The Perfect Album Side Podcast
The Perfect Album Side Podcast
Christmas by the Decade!
What makes a Christmas song timeless? We set ourselves a deceptively hard challenge: pick the single most iconic holiday track from each decade, starting with the 1960s and ending in the 2010s, then fuse them into one perfect album side. Right away a pattern emerged—so many beloved songs weren’t immediate smashes. They took years to climb, re-entered charts as rules changed, and found new life through radio, TV specials, movies, and, later, streaming.
We start with Darlene Love’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), released on the day of JFK’s assassination and later crowned by time, then square it against Burl Ives’ Holly Jolly Christmas, seared into memory by Rankin/Bass. In the 70s, Lennon and Ono’s Happy Xmas reframed the “Christmas song” as purposeful protest while McCartney’s Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time perfected the carefree synth sleigh-ride. The 80s deliver spectacle and sentiment: Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas birthed charity supergroups and Live Aid, while Wham’s Last Christmas kept quietly climbing until it nearly topped the chart four decades later.
The 2000s were a tougher hunt, but they showcase platform power. Faith Hill’s Where Are You Christmas rides the Grinch soundtrack into perennial status as Britney’s My Only Wish (This Year) evolves from TRL-era fluff to streaming favorite. Then the 2010s give us precision nostalgia: Kelly Clarkson’s Underneath The Tree, crafted with Greg Kurstin to echo Phil Spector’s wall of sound, stands shoulder to shoulder with Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, the modern juggernaut that finally reached No. 1 decades after release and returns every year like clockwork.
By the end, we’ve got a front-to-back holiday playlist with a story: how classics are born, forgotten, revived, and ultimately adopted as tradition. Hit play, then tell us your decade winners, the sleepers we missed, and the holiday deep cuts you swear by. If you enjoy the show, follow, share with a friend, and leave a quick review—it helps more listeners find their new favorite December soundtrack.
One idea. Six songs. Infinite possibilities...
Are you really living the holidays if you don't show up buttass naked to a Christmas dinner?
SPEAKER_02:Welcome to the perfect album side. One idea, six songs, infinite possibilities.
SPEAKER_11:My name is Steve. His name is Windham. Merry Christmas, Windham, and welcome to the Perfect Album Side Podcast.
SPEAKER_10:Merry Christmas, and I'm I'm very, very under-dressed for an under-festive, if you will, for today's episode.
SPEAKER_11:You look like you're ready for a board meeting of some kind. Well, that's how I dress regularly. This is funny enough, this is my casual outfit. That's uh I hope you do better than that on Christmas morning. I mean, there's kids in play. Kid and play. I mean, I'm I'm wearing a hat, I got a blow-up Santa Claus behind me, I got the whole thing.
SPEAKER_10:I know, you've got Santa pants on, I assume.
SPEAKER_11:Well, let's not talk about my pants on this episode. Assuming you're wearing pants. Wouldn't be the first time. Uh seriously, uh Merry Christmas to you, uh, and your family, and to all of our listeners around the globe, as they say. Uh, Merry Christmas to all of you. I I hope that uh you're listening to us on Christmas morning again. Yes.
SPEAKER_10:I mean, enough with the Christmas carols. Let's put the Perfect Albumside podcast in in homes across the world as they see what Santa brought.
SPEAKER_11:I think we do that on a semi-weekly, monthly, quarterly basis at this point. But yeah, we're not. Now, for those of you that have been paying attention, you know full well that we recorded an episode of the Perfect Albumside uh in December of 2021. That was four years ago, kids. Four years ago. Wow. Uh episode 35, I believe, uh was Christmas songs that rock. And uh we kind of decided we wanted to revisit that one. Uh Wyndham, are you still there? Are you with me? Are you here? I can't even I can't even see you. Wyndham? Either Wyndham has died or he is rosen. Perhaps in some sort of rosen thing. I don't know what's happening here, but rather unfortunate. So that's why I chose that song as my first song on the perfect album. What do you have to say about it? I'm so sorry. I don't know what's happening.
SPEAKER_10:I just switched networks again. I feel like you're gonna kick me off this thing here soon.
