Bloody holiday tunes
One of the worst things about Christmastime for me is the constant drone of schmaltzy Christmas music in any public area. I went grocery shopping yesterday and had to listen to some of the worst renditions of Christmas "classics" I have ever heard. By the end of it I was damning myself for not bringing headphones so I could listen to the music on my iPhone instead.
After the tenth or twentieth lousy, breathy, too-slow-tempoed and teary-eyed nostalgia-dripping rendition of "White Christmas," or an overly triumphant and vibrato-filled version of "Silent Night," and I'm ready to jam darning needles down my ear canals. Throw in some R&B diva doing vocal calisthenics as she butchers "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and Mannheim Steamroller's execrable "Deck the Halls," and I'm looking for some way to end my suffering forever, I swear. I'm not even fond of The Boss doing "Santa Claus is Coming To Town."
To be fair, there at least a few Christmas songs I like. The soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, for example. Actually, that's the only example I can think of that doesn't make puke back up into my mouth.
It's not that I'm anti-Christmas. But it's because when I hear that music, I'm in a store. And they're playing that music to put me in a holiday (read: shopping) spirit. It's just so goddamned blatantly manipulative. Puts me in a bad mood. A bad mood that lasts at least until January.