With the holiday season around the corner, it’s only natural to curate the ultimate festive playlist to backdrop your Christmas parties.
If you’re looking to wow your family members with your underground, deep cut, ‘you’ve probably never heard this before’ music taste, then I’ve got the list for you. Fair warning: some of these songs have some profanity, but I took extra care to make sure none of these songs are sexually explicit to ensure they’re mostly safe to play in front of your grandparents (you’d be surprised how many sexual Christmas songs there are).
In no particular order, here are 10 “unique” Christmas songs that are sure to get your guests talking.
1. All I Want for Christmas is You (2005) by My Chemical Romance
Easing into the list is a pop-punk cover of Mariah Carey’s 1994 hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” off her album “Merry Christmas.” This isn’t the only time the band dabbled in Christmas music, having written and performed “Every Snowflake Is Different (Just Like You)” for “Yo Gabba Gabba” in 2011.
Between the two, I believe “All I Want for Christmas is You” is the definitive My Chemical Romance Christmas song. Straying from the original’s contemporary R&B roots, this cover feels dedicated to every angsty teenager who insisted on dressing in all black for the family Christmas card photos.
If you’re looking for an emo spin on an all-time classic, then this song is an obvious choice for your holiday mix.
2. Yule Shoot Your Eye Out by Fall Out Boy
Keeping up with the alternative Christmas songs, “Yule Shoot Your Eye Out” from Fall Out Boy’s debut greatest hits album, “Believers Never Die (Volume One).” This original track has themes of loathing from a failed relationship and contradictory feelings.
Pete Wentz cannot decide if he never wants to see their ex again, or if they want their ex to beg for him back. Here are some lines from the chorus to give you a better idea. “Don’t come home for Christmas / You’re the last thing I wanna see / Underneath the tree.”
Although it’s a Christmas song, I still think it holds its own as a very enjoyable and cleverly written track to be enjoyed all year round. My personal favorite lyric is “Don’t call me up when the snow comes down.” This track is a great standout for any playlist, Christmas-themed or not.
Merry Christmas, I couldn’t care less.
3. This Christmas (I’ll Burn it To the Ground) by Set It Off
While compiling songs for this list, I quickly realized how violent they can be. This next track is a case in point. The narrator, Jack, wishes to enact revenge on his wealthy neighbors for getting fancy Christmas gifts, while he “[gets] K-Mart clothes again!” by setting Christmas ablaze.
This theatrical track feels like a villain theme song for a holiday film like “The Grinch” or “Nightmare Before Christmas.” It’s a complete tonal shift compared to “Yule Shoot Your Eye Out,” which was more grounded and melancholy, and the cover of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by My Chemical Romance, but all three are tied together by their genre.
If you’re looking for a trifecta of punk-rock Christmas tracks from classic alternative bands, then this track is perfect when paired with the previous two.
4. I Shot Rudolph and I’m Sorry by Fortress of Attitude
This next track is from the smallest artist on this list, netting only 200 monthly listeners on Spotify. This novelty Western track depicts the life (and death) of the narrator after he mistakenly shoots Rudolph the reindeer. The track is strangely catchy, with each verse ending the same way: “I shot Rudolph, Rudolph the reindeer.”
This refrain constantly got stuck in my head while writing this article. I find that the calm country tone, contrasting the ridiculous lyrics, allows the song to fly under the radar, as if you played this track over a bustling Christmas dinner, no one would be able to hear the lyrics and would pay no mind to a song about execution via hanging like an ornament from the North Pole tree.
This track is great for those looking for a country twang to their usual Christmas pop, or for something more niche to flaunt their underground music taste.
5. Don’t Shoot Me Santa by The Killers
As a long-time fan of The Killers, I hadn’t heard of this track until I started compiling my own unconventional Christmas playlist last December. It comes from “Don’t Waste Your Wishes,” a Christmas compilation album containing The Killers’ yearly Christmas singles from 2006 to 2016.
This song follows the typical vibe people have come to expect from The Killers, but instead of lyrics about love and heartbreak, this song has the narrator pleading for his life, begging Old Saint Nick not to gun him down.
The reason why Santa is threatening the narrator isn’t clear, but we can assume it has something to do with him hurting other kids: “But the children on the block, they tease me / And I couldn’t let ’em off that easy.” No matter what the meaning is, I think it’s a very enjoyable song, same with all the other tracks off “Don’t Waste Your Wishes.”
This song is perfect for fans of The Killers and fans of novelty Christmas songs alike.
6. I’m Gonna Kill Santa Claus by Danny Gonzalez
From begging Santa not to kill you comes a complete 180 in the form of “I’m Gonna Kill Santa Claus” by Danny Gonzalez.
