‘Here Comes Santa Claus’ by Elvis!
Suzanne Nowak – “Baby It’s Cold Outside.”

Tricia Boot – “Do They Know it’s Christmas” by Band Aid is sooo cringe. ‘Well, tonight thank God it’s them instead of you; And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmastime; The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life, oh; Where nothing ever grows, no rain nor rivers flow.” “Wonderful Christmastime” by McCartney is the Schrodinger’s cat of Christmas songs. Deadly dull and impossibly annoying. How does it manage to be both?
Brian J. Bowe – Amen re: “Do They Know It’s Christmas.” Who knew British people could be so racist in their attitudes about other parts of the world?

Scott Steiner – That damn Paul McCartney song.

Steve Secor – Gotta be dem shoes

Linda Rankin – “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”

Rebekah Rhys Kean – Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is You.” Also heard this gem at Meijer the other day. Probably the worst of all time. Jim Brickman’s “Christmas Where you Are.”

Shazzer McBroddle – “Little Drummer Boy.”

Caitlin M. F. Hornshaw – Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime.”

Larry Zoppa – Just about all after continually hearing t h e s a m e s t u f f over and over.

Chad Stanton – THIS will put it to rest. Ritchie Larry Matthews sings “Little Drummer Boy” on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Sarah Delia Sundt – I absolutely cannot stand “Last Christmas” or “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time.” They are both so stupidly inane and repetitive, they are truly like nails on a chalkboard for me.

Lin Otherlyn – I agree on “Holly Jolly.” We’ve been SO saturated with that one, I could go at least 10 years without hearing it.

Terri Grannis – Those barking dogs…OMG.

Mary Sue Wilkinson – “Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer”

Tammy Hall – I guess I am the lucky one here because it’s been awhile since I’ve heard it, “Little Saint Nick” by the Beach Boys.

Michael Terpstra – I hate to say it, but “Blue Christmas.”

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