Secret Satan 2016 - Official Spotify Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/user/factorygames/playlist/6MRmvgm2RL4EqbcktCFDkO]

Pitchfork wrongly declared that god damned Mariah Carey song to be the best Christmas song ever. Here are 17 that are better.

Checked out the list. Good Stuff. Here's some more:

Merry Christmas (I don't wanna fight tonight) - Ramones
It's Christmas Time Again - Bad Manners (covering their own Skinhead Love Affair - still angry I missed their Austin show about 5 years ago...)
Oi to the World - The Vandals (though that No Doubt cover has become more popular)
Jingle Bells - Judge Dread
Step into Christmas - The Business (Elton John cover)
The Season's Upon Us - Dropkick Murphy's (I'm not sold on this one so much)

and who can skip?


ok, ok, that was funin'. This one's for realz:

AH, forgot about that Bad Manners one, that's a good one.

I went with the Joey Ramone track over the other- a little less well known. I also wanted to avoid any and all of the "Christmas sucks" kinds of songs, so Fear's "Fuck Christmas" didn't make the cut and Hanoi Rocks' "Dead by Christmas" isn't either. I have the whole Bad Religion Christmas record on the larger holiday playlist...but I kind of don't like it. It's very odd, because you've got Bad Religion singing some of the more religious holiday numbers and it's really quite sincere. The playing is good, it sounds like Bad Religion, etc...just something about it is off to me.

I just found that Julian Casablancas song, I freaking love it...it works really nicely with some of the other "Noo Yawk" Christmas cuts on there, the Ronettes, Run DMC, Waitresses, etc.

I could really just put the whole Phil Spector Christmas record on there and call it a day because it remains the greatest Christmas record of all time. I especially love the message from Phil Spector over "Silent Night"...it just becomes kind of creepy after all we know about him now. But god DAMN that record is shit hot. Listen to that "Sleigh Ride", there is nothing that beats that- "It's lovely weath-uh for a sleigh ride togeth-uh with yeou". There's a touch of NYC sneer there, and then you've got that whole wall of sound thing going on. The arrangements are top notch. Virtually every track on there is the best version or among the best versions of every song. "Frosty the Snowman" just kills.

This year the kids' picks are Jackson 5 ("I did see mommy kissing Santa Claus...and I'mma tell dad!"), Wizzard, Louis Armstrong and the whole Rudolph soundtrack.

WHY WEREN'T YOU AT ELF PRACTICE????

None of the best Christmas tunes are on Spotify. I've spent years collecting them from dusty corners, driven by a raging hatred of all the standard crap that gets rolled out this time of year.

I have collected the 2nd tier material into a playlist. Which does at least include the Fall's seminal rendition of Hark the Herald Angels

open.spotify.com/user/mattdp/playlist/0A...fgy4fbSR6KtLVrPtRbnw

But without Steeleye's belting rendition of the Boar's Head Carol you're wasting your time.

How about some Christmas trap music:
Jingle Bells

Santa Claus is Coming to Town