Wicked Cool is Stevie Van Zandt's record label, and this 2025 compilation is the label's second after Christmas a Go-Go from 2008. Like that collection, these songs are all previously released as singles, and nearly all of them on Wicked Cool. As they're all solid examples of what you'd hear on Sirius XM's Underground Garage channel, the rock 'n roll bonafides are not in question, although regular readers here have probably heard most or all of them before, or at least read our reviews here. Among the tunes I've previously missed are "Christmas With Me" by Jessie Wagner featuring Rocco of the Snow, a nice uptempo girl-group influenced tune; "Gimme Christmas" by Prima Donna, a cool thumper that will remind you of the Ramones; "Santa's Coming (Ho Ho Ho)" by the Woggles, a bluesy stomp straight out of the garage; "To Heck With Ole Santa Claus" by Ryan Hamilton, a rockabilly cover of the Brenda Lee tune; Steve Conte's cover of the Kinks' "Father Christmas" is a solid tribute to the original, as is Soraia's "Santa Claus," the Sonics' original; and the Chesterfield Kings' boogie take on "White Christmas." That leaves "It's Christmastime" by the Empty Hearts," "Another NY Christmas (Piss the Season)" by Wyldlife, "Christmas in the Sand" by Kurt Baker, and "Auld Lang Syne" by the Dollyrots as tunes you can search on this site for the original reviews. Streaming and downloads everywhere, no hardcopies that I can find.
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Welcome to yet another holiday playlist from your friends at Mistletunes, the ho-ho-home of a rock 'n roll Christmas. This year everybody's talking about artificial intelligence, which is only fair as there seems to be a severe shortage of the actual stuff; there's a supply chain that really needs to be worked on. As it happens, we used AI to create this year's cover art, and there are two songs in the playlist that were created via AI as well. Draw your own conclusions as to any or all of this, no warranties or liabilities implied or accepted. Now that the legal boilerplate's out of the way, let's dig into some holly-festooned jollies.
"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday," The Dollyrots -- Not a well-known tune on this side of the Atlantic, our British friends have a sweet tooth for this one going back to the early 1970s when Roy Wood's Wizzard put this on the Old Blighty charts. The popular pop-punkers dropped a version that's more in their own style to kick things off here.
"Laugh, Like Jolly Old Saint Nick," The Tell-Alls -- This Nashville band give us a little faux rockabilly on a cool original tune that recalls childhood Christmas celebrations.
"I Renounce Verdukianism!," The Boy Detective -- A nice semi-pop-ska tune based in part on a stray plot point from a Christmas episode of the TV show "30 Rock."
"Merry Christmas, Please Don't Call," Bleachers -- A fairly ambivalent holiday tableau is described herein by the guy who's better known as a producer of such folks as Taylor Swift and Lana Del Ray. Fans of Coldplay and Killers will hear some familiar sounds on this one.
"AT Christmas," Sofia Talvik -- Sofia's from Sweden and she's been writing new Christmas tunes every year for two decades. They tend to be dark, as in this song about a guy who gets lost in the snow along the Appalachian Trail. It's based on a true story, except the real event had a happy ending and this song doesn't.
"Christmas Tiime Again," El Vez and the Centuries -- This Mexican-American performer has been doing an Elvis impersonation for decades now, except that he ropes in references to Hispanic culture and the greater rock scene during his performances.
"Donde Esta Santa Claus?," Mento Buru -- An eclectic bunch that might remind you of Los Lobos if they had come along during the ska craze, these guys take a crack at this moderately obscure Tex-Mex Christmas tune.
"Must Be Santa," The Weeklings -- This playlist's semi-obligatory annual nod to the Beatles comes via these guys, who have been on several past Mistletunes collections. They superimpose riffs from "Helter Skelter" over this popular call-and-response tune most frequently rendered as a polka.
"Mom Saw Jesus in Her Fruitcake," Almost Vinyl -- And here's the first of the two AI tunes on this year's playlist, a 1950s styled pop-country tune about the bane of every Christmas family gathering becoming the star of a community frenzy when Mom misplaces her glasses.