Gonzalez is a popular YouTuber and musician who first rose to fame on Vine. The official video for “I’m Gonna Kill Santa Claus” dropped on Dec. 12, 2018, and is currently his most popular YouTube video with over 23 million views.
This song is a comedy song above all. The over-the-top lyrics and entertaining music video take priority over the production and general sound of the track. The point of this song is not to sweep the Grammys, but to make you laugh, and I think it does a pretty good job at that.
If you’re choosing to play this song at your next Christmas party, I’d suggest the best way to do so is by playing the music video alongside it. The video helps to convey the message that the song is made by a YouTube comedian and shouldn’t be held to the same musical standard as other music you’d typically find in a holiday music mix.
7. Christmas Kids by Roar
This next song is from a band that was my top artist on Spotify in 2022. Roar is the solo musical project of musician Owen Richard Evans, who was once the drummer for Midwest emo band AJJ. He’s best known for his angsty indie-pop extended play “I Can’t Handle Change,” released in 2010.
“Christmas Kids” skyrocketed onto international charts after its success on TikTok. Despite what the name may lead you to believe, this song isn’t about Christmas at all. It’s actually about the abusive relationship between Ronnie Spector of the Ronettes and Phil Spector, whose faces are on the cover of “I Can’t Handle Change.”
The “Christmas Kids” refers to the pair of five-year-old twins, Gary and Louis, whom Phil Spector ‘gifted’ to Ronnie on Christmas 1971. The dark story of Ronnie’s marriage to Phil Spector is too complex for me to go into in a blurb for a small list, but I highly encourage you to look into it yourself.
If you want to have a serious, informative conversation with your family members, then this song can be an interesting tidbit to accompany your discussion about the Spectors.
8. Sympathy for the Grinch by 100 Gecs
Anyone who was a young teenager in 2020 is more than familiar with 100 gecs. The hyperpop duo is best known for their 2019 debut album “1000 gecs” and accompanying remix album released the following year.
However, many ex-fans and casual fans alike have never heard about their Christmas single, “Sympathy for the Grinch,” released in December of 2020. This two-minute high-energy track is in line with the rest of 100 gecs’ discography, so I believe your enjoyment of this song will directly align with your enjoyment of their overall sound, just with an added Christmas flair.
If you want to reminisce about 2020 and your COVID-era music taste, give this one a listen. It’s the shortest song on this list, coming in at two minutes and eleven seconds. In other words, if your family can’t stomach the experimental electropop 100 gecs is known for, you can feel safe knowing it’ll be over quickly.
Despite saying all this, I personally enjoy the track and think it’s a breath of fresh air from the typical safe and calm Christmas music you normally hear, and I wish more experimental artists would try making a holiday song of their own.
9. Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire by Bob Rivers
Although it’s near the bottom of the list, “Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire” is the song that inspired this article in the first place. Created by Seattle morning-show DJ Bob Rivers, this song is only one of the many novelty Christmas songs Rivers has produced since 1994, including LPs “Twisted Christmas” and “White Trash Christmas.”
While I think this song is generally well-made and funny, that’s not the reason why I chose it for this list. The real reason is that the introduction sounds identical to the normal, chipmunkless version by Nat King Cole.
By adding this song to your Christmas mix, you’re essentially playing a game of Russian Roulette with your guests. Here’s what I suggest: add both “Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire” and “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to you)” by Nat King Cole, then shuffle the playlist. No one, including you, will know which one will play when the intro begins, and I think that’s beautiful.
No matter how you choose to play it, I think this song is a hilarious staple for your Christmas mixtape.
10. Christmas Dirtbag by Wheatus
We all know that the best is usually saved for last. Like dessert after Christmas dinner, for example. This song is not the best for last. It’s not even decent. This is quite possibly the worst song I have ever heard, and I am not exaggerating. Are there worse songs out there? Probably. But this is my list, and I believe this song is atrocious.
The grating vocals, poor Christmas-ification of the lyrics, and the shameless milking of a beloved one-hit wonder all combine into a perfect storm of a terrible track. Hell, if this weren’t a Christmas song list, this song would be No. 1 on a list of songs I’d propose to be used in musical torture.
If your family is full of Grinches, then be sure to play this song at the dinner table, and have a family hate-listen session to this pick. After you listen to it once, you shouldn’t dare to touch it again with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole and stick to the classic “Teenage Dirtbag” instead.
No matter what you choose to listen to this holiday season, I hope this list taught you a thing or two about the songs that lie beyond Spotify’s Christmas Hits playlist. If you still choose to stick to your tried and true classic Christmas music, that’s okay, too; all Christmas music is good music.
Not including “Christmas Dirtbag,” though. Anything but that.
