I listen to a lot of Christmas music between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have an iPod Classic that I load with my holiday music playlist. There are a handful of albums in my collection that should be a requirement for anyone serious about Christmas music. What Christmas playlist would be complete without Elvis and The Chipmunks? I have a few Christmas albums in my collection that may not be in yours that I think you should at least know about. I have put them into 3 categories: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. This week I focus on The Ugly.
WILLIAM HUNG – HUNG FOR THE HOLIDAYS
William Hung became famous for his American Idol audition where he sang Ricky Martin’s She Bangs. A recording contract soon followed but his albums could have easily been placed in the “Novelty” or “Comedy” category instead of regular music. The people who produced his albums wanted to bank on his reputation as a bad singer. On this Christmas album, they used what I refer to as the “Alfalfa Technique”. In the Little Rascals films, Alfalfa was supposed to be a bad singer. They would always play his songs in a key that was a little out of his range. William Hung’s arrangements were pitched slightly higher than they needed to be. He strained to hit the notes that he would have struggled to keep in tune if the song were played in a more friendly key. His heavy Chinese accent also made him difficult to understand. For the religious songs on this album, it sounds like they didn’t use as many tricks to make him sound bad. I’m thinking this was a deliberate attempt at showing reverence to the subject matter. This album is hard to listen to. I suggest listening to short clips of as many songs as you can stand.
MOJO NIXON – HORNY HOLIDAYS
When I first heard of Mojo Nixon, he was described as a cross between Howlin’ Wolf and Richard Pryor. His irreverent style made me fall in love with songs like Elvis is Everywhere and Debbie Gibson is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child. The liner notes for this album say it was “Recorded at 3 Alarm Studio, Memphis TN, December ’91. Top to bottom in four days and 27 bottles of peppermint schnapps on the floor.” Lyrics are forgotten. The music starts and stops. Songs full of sexual innuendo play next to a straightforward version You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch. The arrangements are loose. It sounds like a bunch of talented drunks messing around in a recording studio. If you can get past the R rated language, you will have a good time.
JIMI HENDRIX – MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR
I love listening to Jimi Hendrix. I wish I liked this recording more. Much like the Mojo Nixon Christmas record, this has the feel of a bunch of friends having fun in the recording studio. The fun they were having doesn’t translate to the recording. It’s long and uninspiring. As big as Jimi Hendrix is, you would think this would make an occasional appearance on stations playing Christmas music. One listen and you will understand why it doesn’t. For hard core Hendrix fans only.