"Santa Drives an Astrovan," The Philly Specials & Mt. Joy -- Produced for a charity album sponsored by members of the Philadelphia Eagles, former local boys Mt. Joy take part in this acoustic ode to Santa's need for a work vehicle.
"Anything Can Happen on the Holiest of Days," The Zolas -- A dreamy meditation on holiday verities.
"I Got This For You (For Christmas)," MOVIELAND -- Not to be confused with the band called Movieland (lower case), these crazy Canadians were known in the shoegaze scene, and you may detect a little of that in this.
"Giddy Up Santa," The Krayolas -- This Austin band looks to the West Coast, particularly LA cars-and-surf bands, but considering where they're from they decided to substitute horses in this tune.
"Perfect Christmas Tune," Gaspard Royant and Nicole Atkins -- The title sets up a pretty tough challenge for the writers, and while it may not be perfect, it's good enough.
"Xmas," Bartees Strange -- This college radio star gives us a funky semi-acoustic ode to the holiday with a few mixed feelings thrown in.
"Give Out My Christmas Love," Wesley Bright -- From Akron, OH, Wesley's been making this kind of retro-soul in clubs and theaters throughout the USA for about a decade now, and this year he turned his attention to Christmas.
"If We Make It Through December," Buzz Kull -- From a collection of "goth Christmas" tunes, this may be the only time you can trace a connection between Merle Haggard (song's author) and Til' Tuesday (note the synth riff that recurs throughout the song).
"Santa's Knee," Lenny Kaye and Cedar Sparks -- An unexpectedly heartfelt holiday story from the guy who played lead guitar for Patti Smith.
"We Could Have This," Ben Folds and Lindsey Kraft -- A sweet holiday ballad in Folds' inimitable style, augmented with Lindsey's skill as a duet partner.
"A Pocketful of Christmas," The New Bardots -- Solid power pop/rock from this up-and-coming band.
"Holidays in Austin," Parker Woodland -- Unlike their fellow Austin band above, these folks revel in their hometown for the holidays.
"Xmas 101," World News -- Young London band gives us some uptempo holiday joy while reminding us of 80s bands like Echo and the Bunnymen.
"Purple Snowflakes," Say She She -- The song originated with Marvin Gaye but his version was not released until after his death. Since then, a lot of folks have covered it, including this alt-rock-pop ensemble.
"This Christmas Turkey Sucks," Relatable Grooves -- And here's our other AI-generated holiday hit, applying a bit of Motown to this ode to culinary criticism. Hey, we can't all be Guy Fieri, right?
"Happy New Year! (Cheers To You)," George Nipson -- Wrapping up this year's playlist is this original tune that plays around with "Auld Lang Syne" without actually breaking into it. Happy holidays once again.
The classic English Christmas tune by Roy Wood's Wizzard gets a pop-punk rendition for 2024 by this popular band. The Dollyrots have a long history of Christmas tunes, and they're reissuing their Christmas album on CD with this cut included. Check them out on Bandcamp, as the updated album and this song haven't yet migrated to streaming.
Apparently this pop-punk duo, in its long history of dropping holiday tuneage, had not yet thrashed out a version of this ancient New Year's chestnut. Well, it's here for 2023. Download or stream, and if you insist, there's a CD on Bandcamp with a bunch of their past Christmas creations, including this one.
This was a fairly grumpy year in my estimation, mostly driven by war and political posturing. Even social media failed to cut loose any fresh fun memes, though I think we know who to blame for that. Ergo, a playlist title that remains satirical but not exactly ha-ha funny. Fortunately, we have a playlist of modern Christmas tunes that will hopefully lighten the moods of listeners everywhere. Let's run it down.
"Groovy Xmas," The Linda Lindas -- Everybody's favorite middle-school pop-punk band dropped this gleeful blast of rhythm for the holiday, which should get everyone's attention.
