The Beatles did it (several times) so that’s reason enough for any guitar pop band worth their yuletide FireGlo Rickenbackers to record a holiday song.
And plenty of them have gotten into the spirit in one way or another including The Beach Boys (“Little St. Nick”), The Who (“Christmas”), The Kinks (“Father Christmas”), The Waitresses (“Christmas Wrapping”), Dave Edmunds (“Run Rudolph Run”), The Spongetones (“Christmasland”), The Bangles (“Light My Way”), Ramones (“Merry Christmas—I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight”) and countless others.
But this nice list goes beyond even those holiday “hits.” These are original tracks and obscure covers you likely won’t hear while shopping for last minute gifts at the mall.
They were sourced on social media from guitar pop fans around the globe. Below is a selection of songs they recommended, along with a dusting of my personal favorites. (Even my band The Brothers Steve got in on the holiday music action; see “I Love The Christmastime” down near the bottom of the list.)
A few of these songs are more rare than a Santa sighting on Christmas Eve, but there’s definitely something here for even the Scroogiest guitar pop purists.
So click around until you hear something that makes your bells jingle. It only takes a few new discoveries to give your playlists a little more POP this holiday season.
There Are Countless Other Tracks Not Included Here…
Leave A Few Of Your Favorites In The Comments Below!
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James Goodson (of Dazy) on Being Power Pop-Adjacent
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Marko DeSantis on Uni Boys
S.W. Lauden on The Replacements' Lasting Influence
Allen Lulu on Kurt Baker: The Spain Years
Aidil Rusli on Southeast Asian Guitar Pop
Excellent selections. And if I may throw my own Santa hat into the ring...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmbZRtubc14
Here are two of my X-mas guitar pop faves—
1) The Yule Logs "December In Love". They're a now-defunct Chico CA band covering a fairly obscure track, "Falling in Love" by Puerto Rican Beatlesque busker band, Street The Beat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKIr8wptSeE (Yule Logs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ov-JX9JfiQ (Street the Beat)
2) Reinterpreting "Help!" as "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" by The Fab Four works waaaaaay better than it should....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJXMKt2UYA4