Oh god Christmas music.
Just type "I hate Christmas music" in your search engine of choice & see what you get.
Scientific proof it's a natural thing to do.
Other attempts to explain the distaste.
A screed in Good Housekeeping for fuck's sake.
& of course the inevitable Reddit conversation.
It's my belief that people despise Christmas music - & I think many more people do than will even admit it - for two main reasons: a) its ubiquitousness & b) its superfluity.
Christmas music starts getting played as early as October, & yet it's the same songs over & over, from "White Christmas" to "Do They Know It's Christmas?" I'm sure it's lucrative - most every pop star has a Christmas record, & also some indie acts. Even 87-year-old men whose status as a cultural icon will never be in doubt find time to record a Christmas album. (It's pretty awful, by the way, & not good-awful. At least I thought so.) But it takes something special for a Christmas song to break through these days - in general, I'd bet (though I don't know this for a fact) that the best way to score a Christmas hit in popcommercialland would be to do a cover. Lots of pop star Christmas records have covers of familiar songs.
But you know what else? There's simply too much of it out there. Trust me, I do a Christmas show every year & I like to play new stuff & newly discovered stuff. It is not that it's a vein that's been overmined - no, excellent takes on Christmas music like Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert's new record show there's so much more that could be done with Christmas music - it's just that people are content to, you know, cover "White Christmas." Over & over.
Seriously, there are these records by acapella groups & harmony groups that are only Christmas records, with no new songs on them at all. Dozens of them. Somehow they can sustain themselves with this.
& yet, chances are the next time you're in a supermarket, you'll be subjected to Springsteen singing "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." & - oh no - damnation! - are you singing along?
For the record, I don't hate Christmas music. I get a little sick of it. Which is why I only do one Christmas show a year. Except. Oh shit. The Tuesday Morning Blend is on Christmas this year. Well fuck.
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