SPEAKER_11:I'm not, I'm not. Um, I believe I was talking and we'll we'll cut some of this out, but uh, for those of you that have been paying attention, back on episode 35, we we we released the uh perfect album side of Christmas songs that rock. Uh that's not what we're doing today. That that episode, episode 35 of the Perfect Album Side Podcast, was fantastic. I love it. It's one of my favorites. It's probably the most downloaded uh episode we've ever had, or top three. We talked about that. Top two. Is that probably uh so we thought, you know what, let's revisit that. It's Christmas time. And uh, well, we're not gonna do Christmas songs that rock. We're gonna change it up just a little bit. Today's episode is all about the most iconic, the biggest, the ones you know, the ones you love that you hear every year, but we did it by decade. We're going all the way back to the 1960s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, and 2010s. I picked the most iconic Christmas song from each of those decades, in my opinion, and Windham did the same thing. And together we will build the perfect album side of Christmas songs. My man, are you ready? Do you have any questions? Any thoughts, feelings, opinions, anything, any you know, uh well-wishings, anything you want to say, this is the time. I like Before we jump into the perfect album side building. If you wanted to say anything to our listeners, this would be the time. Or for if only I stopped interrupting you and let you speak. I knew that was coming. Yeah.
SPEAKER_10:Uh this was a great episode. It's a little more challenging than I thought it would be. There's one particular decade, we'll get to it, uh, that I thought.
SPEAKER_11:We're gonna get to all of them.
SPEAKER_10:Super, super challenging.
SPEAKER_11:Not as difficult as 2011.
SPEAKER_10:No, nothing's that, nothing's that difficult.
SPEAKER_11:Let's never speak of that year again.
SPEAKER_10:There was one particular decade in the range that we're talking about that uh wasn't a great decade for holiday music.
SPEAKER_11:If I'm being degree, I've got well, okay. We'll we'll get to it. We'll get to it because I've got to be a good thing. I got some good nuggets, though. Oh, you know how I feel about your nuggets. I've always been a fan. You and Ray Kroc have the best nuggets. I've always said that.
SPEAKER_10:Always. Uh there is something that is going to be discussed on today's episode that has never happened in perfect album side podcast history.
SPEAKER_11:That is exciting. Is it that we got our facts right?
SPEAKER_10:Oh, well, let's not get crazy.
SPEAKER_11:That's never once happened, but we'll try again today. Um today. So we're gonna start in the 1960s and we're gonna bring it all the way up to the 2010s. I'm ready if you're ready. Let me let me let me ready. I'm not ready, actually. I gotta I gotta do something real quick. Let me just hit click this, let me click that. I think I'm ready now. You ready? I we're gonna start in the 1960s. I have the con. This was the first song that I chose for the perfect album side of Christmas songs by decade. Darlene Love 1963, off the album, a Christmas gift for you from Phil Spector. Wasn't that nice of Phil Spector to put all these lovely Christmas songs together and get them out there? A Christmas gift for you from Phil Spector released November 1963. Songwriters Jeff Berry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector, producer Phil Spector recorded it at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles. Obviously, uh an iconic voice with Darlene Love. Uh, a couple interesting things. The Wrecking Crew plays on all of this, as which they did with much of Phil Spector's wall of sound. Um, this song did not chart on its original release. It only kind of built up over years and years and years. So there's a very specific reason why this song fell flat. Now I'm gonna pause and then I'm gonna come back to why it fell flat. Wyndham, we haven't talked about overlap. We have forgotten this for almost 95 episodes in a row. So let me start right now. You once again have the advantage of knowing one of my songs and I don't know one of yours. I'm gonna set the overunder at one and a half. I believe we will have one and a half crossover songs. You are picking the over, which makes me think this song might be on your perfect album side. I'll just ask you now, is it? It is not. It is not, but boy, is it a good one. It's a great one. This is maybe my favorite song on my perfect album side. Let me tell you why this song was not a hit when it came out. It was released November 22nd, 1963. Think back in your little Rolodex of of dates, why that's an important date. You got it. It just came to him. I wish all of you could see this. You just figured it out. The day that JFK was assassinated was the day that this song was released. Wow. That's a nice thing. So you think about it. Uh JFK is assassinated November 22nd, 1963. This song is released that day. The country is in mourning. Radio stations pulled back on all the celebratory music. They didn't play that for, you know, a few days, weeks, whatever. Um, it just wasn't a really celebratory time. I'm gonna play this song again because it's only it's pretty short, you know. Yeah, it's really short. So soon after the JFK assassination, Spectre's record label has all kinds of financial troubles, which kind of further buried the release of this song and this album. Uh in other words, it's one of the greatest Christmas Christmas recordings ever made, but it was essentially dead on arrival. Uh but as time will tell, this song refused to disappear. It kind of lingered as a cult favorite. It slowly grew into something close to a natural ritual. Radio programmers, DJs, oldies formats, all of these things along the arc of rediscovery of this work, uh promoted it and and I think time has crowned it one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time. Wyndham, I I've been babbling for minutes. What what what say you about this song and Darlene Love?