"Christmas Time With You," The Dollyrots -- More pop-punk from this cool husband-wife duo listing every family's holiday to-do list with a callout to Clement Moore's famous Christmas poem.
"I Don't Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime Is Here)," The Old 97s -- This classic Americana rock band got tapped to contribute to the "Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special," and they came through with this hilarious take on a space alien trying to explain to his off-planet pals what us crazy humans do this time of year.
"Cozy Christmas," Molly Burch -- A sweet midtempo original from this Austin singer-songwriter yearning for what we all want this time of year.
"Christmas Anyway," Stars -- A fine ballad from this Montreal group about star-crossed lovers trying to keep Christmas in their own way.
"Santa Baby," Sug Daniels -- There are so many diva takes on this song, all inspired by Eartha Kitt's original of course, so it's cool that this Philly singer broke out her ukulele and gave us a straight reading of what, at heart, is a funny song.
"December Back 2 June," Alicia Keys -- Some straight-up R'nB from this popular singer-pianist on a cool new original from her recent holiday album.
"Little Drummer Girl," The Yule Logs -- Not particularly related to the drummer boy song, this power-pop holiday tune is about checking out the title character's band.
"Drummer Boy," Titus Andronicus -- A cool companion piece to the previous song in which the famous carol is rejiggered to fit into a Billy Joel setlist.
"Merry Christmas Everybody," Norman Nardini -- Here's a little blues from a veteran of the Pittsburgh music scene, but with a punchy beat to keep the dance floor full.
"Violent Night (A Christmas Tale)," Chubby and the Gang -- Old school punk rock steals a title from a Christmas-themed horror movie and goes to town on the holiday.
"Christmas Harmony," Pep Rally -- Enjoy this Philly band's rocking take on holiday celebrations and singing.
"Reason For the Season," Modern Temple -- Nice midtempo pop-rocker covering the usual holiday verities. Also makes a half-baked title song to this collection.
"Mr. Scrooge," Cindy Lawson -- Cool oldie given a fresh coat of 60s girl-group paint by Cindy, in which a taciturn boyfriend gets compared to the grumpy antagonist of a favorite Christmas story.
"Daddy's Kissing Santa Claus," Havanna Winter -- Well, it could happen. Not that there's anything wrong with this, as George Costanza would say.
"Secret Santa," Salem Ilese -- Boisterous modern pop take on the holiday pumped full to the gills with up-to-the-minute cultural references.
"Must Be Santa," Bastard Bearded Irishmen -- An occasional Celtic take on the holiday is always welcome here, though in this case these Irishmen are coming to us via CBGB's.
"Hungover For the Holidays," Latewaves -- Because, yeah, some of us are going to end up that way.
"Happy New Year," Let's Eat Grandma -- Kinda synth-poppy, kinda wordy, but any excuse to not end the playlist with "Auld Lang Syne," I say.
Popular pop-punkers The Dollyrots have a history with Christmas, which we've chronicled here at Mistletunes. For 2022 we get a new free single from them with this great punk thrash original song about coupling for the holidays. Flip it over (OK, not literally) and you get the Dollys playing around with their family on "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)." If you're on their mailing list, they probably sent you free download links; if not, head over to Bandcamp for it.
We're still fighting off that unique pandemic that crushed much of the life out of 2020 and isn't doing much for the current year either. Nevertheless, those of us whose luck has been better still want to observe the Western world's most prominent holiday in the ways to which we've become accustomed, and in our case that means going outside the usual repertoire of holiday music to throw down with a slightly more frivolous choice of Christmas song, or in this case, 21 such choices. Strike up the Bluetooth and join the chorus.
"It Was a ... (Masked Christmas)," Jimmy Fallon with Ariana Grande and Megan Thee Stallion -- Given the choice of cover art and playlist title, you knew we had to lead off with this.
"Christmas Comes Tonight," The Incurables -- A nice bluesy rocker gives us a brisk change-up from the opening blast of chart-friendly funk-pop.
