10 Christmas Deep Cuts to Spice Up Your Holiday Playlist
It’s the holiday season, and Christmas music is utterly inescapable. But at some point, you get really tired of hearing the same handful of Christmas songs over and over again.
So here are 10 suggestions to add to your holiday playlist that are hopefully a little less obvious. From downer Christmas songs to hardcore holiday tracks, these deep cuts will bring some much-needed variety to your festive tunes.
Downer Christmas Songs
There’s a long history of downer Christmas songs, from Dolly Parton’s “Hard Candy Christmas” to The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York.” But there is no holiday song more guaranteed to bring the party down than “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis” by Tom Waits.
The reveal at the end is the sort of thing that will have everyone putting the gifts back under the tree because they’re too depressed to open anything.
Slowcore Christmas Tracks
Slowcore pioneers Low released an entire Christmas album in 1999, appropriately titled Christmas. “Just Like Christmas” is probably the most approachable song on the record, and it moves along at a faster clip than much of the band’s material.
It still showcases the band’s ear for delicate melodies and the late Mimi Parker’s intimate vocals, though, before fading out as drippy avalanches of drums crash around her.
Hardcore Holiday Tracks
There aren’t enough hardcore holiday songs if you ask me. The titular David of “David Christmas” by Fucked Up ultimately went on to be the central character in Fucked Up’s breakthrough rock opera David Comes to Life.
“David Christmas” has sleighbells, references to the Grinch, and the first Noel. It’s the rare Christmas song that will have you trying to start a circle pit around the tree.
Quirky Christmas Songs
100 gecs embrace the fantasy of exacting revenge on Santa and taking what you want in this goofy hyperpoppunk song. It’s an absolute blast with a chant-along “la-la-la” post-chorus.
I might not play this one for your ungrateful kids, though.
Modern Christmas Classics
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings have a modern entry in the Christmas soul pantheon that can stand toe-to-toe with James Brown’s “Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto.” “Ain’t No Chimneys in the Projects” has groove to spare, killer strings, and one of the best horn sections in the business.
It’s a pretty short song about how the magic of Christmas is provided by hardworking parents, not some jolly weirdo in a red suit.
Other Hidden Gems
Lindstrøm’s “Little Drummer Boy” is a hypnotic slow burn that gradually builds into a spacey disco freakout. Axel Boman’s “Holiday Extreme” is the calm comedown counterpoint to the Lindstrøm track above.
Björk’s “Jólakötturinn” is a song about Iceland’s Yule Cat, an enormous feline that stalks the countryside, eating people who don’t receive new clothes for Christmas.
They Might Be Giants’ “Santa’s Beard” is a lesser-known one that pairs the duo’s trademark irreverence with a tale of a woman flaunting her extramarital affair in her husband’s face.
Magnetic Fields’ “Everything is One Big Christmas Tree” is a delightful song about telling someone to loosen up and have some fun.
Stop mumbling and cheer up, put down the book, pick beer up, why sit in your dark and lonely room? Must your every word be sincere?
Also, just casually referring to Santa Claus as “Sandy” is perfection.
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