SPEAKER_10:Oh, well, this is one of the most classic Christmas songs of all times, and I still think it's underrated. It's so great. It's so great. I love this song, and I'll be honest with you, I didn't know uh I I ran through this a little bit on getting my perfect albumside ready, and I originally thought this song was by the Ronette. Uh uh who sings backup on the on the Eddie Money song? Oh, that's uh Darlene Love. Is it is it not? It it sounds just like her. That's where I'm going with this. You may be right. I think it is. Uh that's amazing then. That makes us even better. And so is that big smiley Santa blow up doll you have behind you.
SPEAKER_11:Well, he's here for the holiday. Uh it's not Darlene Love on the Eddie Money record. I I the name escapes me right now, but we talked about it recently.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, so I'm putting it, I'm putting us both on the spot. We should say that. We do run a widely successful global podcast about music, but I love this song. I still think it's highly underrated. Um and it's awesome. Great selection. I didn't choose it. Almost did. I went a year or two later, but I love this song.
SPEAKER_11:Well, it kind of sounds like this big celebration song. You know, it's very Christmassy, obviously, but if you listen to the lyrics, it's it's it's a sad song. It's about being alone on Christmas. Baby, please come home. And Darlene Love uh has said on multiple uh occasions that people often miss how sad the song really is. Because it sounds it sounds like it it's a parade, but it's a it's actually a very sad song. Um 1963 Spectre's album. Uh this was the only song on Spectre's album that was not a cover song. This one was written specifically for uh Christmas in 1963. U2 did a really famous cover of this song in 1987 from the red version of the very special Christmas. Uh, and Darlene Love sang back up uh on that. Uh the person that we are thinking of, Ronnie Specter, uh I can't remember the name right now. Ronnie Specter. It is Ronnie Specter. Ronnie Specter. That's exactly right. That's what I mean. I think the Phil Specter, Ronnie Specter threw me off. Yeah. That's what threw me off. Yeah. Ronnie Spector uh was the singer on the Eddie Money song. She does sound a lot like Darlene Love. That was the first song on my perfect album side, Darlene Love's Christmas Baby, please come home, November 22nd, 1963. Can you top it? What do you got from the 60s, my man? Oh, I'm gonna top it, that's for sure. Are you ready? He said confidently. Are you ready for this? I am.
SPEAKER_03:But have a cup of cheer. Have a holly jolly Christmas.
SPEAKER_10:I'm gonna say this one is just as iconic as uh as Darling Love, what you just threw at us, Stone Cold. This is I mean, as I even have to say it, Holly Jolly Christmas. That's Burrow Ives. Off the record, have a holly jolly Christmas. That's one year later, Stone Cold, 1964. And welcome to the perfect album side, Burl Ives. We've been waiting, we've been waiting to say that for years. I mean, I only got into this to say welcome to the perfect albumside, Burl Ives. And we may very well say that a lot today, welcoming a lot of new artists today. But this was written by Johnny Marks. The song has been covered over and over and over again, but most famously recorded by Big Burl in 1964, considered one of the top 25 greatest holiday songs ever. And that's a big deal. Especially with what we're talking about today.