"A Very Merry Christmas," Lisa Mychols & Super 8 -- Here's how they used to do pop in the days when the Top 40 ruled the airwaves. Lisa's been doing this kind of retro-pop for many years and the Mistletunes mix is happy to welcome her back.
"Christmas Day," The Weeklings -- More rock 'n roll with a Sixties flair, these guys are known for their Beatles-esque covers and stage shows.
"It's A Peppermint Christmas," The Peppermint Kicks -- Power pop from Boston keeps our holiday party jumping.
"This Is Life (Merry Christmas)," The Lumineers featuring Daniel Rodriguez -- Colorado folk-rockers who came along around the same time as Mumford & Sons take a poppier approach to their sound with this original holiday tune.
"I'll Be Home For Christmas," Ziemba -- I always go for original takes on familiar tunes, and this more upbeat look at the popular holiday ballad fills that bill nicely.
"Christmas Isn't Cancelled (Just You)," Kelly Clarkson -- Normally we don't spend a lot of time considering performers who are household names for the mix, but this is a pretty smart holiday breakup song, so we're going with it.
"Santa's On a Rampage," Patricia Vonne with Rosie Flores -- Always ready for a song about Santa throwing down for the holidays. After all, his regular gig is a lot of work....
"Jingle Jangle Heart," Librarians With Hickeys -- I could have picked this just for the band name, but it's a great Christmas come-on song.
"One More Sleep," The Dollyrots -- This "Elf"-inspired tune originated with Leona Lewis, but I think I like this pop-punk take on it better.
"Christmas Caller," Beach Bunny -- Love this bouncy modern radio-ready pop-rocker, and I think you will too.
"My Ugly Sweater," Jade 10 and Sisters Noel -- In which our performers forego style in favor of warding off the typical Christmas weather. Of course, ugly doesn't necessarily mean unfashionable nowadays.
"Feliz Chanukah," Six13 -- I could have probably gotten away without a Hanukkah tune this year given how early it was, but I couldn't pass up this Yiddish take on a Latin/English classic.
"Catch Myself Some Rays," Shaggy featuring CARYS -- And of course, the Mistletunes annual mix never fails to remind us that much of the world isn't cold at Christmastime, in this case by throwing in some reggae.
"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," Wrabel -- Most versions of this song key off the bombastic Phil Spector original, but this slow electro-folk take on it lets the song shine through the performance.
"You Ain't Getting Nothin'," Beebe Gallini featuring Cindy Lawson -- Do you get the feeling this garage-rock anthem isn't just about Christmas presents?
"Holiday Rock," Neon Trees -- Pretty much as advertised, the FTC won't be handling any complaints about the title of this song.
"Run Rudolph Run," Norah Jones -- Never heard this song done as a samba? Well, here's your big chance.
"Gone For Christmas," Amanda Shires -- Another breakup song with a little more Nashville added to the formula.
"The After Christmas Song," Bob Malone -- Bringing you in for a soft landing before it's time to ramp up for New Year's Eve. Merry Christmas.
The Leona Lewis holiday hit from 2013 gets reimagined for 2021 as a punk-pop powerhouse song, which is only natural as that style is this band's wheelhouse. Singer Kelly Ogden is, of course, best known lately as a Little Steven's Underground Garage hostess, but the band keeps coming on stronger and stronger in the marketplace with its non-holiday fare. Also, don't forget they have history in the holiday realm. It's on Bandcamp.
Earlier, when mentioning their 2020 single, I noted the band had enough Christmas tunes for their own single-artist playlist. Apparently this gave them an idea, and so there's now a single-click opportunity to round up all 12 of their holiday recordings in one place. Apparently there are a couple here that I missed, like their version of "Let's Turkey Trot" and their originals "Because I'm Santa" and "Messed Up Xmas." Like always, it's at Bandcamp and you can name your price.
Jaret's from Bowling for Soup and Kelly's from the Dollyrots, the latter of whom are already accounted for in 2020's holiday sweepstakes. But the two of them previously recorded a duet album and this year went for a holiday single that's all about the various ways to celebrate the holiday. Few of them are practical this year because of the pandemic, unfortunately, but you'll enjoy thinking about them as you listen to this 60s pop-rocker with a Specter twist. It's on Bandcamp.
