An estimated 98% of us experience earworms. Despite the annoying times that we can’t get a chorus or a hook of an overplayed pop song out of our heads, getting a really good earworm stuck can be one of the best things ever.
We here at Nerdist are dead-set on bringing you those types of songs, if only for the weekend. We’ll be scouring the internet for the best earworms we can shove into your meaty brains!
Happy holidays everybody! However you celebrate this time of year–and even if you don’t–I hope your week was great and you spent it surrounded by those you hold dear. For myself and the majority of my family the only thing we really hold sacred is spending time together and overeating. We eat, drink, watch movies and repeat that process in whatever time we manage to orchestrate together. It’s the best religion I’ve ever been a part of. Hell, I’m pretty much the head of its clergy.
This welcoming belief system only requires the appreciation of others and the irresponsible absorption of any and all food, drink, and media – other holiday’s films are more than welcome. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of songs for the holidays and those from movies always seem to be my favorites. Hindsight being 20/20 I regret having previously used the Fraggle Rock “Pass It On” from A Muppet Family Christmas but today’s picks are equally delightful and serve as a decent placeholder to keep other annoying seasonal songs out of your brain. I’m looking in your direction, “Last Christmas“.
Heat Miser/Snow Miser
This song, as far as I’m concerned, is one of the best holiday songs ever made. The 1974 stop-motion Christmas special The Year Without a Santa Claus featured these songs performed by Anthony Bourdain and Guy Fieri – errr… I mean Snow Miser and Heat Miser. Brothers who control the weather, sing, and have drastically different preferences in temperature. It’s a jazzy upbeat tune in an otherwise Christmas-centric (obviously) special that somehow stands the test of time. This is especially true when covered by bands equipped to do the style of the song justice.
I know, I know. I already post too many ska songs to ever be allowed to post swing bands but just this once I have to include Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s version of the song. As the original is already a swing song, it translates perfectly to their pop brand of modern big band ’90s goodness.
Like the song but also want to be mildly creeped out? Well then check out this live action version from the 2006.
To save you a Google search, yes that is Harvey Fierstein and Michael McKean as Heat Miser and Snow Miser respectively. Truth be told, I didn’t know about this live-action version until researching the song for this article and now I desperately need to see in it’s entirety if for no other reason than seeing John Goodman play Santa Claus.
What are your favorite songs to listen to around the holidays? Make sure to share them in the comments below!
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Blake Rodgers writes for Nerdist from Chicago, IL, where he lives happily with his Guinness World Record for High Fives. You can be his pal by following him on Twitter (@TheBlakeRodgers)
Image: Rankin/Bass