SPEAKER_11:Bold statement. Top 25 Christmas songs of all time. What's the guy's name again? Burl Ives? I don't know Burl Ives. Should I? Am I uneducated? I mean The look on your face says yes, that I'm an idiot. Clearly you.
SPEAKER_10:He's kind of an old Wilford Brimley kind of looking guy. Wow. Wow. Uh long since passed away. You're an old Wilford Brimley looking guy these days. That's maybe the nicest thing I hear this holiday. Uh welcome. But song was originally recorded by the Quinto sisters in 1964. It was part of the Rankin Bass Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer Christmas special, which everyone's heard of. Earl Ives was the narrator, Sam the Snowman.
SPEAKER_11:Yes!
SPEAKER_10:Here we go.
SPEAKER_11:I recognize that voice, yes, as the snowman. I get it.
SPEAKER_10:It's all coming together. It is, yeah. And Ives was the narrator, but then he decided to record the song for his own Christmas album in 1964. Voila. Here you go. Uh that 12-string guitar on the intro, that intro solo we heard. All right, now let's get to some.
SPEAKER_11:I mean, Jimmy Page and Richie Sambora have ripped off Burrow Lives with that 12-string. Oh, for years. Yeah.
SPEAKER_10:Over the Hills and Faraway came from this song. From Burrow Lives. Holy Troll Christmas. Uh so if we get into the chart stuff, let's do it. Some rules were changed, and this song actually charted on the Hot 100 and peaked at 38. Okay. Okay. So that was in 2017. 53 years later. Okay. Then in 2018, it reappeared on the hot 100. It was a top 10 hit. Then in 2020. How is this happening? It peaked again at number. It peaked, not again, it did peak at four. And here we go with the Nugget Stone Cold. Once this song hit the top 10 in 2020, Ives then became Burrow Lives now. Right? Burrow Lives. Okay, once this song hit, oh my god, you're kidding me. Top 10 in 2020. Ives then became the record holder for the longest break between top 10 hits. 56 years, seven months, and two weeks. Okay. And he also became the oldest uh record holder, I should say, record holder for the oldest artist to have a song in the top 40. 109 years old. Now that's post-mortem. But that beats Louis Armstrong's uh What a Wonderful World that hit the top 40 when Armstrong would have been 86 years old.
SPEAKER_11:Are you trying to tell me that Burl Ives hit the top 40 at 109 years old? He would have been 109. That's correct. If he hadn't perished from this fine earth.
SPEAKER_10:That's correct. 109. That's a good one. Burl Ives is what makes the perfect album side great. Michael Booublet, Lady Annabellum, and Alan Jackson, some of the more notable covers of this song. But those are two big nuggets.
SPEAKER_11:I mean, you know I love nuggets. Let's be clear on that. Both yours and Ray Crocs, we've we've discussed that. That is a pretty darn good nugget. And I'll be honest with you, I didn't know the name Burrow Lives, but after you've told me this, I'm like, holy shit, that's the snowman guy from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I know the voice with the vest. Yes, yes, I know who you're talking about. A Scotch plaid vest. And he holds the record for the most time in between top 40 hits at 109 years old. Holy smokes.
SPEAKER_10:Okay, hang on, we're mixing two nuggets there. He's the record holder for longest break in between top ten hits at 56 years, seven months, and two weeks. I follow. He's also the record holder for the oldest artist to have a song in the top 40, that's Living or Dead, at 109 years, breaking the record previously held by Louis Armstrong with What a Wonderful World.
SPEAKER_11:That hit the top 40 when Armstrong would have been we're starting to see a pattern uh evolve uh two songs in, which is, and and I think we'll see more of this. I know that we do in a couple of my songs, that the songs weren't necessarily the big hits to begin with, but then grew into them and took on new life as the as the years progressed.
SPEAKER_10:I have a feeling that's not the first time we're gonna do the well, in this year it it would hit this number, and then in next year it hit this number, and dot dot dot. I have a feeling we're gonna hear that again.
