Merry Flippin' Christmas Volume 1, Bowling For Soup (Fueled By Ramen)

This comic pop-punk band, probably best known for their hit "1985," seems to be sneaking this out for 2010; there's only the slightest mention of it on their MySpace page. The boys threw together eight familiar holiday songs, heavy on the punk and light on the comedy, extending from such standards as "Frosty the Snowman" and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" to rock favorites like the Kinks' "Father Christmas" and the Ramones' "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)" and the nearly obligatory assault on Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." What appears to be an original (UPDATE: No it isn't, it's a Merle Haggard song, thanks Stubby) is "Bobby Wants a Puppy Dog For Christmas," a fairly straightforward plea for a particular gift. Also on this collection are "Feliz Navidad," starting off with the obligatory off-key kid vocals, plus "We're a Couple of Misfits" and "Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy." Not a bad collection, and not a slow tune in the bunch. FURTHER UPDATE: Somehow missed out on Vol. 2 for 2011. Inexcusable, since Vol. 2 is where the title song resides. They broke out the songwriting pen for this one, along with three others, "Even Santa Needs a Break Sometimes," "I Miss You Most on Christmas," and "The Corner Store on Christmas." The collection wraps up with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," all at breakneck pop-punk speed. If you are even slower than me, never fear; the band mashed the two together for subsequent releases, and I've updated the Amazon link so you can download the whole mess.