Fairytale of New York was on the 1987 album If I Should Fall from Grace with God. Don't be getting facts wrong about my beloved Pogues and Kirsty MacColl.
It only got to #2 in the UK charts the week of Christmas 1987 (damn you Pet Shop Boys!) but hits the charts there every year at Christmas. Despite a push last year by Shane's widow to get it to #1 in the wake of his death just before the holidays, it still didn't get it, it was Wham's Last Christmas. (The Christmas #1 is a big deal in the UK for some reason)
I'm also disappoint to not get to vote for Fairytale since it is not just the best Xmas song of the 80s, but in fact the greatest Xmas song of all time.
I had already written in a vote for you with that song, so go ahead and vote for second! It's a GREAT fucking song. Transcends the 80s completely and totally. I am only sad that I didn't hear it until the 90s.
I will defend Do They Know It's Christmas. First, it is a lot better song than the other earnest musicians doing good song, We Are the World. Also, Geldof has raised a shit ton of money that has helped a lot of people. No, he didn't solve famine.
Don't get me wrong, I fully support hating on popular songs, I probably hate most popular stuff. If I have to hear any more of that goddamn vapid and vacuous Taylor Swift I'm going to go crazy.
But the lyrics are not meant to be literal. The things they say they won't have in Africa is all of the metaphorical things white Westerners think of at Xmas. Granted, they may be bad metaphors, but it did pull on people's heart strings. And guilting those people in to giving money is what it's all about.
Besides, it's catchy.
And the people that slag on it saying that they don't celebrate Xmas in Africa are just flat out wrong. Christianity is the predominate religion in sub-Saharan Africa. (Thank you Violent colonization!)
I did NOT see this coming! I was listening to this song again yesterday. It IS catchy. Raising money for people who need it, is not a bad thing. Solving famine is not a problem easily fixable, enough so that it's still happening all around the world. But trying is admirable, I agree with that.
The line, "Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you." seemed insensitive at best to me as a teen. I think I eventually got the intent behind the line--be thankful for what you have, and help them--but I remember being really astonished by that wording at the time.
And using the logic that Christianity is #1 in Africa, it seems dickish to ask the question if they even know it's Christmas, right? 😂 Maybe I should give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they meant, "do
they know it's Christmas? because nobody's helping them or sending goodwill" and NOT, "these morons don't even have calendars." But in the 80s it was absolutely my stance to mock this, and I should probably mellow out on some well-meaning folks.
Man, these Christmas songs are dull! 😂 Christmas season is really different in the southern hemisphere, mostly because of the weather. People eat outside and dance up to 7 in the morning on Christmas eve (I don´t do that anymore, though!). And also, it's been two years since one of the happiest Christmas seasons of our lives!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFPe8MBuqiQ
Merry Christmas and happy holyday season to both of you and to the entire 80est community! It's been a blast sharing these 80s songs with you all, all year long. Thanks for that!
Alejandro, I love the excitement about that Copa Mundial win! Great video! Makes me wish our country were good at fútbol!
Now you need to link me to a less boring South American Xmas song! You can't just say ours suck and not give me something better!! 😂
Thanks for your kind words! Happy Holidays to you and yours, my friend! It's been a great time re-connecting with you and the rest of our little community! I am looking forward to more in 2025!
A solid list. I know someone (unnamed) from rural white western Ohio that had never heard Run DMC's Christmas classic, so I'll have to vote for that! Springsteen's Merry Christmas Baby is probably my favorite in your lists, with Fairytale second.
The song I remember most from the repeated radio playings in the 80s was Grandma Got Run Over by Reindeer -- I had to look it up, it was released in 1979, so understandably missed the cut. (For some seriously not-80s fun, I would go for the Dropkick Murphys "The Season's Upon Us" -- a good one for the new century)
Love this episode guys! Getting me in the mood. Just as an extra 'tooiiid... Dirty Old Town by the Pogues was written by Ewan MacColl, my brother was named after him, and is also my son's middle-name. My dad being a Lancastrian and a folk enthusiast, Ewan MacColl is a family favourite for sure. Aaaanyway... I went for Run DMC, 'cause xmas is a time to partaay!! 😎 Happy holidays, and happy solstice my dudes! Peace and love to all peoples and places of our beautiful planet! Wax x
"Last Christmas" is a favorite of my 17-year-old son's. He also loves "Careless Whisper." Sings it all the time. Odd for Gen Z? Joe, your nephew also apparently is getting into Weird Al.
