I was recently given a mixed holiday CD. “Nice gesture,” you
might say. Or, “How thoughtful.” And you would be initially right and then
horribly, painfully wrong. It was a CD assembled by a committee of people with
disparate tastes and sensibilities. I know that Christmas is a time of
togetherness, but sometimes Run DMC just needs to sit at the other end of the
table from Jessica Simpson and Justin “Shortie” Bieber.
The CD was a disaster. But it got me to thinking, as I’m oft
apt to do, and it made me realize that while it FEELS like there is an
overabundance of Christmas/Holiday music, there actually ISN’T a lot of NEW
music*. With some exceptions, most original artists churning out holiday albums
these days are merely acting as glorified cover bands. Few are actually writing
or performing wholly original music. And, unfortunately, when an original song
does come along and get popular, like Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas
is Tad**”, someone*** comes along and covers it until it’s unbearable to hear
ever again.
So if I have one wish this holiday season, it’s this: $1
billion in cash. But if I have two wishes, then it’s that everyone in the whole
world write more holiday music.
*OKAY??
**The original title
***Specifically: the Cast of Glee
