We all hear these songs every year, you can't avoid them in every shop you go into! Still, I think they have become as much a part of the modern christmas as traditional carols (no matter what you think of what this says about contemporary society). Here are my top ten christmas classics to give you that warm, mince-pies and christmas pudding feeling inside. I don't much like the modern commercial songs like "I wish it could be Christmas every day" or "Rockin' around the Christmas tree" - so be warned, there are few tacky commercial songs in my list! 1) Fairytale of New York by the Pogues and Kirsty McColl. It seems a little ...  Read the complete review

At this time of year, every other song on the radio seems to be a classic Christmas hit from any time in the last 60 or so years. From the early years of the post-War era, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby (with or without David Bowie) and Nat King Cole are regular favourites. In more recent times there have been some surprising Christmas hits and probably none more so than this year's No.1, Rage Against the Machine, surely the ultimate protest song. At Christmas we put on our own composite CDs, from which these are my all-time favourites. 10. Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End) - The Darkness What ever happened to The Darkness? Justin ...  Read the complete review

I have enjoyed reading about a few people's favourite Christmas songs in the run up to Christmas, and it has inspired me to write about a few of my favourites too. Christmas is the only time when cheesy festive songs seem ok, but in amongst all the festive cheesy songs there are a few classics. So in no particular order I'd like to share a few of my favourites. 1. December Will Be Magic Again - Kate Bush This is a song which isn't played much on the radio or music channels, but often crops up on compilation CD's. I used to be quite a fan of Kate Bush and always remember buying this single when it was released back in 1980. It was a ...  Read the complete review

By the time I was 25 I had lots of problems with Christmas. I wasn't religious and I wasn't a materialist either - and it seemed that the anthems to this ritual of superstition meets greed were either some thoroughly nauseating carols I hated from school and terrible song by Wizard. I recall doing my Christmas shopping in Oxford hemmed in more than every by bustling angry people competing to get to the stores and everywhere I went I was haunted by the childish words of "I wish it could be Christmas every day..." I couldn't think anything worse! Years later the apparent satire of this dreadful track would be explained to me, but I still loathed it along with ...  Read the complete review

I must be getting sentimental in my old age, as this year I feel like typing some Christmassy stuff. Apart from food items, I didn't bother last year, so am making up for it now. Though overall I'm not a participator in the whole scheme of Christmas as it truly gets on my nerves big-time, there is one sneaky little thing I do look forward to each year at this time, and that's the outpouring of Christmas music on the radio. There for me is (and I'm not sure why) something very wistful, although pleasant too, about most Christmas songs - no matter how up in mood and jolly jolly jingle bells happy they are. I usually get a small sense of bereavment ...  Read the complete review