Factoid: "Christmas in Hollis" was also featured in the best Christmas movie ever..."Die Hard." (alright, not the best, but I love it).
Mellencamp and Billy Squier get an honorable mention. Love it.
Eurythmics, awesome. Pretenders, the best. Bangles? Give it a rest. lol (Joking, I fucking love that song.)
Had to vote for The Boss! Happy Holidays, everyone!
So, you really should have set the rules that you both got your #1 song on the list and then the other three by averages.
Of the finalists my favorite one is probably Christmas in Hollis. Fun song and for a suburban white kid from the south (though I had just moved to the Midwest suburbs a few months before that record came out) this is the first time I heard about a place called Hollis , and I doubt I knew where Queens even was. I didn't visit NYC the first time until the following spring.
But I voted for Last Christmas, just because it is the iconic Xmas song of the 80s. I mean, Emma Thompson herself wrote that movie based on it. And there seems to be so many covers. We listen to Pandora in my travel agency and someone had on the "modern Christmas songs" channel and in the course of two hours the Wham version played as well as four different covers.
And truth be told, I like the song. George Michael was a talented pop writer and performer to be sure.
And it's a lot better than the big 90s Xmas song. When Mariah Carey comes on I want to jam icepicks in my ears.
I think Last Christmas is probably the 80s-est on this list, but it’s Christmas in Hollis for me because:
1. As a part of A Very Special Christmas, it was always on the Catalano tape deck (then CD player) every December. (P.S. – 5 of the songs in this episode were on A Very Special Christmas, it’s the holiday equivalent of a hit movie soundtrack!)
2. It’s a crime to vote against Christmas in Hollis.
U2’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) would’ve also made my list. Others on my list not mentioned here:
Mannheim Steamroller’s God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Silent Night (my mom loved the toy piano sound, still makes me teary-eyed). Coventry Carol is also a good one.
Bob Rivers’ The 12 Pains of Christmas (my brother and I still say all of the exasperated outcries of the various characters)
Sting’s Gabriel’s Message (ALSO from AVSC)
Anything from John Denver and The Muppets: A Christmas Together, but especially the Twelve Days of Christmas (a counterpoint to Joe’s statement about the Bob and Doug McKenzie version being the only acceptable one) and Christmas is Coming – This actually came out in December of 1979, but it basically is part of my Christmas experience for the entire 80s and beyond. We had it on 8-track, tape and CD (and now digital).
Dishonorable mention:
Funky Funky Christmas by New Kids on the Block. Listen to it and let me know if there’s a way to erase it from your memory (I’ve tried unsuccessfully for 35 years).
Also, do you guys have top non-80s Christmas or winter songs? Mine are Joni Mitchell's River (70s), Counting Crows' Long December (90s) and Sara Bareilles/Ingrid Michaelson's Winter Song (aughts). They're all kind of bummers now that I think about it. 😂
1. I was never aware of A Very Special Christmas, until doing this podcast! What a great selection!
2. I am not against this policy, really. This was a very close one for me!
3. I don't know any Mannheim Steamroller, like I have HEARD the name of the (band?) before, but that's it. So I just listened to it. Probably not my thing, but I can also see how it can get embedded in your holidays!
4. I have never heard of Bob Rivers either.But then OK, I HAVE heard this song. The one guy (Bob Rivers?) basically doing an Archie Bunker impression--classic!
5. Do not know the Sting song either...and just listened, and I have definitely never heard this one. I don't even know the original song that he is covering. Completely unfamiliar with it...don't love it, but I have no point of reference, sounds like a church song?
6. I don't immediately know the John Denver/Muppets version of 12 Days, either. Just listened to a bit of it, and I didn't know which Muppet was gonna sing each bit, so I guess I just don't know it. But I can also see how a kid would love this! Scrolling down the entire album, I only know 5 of these 13 songs.
7. Funky, Funky Xmas: I have never heard it. It apparently snuck into the 80s for Christmas of 1989. It's not that funky. What it IS, is shitty. I promise you that Joe and I could make a better song than this on the very first take of an improvised song. There is a section that I am listening to now at about 2:15 where someone puts on a ROCKWELL VOICE? WTF? This instantly shoots to the top of worst Xmas songs of the 80s!
Thanks for spending the time sharing your Xmas memories with us. I would love to see what others think of the stuff you wrote...Joe, if you see this, weigh in!
