I firmly believe in the notion of “No Xmas Music before December.” I’m just not ready for Bing and Elvis and those guys who play the wooden flutes in shopping malls until at least December. As far as I’m concerned, there’s a one month window for “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree” and standing idly by while your poor grandmother gets laid out by Rudolph. Period.

Not that I don’t like the stuff – we tend to play a variety of the old classics in the MNBeer household – Guaraldi, Sinatra, Elvis, Bing Crosby and perhaps even some Johnny Cash if he’s actually singing and not talking about Christmas.  We try not to veto much in the MNBeer household (after all, I have a five-year-old who loves “Frozen”), but Christmas albums from  Mariah Carey, N’Sync and contemporary country artists are banned.

That being said, let’s roll out a few Christmas/holiday/winter offerings that I enjoy for one reason or another. Sit tight:

The New Standards – Snow Days.

So this was originally a Trip Shakespeare song… but you knew that, right? In any case, I was never a huge Trip Shakespeare fan, but I enjoyed some of their songs and even saw them in Moorhead, Minnesota one summer in the 90s. (Side note, there were several “huge” TS fans. One of these fans almost got punched in the throat by other audience members for shouting incessantly at the drummer ‘Elaine! ELAINE!’) Anyway, this song has always stuck with me and I find myself humming it every time it gets shitty outside. Fitting.

The Ramones – Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight), Brain Drain (Buy it.)

Bad Religion – Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Christmas Songs (Buy it.”)

Bad Religion did a Christmas album. Think about that for a second. Bad Religion did a Christmas album.

RUN DMC, Christmas in Hollis (Buy it!)

This always makes me smile.

The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl – Fairytale of New York, If I Should Fall from Grace with God (Buy it.)

This is my absolute favorite from the entire list. Love it. Bonus, here’s version from the band No Use for a Name with Cinder Block (Tilt, Fabulous Disaster) filling in Kirsty MacColl’s spot. I never got too excited about NUFAN, but this version is a standout. Link.

So it’s Black Friday today. And instead of shopping, you’re here… and we’re rocking. Let’s do this:

Black Flag – Rise Above, Damaged. Buy it… (and support MNBeer)

Black Francis – Threshold Apprehension, Bluefinger. Buy it.

Ballerina Black – Microphones in the Mattress, Cattle Arithmetic. Buy it.

Big Black – Bad Penny, Songs about Fucking. Buy it.

Black Sabbath – War Pigs, Paranoid. Buy it.

I grew up in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and graduated from high school in 1993. I hung out with some of the “weird kids,” kids in accelerated classes and the high school swim team. Though traditional “cool” probably wasn’t seeping out of my pores, I managed to have a good time and had arguably okay taste in music fueled equally by a young uncle, Thrasher skateboard magazine, 120 Minutes, snowboard video soundtracks, KJ104 and the Flipside fanzine.

Today I give you a few selections courtesy of my high school self. I’m giving myself bonus points for including a couple of bands I’d entirely forgotten about (Buffalo Tom and Seaweed). Enjoy!

Buffalo Tom – Birdbrain. I forgot all about this band, but played their first couple of albums pretty heavily in high school. No surprise that J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) produced this album.

Pixies – Head On. High school friends introduced me to the Pixies and I fell in love. This seems fitting as I didn’t have a girlfriend for the bulk of my high school years. This song is a Jesus and Mary Chain cover… I never cared for Jesus and Mary Chain, but whatever. This is good.

All – She’s My Ex. I’m fairly sure I became familiar with the Descendents offshoot band, ALL, thanks to 1990’s “Snowboarders In Exile.”

Seaweed – Bill. Much like my “discovery” of Sunny Day Real Estate, Seaweed fell into my lap thanks to the fact that they were on Sub Pop records and grunge was huge at the time. I never really thought of the band as a “grunge” band per se… I just thought they rocked out pretty hard.

NOFX – Bob. Again, I have my snowboard days to thank for this one…