Every year, I make a Christmas mix which I’ll share with friends. Now, there is alot of Christmas music out there, but the kind I want for my mixes is pretty specific. It needs to be rock/alt/punk etc…basically anything that isn’t gimmick (i.e. Bob Rivers), or recorded before I was born. I’ve heard enough Nate King Cole, Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Elvis Christmas songs while growing up with my parents to last a lifetime. So a few years ago I started searching out songs that weren’t what most people would call ‘traditional’ Christmas music. Slowly, I’ve collected quite a few..enough to make mixes each year without too much overlap from year to year.

Here is the 2005 mix. I’ve decided to call this mix: ‘The Grinch strikes back.’ It’s mostly punk/alt songs with a somewhat cynical feel…though not all of them are ‘anti-hollidays’…

1. Your’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch - The Whirling Dervishes
2. December is for Cynics - The Matches
3. Oi to the World - No Doubt
4. Christmas Don’t be Late - Powder
5. Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
6. Feed the World (Do They Know it’s Christmas?) - Chino Moreno & Far
7. I Won’t be Home For Christmas - Blink 182
8. Father Christmas - The Kinks
9. Christmas Night of Zombies - MXPX
10. Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight) - The Ramones
11. X12 Days of XXXMASX - From First to Last
12. Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End) - The Darkness
13. Deck The Halls (Instrumental) - Ted Nugent
14. I Shouldn’t Have Got Dad a Gun For Christmas - Wall of Voodoo
15. Ex-Miss - New Found Glory
16. Yule Shoot Your Eye Out - Fall Out Boy
17. Yelling at the Christmas Tree - Billy Idol
18. The First Noel - Eve 6