Mannheim Steamroller = the TSO of the 80s, but classier and with less hair.
I heard the 12 Pains of Christmas on the radio so much as a kid (at least it FEELS like I did), I thought maybe it was a local Cleveland group, but looks like Rivers is from Seattle. Maybe I just recorded it off the radio because I thought it was hilarious as a kid and listened to it over and over.
I don't think I know the original song Sting is covering either. But I always thought the organ (synth organ?) sounded cool. Or it's just the Catholic guilt/Stockholm syndrome for Christmas Eve at church. 😂
Please, PLEASE record an improvised version of Funky Funky Xmas with Joe. I'm begging you. It's so bad, they have to TELL YOU at the beginning of the song that it's going to be funky. So that you can say, "Is THAT what you were going for??" You're welcome for introducing you to that absolute hot buttered turd of a song.
I was a big fan of AVSC, which is why so many of them popped up on my initial list. Great tape. I loved JD & the Muppets as a kid, but it has not stayed on my holiday playlist, which is why that version of 12 Days was not in my head. But it's a classic, with Piggy mis-hearing "piggy pudding" and Animal going nuts.
Great call, Dr. J.! I love that song MORE than the Eurythmics "Winter Wonderland"!
--K
Fairytale of New York was on the 1987 album If I Should Fall from Grace with God. Don't be getting facts wrong about my beloved Pogues and Kirsty MacColl.
It only got to #2 in the UK charts the week of Christmas 1987 (damn you Pet Shop Boys!) but hits the charts there every year at Christmas. Despite a push last year by Shane's widow to get it to #1 in the wake of his death just before the holidays, it still didn't get it, it was Wham's Last Christmas. (The Christmas #1 is a big deal in the UK for some reason)
I'm also disappoint to not get to vote for Fairytale since it is not just the best Xmas song of the 80s, but in fact the greatest Xmas song of all time.
I had already written in a vote for you with that song, so go ahead and vote for second! It's a GREAT fucking song. Transcends the 80s completely and totally. I am only sad that I didn't hear it until the 90s.
I will defend Do They Know It's Christmas. First, it is a lot better song than the other earnest musicians doing good song, We Are the World. Also, Geldof has raised a shit ton of money that has helped a lot of people. No, he didn't solve famine.
Don't get me wrong, I fully support hating on popular songs, I probably hate most popular stuff. If I have to hear any more of that goddamn vapid and vacuous Taylor Swift I'm going to go crazy.
But the lyrics are not meant to be literal. The things they say they won't have in Africa is all of the metaphorical things white Westerners think of at Xmas. Granted, they may be bad metaphors, but it did pull on people's heart strings. And guilting those people in to giving money is what it's all about.
Besides, it's catchy.
And the people that slag on it saying that they don't celebrate Xmas in Africa are just flat out wrong. Christianity is the predominate religion in sub-Saharan Africa. (Thank you Violent colonization!)
I did NOT see this coming! I was listening to this song again yesterday. It IS catchy. Raising money for people who need it, is not a bad thing. Solving famine is not a problem easily fixable, enough so that it's still happening all around the world. But trying is admirable, I agree with that.
The line, "Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you." seemed insensitive at best to me as a teen. I think I eventually got the intent behind the line--be thankful for what you have, and help them--but I remember being really astonished by that wording at the time.
And using the logic that Christianity is #1 in Africa, it seems dickish to ask the question if they even know it's Christmas, right? 😂 Maybe I should give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they meant, "do
they know it's Christmas? because nobody's helping them or sending goodwill" and NOT, "these morons don't even have calendars." But in the 80s it was absolutely my stance to mock this, and I should probably mellow out on some well-meaning folks.
--K
Man, these Christmas songs are dull! 😂 Christmas season is really different in the southern hemisphere, mostly because of the weather. People eat outside and dance up to 7 in the morning on Christmas eve (I don´t do that anymore, though!). And also, it's been two years since one of the happiest Christmas seasons of our lives!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFPe8MBuqiQ
Merry Christmas and happy holyday season to both of you and to the entire 80est community! It's been a blast sharing these 80s songs with you all, all year long. Thanks for that!
Alejandro, I love the excitement about that Copa Mundial win! Great video! Makes me wish our country were good at fútbol!
Now you need to link me to a less boring South American Xmas song! You can't just say ours suck and not give me something better!! 😂
Thanks for your kind words! Happy Holidays to you and yours, my friend! It's been a great time re-connecting with you and the rest of our little community! I am looking forward to more in 2025!
