The earth managed to circle around the sun again and it is time for the winter holidays once more! If your Christmas routine is anything like mine, each year offers an abundance of eating, shopping, stressful travel, making conversation with estranged friends and relatives, uncomfortable sweaters, and frigid weather.
Call me a cynic, but even in the most normal of holiday scenarios, I often find myself realizing that this is a strange ritual we humans take part in. Good, bad, or in between, Christmas time is always a little more unusual than the rest of the year.
Personally, I believe that there is a need for our holiday music to reflect this sentiment. Like it or not, Christmas music is a staple of the season and we deserve a little better than the cliché, mind-numbing renditions that blast over the intercom as we push through the mall. This is why I’ve compiled a list of five completely bizarre holiday albums—to give you the creative boost to handle whatever wacky stuff the season throws at you. They are each spectacular combinations of festive cringe-worthiness mixed with a heavy dose of awe-inducing magnificence. It’s not by any means a complete list (there are tons of truly insane Christmas albums if you do some digging) but it makes for a great starter pack. Enjoy!
Funky Christmas – James Brown (Universal, 1995)This is certainly the most danceable album on this list, and, as the title suggests, might be the funkiest Christmas record ever made. It’s everything you would expect from the hardest working man in show business and features almost entirely original music, as opposed to digging into the traditional holiday canon. Some of the standout songs are “Go Power at Christmas Time,” “Santa Claus, Got Straight to the Ghetto,” and “Soulful Christmas.”
Dreamers Christmas – John Zorn (Tzadik, 2011)
John Zorn is a world-renowned saxophonist, composer, and a recipient of the McArthur Genius Grant. If you’re familiar with his vast array of music, you may be half-expecting this Christmas album to be more than slightly aggressive (a la Spy vs Spy or Naked City). However, Zorn’s Dreamers project focuses on a gentler sound, blending surf rock, straight-ahead jazz, and some kind of surrealist elevator music. The thoughtful quirkiness of this record makes it an excellent alternative to the run-of-the-mill holiday jazz collection.
A Twisted Christmas – Twisted Sister (Razor & Tie, 2006)
One of several famous hair-metal bands to come out of the 1980s, Twisted Sister reunited in the early 2000s to release two more albums. “A Twisted Christmas” would sadly be their final record. This album is made up of popular Christmas carols jacked up with overdriven guitars, pounding drums, a fair amount of falsetto, and some altered lyrics to match the heavy metal theme. One of the highlights is the performance of “O Come All Ye Faithful” fitting with the instrumental accompaniment to their hit single “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”
Ready to learn music?
Start learning with our 30-day free trial! Try our courses now!About Liberty Park Music
LPM is an online music school. We teach a variety of instruments and styles, including classical and jazz guitar, piano, drums, and music theory. We offer high-quality music lessons designed by accredited teachers from around the world. Our growing database of over 350 lessons come with many features—self-assessments, live chats, quizzes etc. Learn music with LPM, anytime, anywhere!