Mixtape | 10 Rockin' Holiday Tunes

INDIANAPOLIS - By the time the week before Christmas rolls around, holiday music is for the most part irritating, and to some, completely teeth-grindingly annoying. You can count me in the latter group for sure.

But I have a remedy for the holiday muzak blues. Every year I create a mix of unheard of, looked over and underrated tunes that will get people finger-poppin’ to a festive beat.

The ultimate goal of the winter holidays is making people happy, being merry and bright, right? But when the piped-in parum-pah-pum-pums at the office begin to drive you a little batty, you need something to get you back in the spirit of the season. So I whipped up this mixtape just special.
Here is my little gift to you for a magical, rock-and-roll holiday.

Now, I realize the mix starts off with a well-known song, but what you may not know is Darlene Love was the original artist who sang this song, long ago in 1963 for Phil Spector’s Phillies label, in lieu of Ronnie Spector. Apparently she could not get enough feeling and was replaced. Lucky, lucky Darlene Love.

I added this 1986 live version from “The David Letterman Show” to the 3-D “Mixtape” mostly because it started a “Late Night” tradition. Love has performed “Christmas…” every single year since this original performance on Letterman’s show the night before Christmas. *

Notably, it has been covered by a wide range of artists – from U2 to New Bomb Turks to Mariah Carey. My vote goes for the Darlene Love original.

Hear Twinkle’s entire holiday mixtape at Twinkle VanWinkle on Spotify .

To add a chuckle to this wacky little rock mix, The Kinks video version is pretty hilarious, whether or not you can translate the German comedy bits edited in. The sound quality is also  splendidly mint for a 30-year-old video.

The mix as a whole is a jingle-jangle jumble of the last half of our century’s musical evolution, with a good balance of pop culture and musical genres.

Although I can’t deny I love to hear a wee bit of Bing Crosby and Perry Como during the holiday season (and really, just a wee bit is all I can tolerate), this little visual guide to a very merry rock-and-roll Christmas is just the tip of the iceberg of the great holiday tunes artists have put out over the last 50 years.

Because of that, I’ve added a longer, more in-depth mix for all of you who feel like you just need more than ten songs. You can check those out over at Spotify.

Hear Twinkle’s entire holiday mixtape at Spotify.

Happy listening!

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Video Mixtape Track Listing:

“Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)” – Darlene Love
“2000 Miles” – The Pretenders
“Father Christmas” – The Kinks
“Super Rock Santa” – The Fleshtones
“I Want Elvis For Christmas” – Eddie Cochran and the
“Santa” – Lightnin’ Hopkins
“Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight)” – The Ramones
“Christmas Wrapping” – The Waitresses
“Don’t Believe In Christmas” – The Sonics
“Come On Santa” – The Raveonettes