--Keith
A solid list. I know someone (unnamed) from rural white western Ohio that had never heard Run DMC's Christmas classic, so I'll have to vote for that! Springsteen's Merry Christmas Baby is probably my favorite in your lists, with Fairytale second.
The song I remember most from the repeated radio playings in the 80s was Grandma Got Run Over by Reindeer -- I had to look it up, it was released in 1979, so understandably missed the cut. (For some seriously not-80s fun, I would go for the Dropkick Murphys "The Season's Upon Us" -- a good one for the new century)
Chris! Happy Holidays!
I remember "Grandma Got Run Over" as well! Played well into the 80s! Should have at least given it a mention.
Appreciate the recommendation on Dropkick Murphys--just listened, and it's fantastic! 😂 😂
Hope to see you in early 2025, unless some elves can arrange sooner!
--Keith
Love this episode guys! Getting me in the mood. Just as an extra 'tooiiid... Dirty Old Town by the Pogues was written by Ewan MacColl, my brother was named after him, and is also my son's middle-name. My dad being a Lancastrian and a folk enthusiast, Ewan MacColl is a family favourite for sure. Aaaanyway... I went for Run DMC, 'cause xmas is a time to partaay!! 😎 Happy holidays, and happy solstice my dudes! Peace and love to all peoples and places of our beautiful planet! Wax x
Thank you, Waxy!! You are the original hip-hop dude, so I expect nothing less than a Xmas in Hollis shout-out from you!
Happy Holidays, my friend, and peace and love back at you in España!
--Keith
Poor Bryan Adams. sigh
Wow, I miss Freddy and Prince.
"Last Christmas" is a favorite of my 17-year-old son's. He also loves "Careless Whisper." Sings it all the time. Odd for Gen Z? Joe, your nephew also apparently is getting into Weird Al.
Factoid: "Christmas in Hollis" was also featured in the best Christmas movie ever..."Die Hard." (alright, not the best, but I love it).
Mellencamp and Billy Squier get an honorable mention. Love it.
Eurythmics, awesome. Pretenders, the best. Bangles? Give it a rest. lol (Joking, I fucking love that song.)
Had to vote for The Boss! Happy Holidays, everyone!
Die Hard *is* one of the best Christmas movies.
So, you really should have set the rules that you both got your #1 song on the list and then the other three by averages.
Of the finalists my favorite one is probably Christmas in Hollis. Fun song and for a suburban white kid from the south (though I had just moved to the Midwest suburbs a few months before that record came out) this is the first time I heard about a place called Hollis , and I doubt I knew where Queens even was. I didn't visit NYC the first time until the following spring.
But I voted for Last Christmas, just because it is the iconic Xmas song of the 80s. I mean, Emma Thompson herself wrote that movie based on it. And there seems to be so many covers. We listen to Pandora in my travel agency and someone had on the "modern Christmas songs" channel and in the course of two hours the Wham version played as well as four different covers.
And truth be told, I like the song. George Michael was a talented pop writer and performer to be sure.
And it's a lot better than the big 90s Xmas song. When Mariah Carey comes on I want to jam icepicks in my ears.
But the winner is still Fairytale of New York.
I think Last Christmas is probably the 80s-est on this list, but it’s Christmas in Hollis for me because:
1. As a part of A Very Special Christmas, it was always on the Catalano tape deck (then CD player) every December. (P.S. – 5 of the songs in this episode were on A Very Special Christmas, it’s the holiday equivalent of a hit movie soundtrack!)
2. It’s a crime to vote against Christmas in Hollis.
U2’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) would’ve also made my list. Others on my list not mentioned here:
Mannheim Steamroller’s God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Silent Night (my mom loved the toy piano sound, still makes me teary-eyed). Coventry Carol is also a good one.
Bob Rivers’ The 12 Pains of Christmas (my brother and I still say all of the exasperated outcries of the various characters)
Sting’s Gabriel’s Message (ALSO from AVSC)
Anything from John Denver and The Muppets: A Christmas Together, but especially the Twelve Days of Christmas (a counterpoint to Joe’s statement about the Bob and Doug McKenzie version being the only acceptable one) and Christmas is Coming – This actually came out in December of 1979, but it basically is part of my Christmas experience for the entire 80s and beyond. We had it on 8-track, tape and CD (and now digital).