Punk-poppers The Dollyrots have been pushing out Christmas singles for a number of years now. and this 2020 double-sided single extends their repertoire to the point that you can have an all-Dollyrots playlist if you want. Their signature semi-Ramones style gets lent to the Darlene Love classic, and also to a version of "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" featuring their son River on lead vocal. Unlike a lot of kid vocals on Christmas songs, this one is tuneful enough to escape this site's usual stink-eye toward kid vocals. This is a pay-what-you-want duo, available on Bandcamp.
Amazing to me that this song has managed to become a Christmas classic, and I sincerely hope this website had at least a little to do with that. The fact that it has appeal across the rock, pop, and Celtic music fields certainly helps with that. There have been a few punk-rock versions over time, and the Dollyrots have now tried their hand with their own such version for 2019. As has been their custom, it's a free download from Bandcamp, costing you only an email address. I can imagine many fans of the original song not being too fond of this, but the band is great and the performance is peppy.
Volume 1 with the same title, also curated by Rodney Bingenheimer, aka Rodney on the ROQ (until this year anyway, but I believe he's still spinning discs on Sirius XM), is currently pulling down collector money when you can find it, so you might be curious about the 2017 version. The title song by the Ramonas repeats -- same version and everything -- as does "The Characters Visit Rodney," a bit of filler where people ask Santa Rodney for gifts, but that leaves 12 other cuts (or 14 if you download it). The Dollyrots' "All I Want For Christmas is You" is here, the Donnas provide a slamming version of "Up On the Housetop," as do the Glitter Critters (featuring Clem Burke of Blondie) with "Little Drummer Boy," and C.J. Ramone offers a solid rocker in "Christmas Lullabye," in the spirit if not the actual sound of his namesake band. "Merry Christmas to You" by Peter 118 is a fine punk thrash, Karen Bassett performs a power-poppy "It's Almost Christmas Time" with a melody that reminds me of a song by Universal Honey, The Mansfields keep the onslaught going with "Broke on Christmas Again," Kat Meoz gives a holiday tour of the Sunset Strip on "Christmas in Hollywood," and Color TV's "This Christmas" is a solid slice of punk-pop. Kristeenyoung throws a little Phil Spector into her holiday ballad "I Won't Be Home For Christmas," the Tearaways poke fun at holiday traditions in "Helluva Christmas," Frankie & The Studs mine holiday coal with "I'm On the Naughty List," and Launch Control goes all "oi oi" with "My Name is Santa and I'm a Punk Rocker." Currently, the sitch with this lovely punk-pop-rock collection is that you can download it from iTunes or you can buy it on vinyl from Amazon or your favorite record store. If you go the download route you get two additional songs, a rockabilly "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" by the Mansfields (second tune for them) and the fabulous "Wake Up Christmas" by Lisa Mychols, which is unsurprisingly one of the best things on the album. Will it go for collector's prices down the line like the first one did? Who cares, just listen to it. 
This 2008 collection is a collection from the artists on Joan Jett's record label, including her own take on "Little Drummer Boy" that was issued back around 1980 and isn't all that easy to find. Girl in a Coma puts a bit of a country shine on "Blue Christmas" and thrashes out on "I'll Be Home For Christmas." The Vacancies rock out on "The Elf Song" and the Kinks' "Father Christmas" while The Cute Lepers take on Billy Squier's "Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You" and what I think is their own "All I Ever Want (Under the Christmas Tree)." The Dollyrots do a crunchy rock take on "Santa Baby," and rock legend Kenny Laguna turns up with his "Home For Christmas." A full cast rendition of "Silent Night" in a rock waltz time, throwing in some speechifying by Barack Obama along with John McCain's concession, wraps things up, unless Sean Hannity gets wind of this, anyway. If you love rock 'n roll, you'll probably love this.
