Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Monsters” — Tito & Tarantula (2008)

We’ve been here, at the Hate Hotel We’re living together, we’re living in Hell You know one day it’s gonna stop Or we’ll kill each other for sure Cause I’m a monster And you know it so well Cause you’re a monster too And you’re doing it swell We’re monsters It’s just our genetic composure……

Buttkickin’ Holiday Songs: “Walkin’ Round In Women’s Underwear” — Bob Rivers (1993)

Lacey things, the wife is missing. Didn’t ask, for her permission I’m wearing her clothes, Her silk pantyhose. Walking ’round in women’s underwear… Yes, I know, I’m about two weeks late with this year’s Buttkickin’ Holidays Songs so you’ll have to forgive me for my slackitude. So let’s make up for that with a little…

Buttkickin’ Holiday Songs: “I Saw Three Ships” — Don Dixon (2006)

Don Dixon produced some of the greatest power pop/alt pop/music PERIOD, including such seminal records as R.E.M.’s Murmur and Reckoning and The Smithereens Especially For You and Green Thoughts, and has worked with the likes of Matthew Sweet, Marshall Crenshaw, and The Connells, which means he’s responsible for a huge chunk of music over which…

Buttkickin’ Holiday Songs: “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” — Helix (2008)

It’s not Christmas without a little cheese metal, is it? I kind of like Helix’s take on the perennial holiday classic Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree. It doesn’t stand in the way of the melody, doesn’t try some massive reinterpretation of the song or the message; they just plug in and rock that sucker out.…

Buttkickin’ Holiday Songs: “Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow” — Jethro Tull (2003)

It’s not the holiday season for me without some Jethro Tull. Something about Ian Anderson’s arrangements, soaring flute passages, and witching-hour vocals just evokes powerful imagery of, as C. S. Lewis might put it, the Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time; music with one foot in the Ancient Pagan world, but also one in…

Buttkickin’ Holiday Songs: “White Winter Hymnal” — Fleet Foxes (2008)

This is song of beauty and of timeless atmosphere. Fleet Foxes’s celebrated 2008 song White Winter Hymnal has the rich, swirling atmospherics of memory, all detail twirling like wisps in the corners of our vision and trailing out of focus the moment we try to stare too intently. I picture cold winter mornings, gray skies…