Dishonorable mention:
Funky Funky Christmas by New Kids on the Block. Listen to it and let me know if there’s a way to erase it from your memory (I’ve tried unsuccessfully for 35 years).
Also, do you guys have top non-80s Christmas or winter songs? Mine are Joni Mitchell's River (70s), Counting Crows' Long December (90s) and Sara Bareilles/Ingrid Michaelson's Winter Song (aughts). They're all kind of bummers now that I think about it. 😂
I like "Long December," but it's a bit sad.
"Velvet Snow" by Kings of Leon is wintry
"February Stars" by Foo Fighters would maybe go on that list.
"Snow Days" by Trip Shakespeare is a quirky fave.
"Nowhere, Massachusetts" by Black Prairie is a song that at least begins in wintertime?
"December" by Teenage Fanclub
That's a list that came to my mind at this moment. There are probably many more, because I LOVE WINTER! 😁
--Keith
I have too many Christmas songs to list here that I absolutely love. A super-short rundown:
Spotlight on Christmas by Rufus Wainwright
Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas by Harvey Danger
Candycane Lane by SIA (actually, her whole Christmas album is great)
Early Christmas Morning by Cyndi Lauper
Evergreen by Squirrel Nut Zippers
Baby, It's Cold Outside by John Legend and Kelly Clarkson
and of course the entirety of A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi
I like Christmas music WAY more than I ought to.
Thank you both for the modern additions to my holiday playlist! Hopefully I can get them onto my ancient ipod. 😂
WOW! What a reply! Let's break it down:
1. I was never aware of A Very Special Christmas, until doing this podcast! What a great selection!
2. I am not against this policy, really. This was a very close one for me!
3. I don't know any Mannheim Steamroller, like I have HEARD the name of the (band?) before, but that's it. So I just listened to it. Probably not my thing, but I can also see how it can get embedded in your holidays!
4. I have never heard of Bob Rivers either.But then OK, I HAVE heard this song. The one guy (Bob Rivers?) basically doing an Archie Bunker impression--classic!
5. Do not know the Sting song either...and just listened, and I have definitely never heard this one. I don't even know the original song that he is covering. Completely unfamiliar with it...don't love it, but I have no point of reference, sounds like a church song?
6. I don't immediately know the John Denver/Muppets version of 12 Days, either. Just listened to a bit of it, and I didn't know which Muppet was gonna sing each bit, so I guess I just don't know it. But I can also see how a kid would love this! Scrolling down the entire album, I only know 5 of these 13 songs.
7. Funky, Funky Xmas: I have never heard it. It apparently snuck into the 80s for Christmas of 1989. It's not that funky. What it IS, is shitty. I promise you that Joe and I could make a better song than this on the very first take of an improvised song. There is a section that I am listening to now at about 2:15 where someone puts on a ROCKWELL VOICE? WTF? This instantly shoots to the top of worst Xmas songs of the 80s!
Thanks for spending the time sharing your Xmas memories with us. I would love to see what others think of the stuff you wrote...Joe, if you see this, weigh in!
--Keith
Mannheim Steamroller = the TSO of the 80s, but classier and with less hair.
I heard the 12 Pains of Christmas on the radio so much as a kid (at least it FEELS like I did), I thought maybe it was a local Cleveland group, but looks like Rivers is from Seattle. Maybe I just recorded it off the radio because I thought it was hilarious as a kid and listened to it over and over.
I don't think I know the original song Sting is covering either. But I always thought the organ (synth organ?) sounded cool. Or it's just the Catholic guilt/Stockholm syndrome for Christmas Eve at church. 😂
Please, PLEASE record an improvised version of Funky Funky Xmas with Joe. I'm begging you. It's so bad, they have to TELL YOU at the beginning of the song that it's going to be funky. So that you can say, "Is THAT what you were going for??" You're welcome for introducing you to that absolute hot buttered turd of a song.
I have heard of TSO, enough to know what that means, but don't know THEIR music, either! 😂
Regarding us doing a version, I will see if Joe will try it. Maybe I make it a show close?
--K
I was a big fan of AVSC, which is why so many of them popped up on my initial list. Great tape. I loved JD & the Muppets as a kid, but it has not stayed on my holiday playlist, which is why that version of 12 Days was not in my head. But it's a classic, with Piggy mis-hearing "piggy pudding" and Animal going nuts.
Get JD & the Muppets back on your holiday playlist! And it forever stays Henson's voice....