SPEAKER_11:Absolutement. Uh here is the next song. We're we're moving on to the 1970s now. Now, is it which decade give you the fits? It wasn't the 70s, it wasn't the 60s, I'm guessing.
SPEAKER_10:Oh, you'll you'll know when I get there, but it's okay. Not not the 70s. Here we go. That's what I got for the 1970s.
unknown:Happy Christmas, happy Christmas, Jody.
SPEAKER_04:So this is Christmas. And what have you done? Another year over, and you all just be gone. And so this is Christmas.
SPEAKER_11:Happy Christmas. War is over. John Lennon and the Yoko Plastic Ono Band. December 6th, 1971. Songwriters John Lennon and Yoko Ono producer Phil Spector. Two for two. Uh recording studio record plant east in New York City. Uh John Lennon, Yoko Ono on vocals, along with the Harlem Community Choir, who we can hear right now, uh, along with some session musicians that were arranged by Phil Spector. Uh, top ten international song, top ten in the U.S., top ten in the UK. Uh, an annual holiday chart re-entries worldwide. It's much like you just described, this one re-enters the chart. Uh, it seems to be every every year or so. It did not immediately become a U.S. Christmas radio staple. Uh, the American ubiquity grew over time, much like the last one we talked about. Uh, so let me just pause for a second. Is this song on your perfect album side? Not on my perfect album side. Not on your perfect album side. John Lennon and Yoko Ono finished writing the song quickly in a New York City hotel room. They recorded it overnight in October of 1971 at the record plant. And from the start, it was meant to be an anti-war statement, not a traditional Christmas song. Uh, Christmas isn't really the subject here, it's the delivery system. They're using Christmas to promote an anti-war agenda. The refrain, War is over if you want it, wasn't just a cool hook, it was a direct lift from their real activism. In 1969, Lennon and Yoko rented billboards in cities across the world. And on the billboard, it said, War is over if you want it. Which I didn't know this until. Yesterday. They rented billboards all over the world and said war is over if you want it. And then wrote the song and used that hook. You have a confused look on your face, and I want to know what I'm saying. I have a question. You said something just a minute ago that fascinates me. Go on. I say the things that fascinate you all the time.
SPEAKER_10:This is no different.
SPEAKER_11:Okay, I'll stop interrupting. What do you got?
SPEAKER_10:This is promoting peacetime. It's promoting the end of war. You know that. Were they using the cr you said the hook? Were they using the Christmas like overlay to get people in and drive the popularity? Even though the message wasn't really about Christmas, it was about war is over. If you want it to be.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, that's that's what I was saying is that Christmas isn't the subject here. It's that's war is over, is the subject. Christmas is the delivery system to promote that message, which is what makes the song cool. Lennon described it, he described it himself as propaganda with a purpose. So, you know, it never was about Christmas, but I think it's a fantastic song. I've listened to it every Christmas of my entire life, and I love this song. Now, that being said, there's one part I don't like about it, and which I didn't realize until this week. So you have the the Harlem community choir that we heard singing, war is over, etc. etc. Uh, Yoko also sings in that part. So it's the the Harlem community choir and Yoko Ono singing that part. And if you go back and listen to it now and listen for Yoko, it will ruin the song for you. Which it is done for yeah, but you can very clearly hear Yoko Ono singing in this song if you if you listen for it, and you'll never be able to unhear it. And I apologize to all of our listeners for what I've just done to you. Because you're gonna go back and listen to it now, and you're gonna listen and you're gonna go, holy shit, that's Yoko, and my god, why did they give her a microphone? She's terrible.
SPEAKER_10:Have you seen you know what this reminds me of? Have you seen the video of John Lennon and Chuck Berry playing together?
SPEAKER_11:I I know exactly what video you're talking about, and the look and Chuck Barry's eyes, when Yoko starts singing, that's the way you're gonna feel when you go back and listen to how that's what you just saw.
SPEAKER_10:And to all our listeners, if you haven't seen that, this is what Steve's talking about is awesome. Chuck Berry and John Lennon playing, which is pretty cool. And then Yoko just starts screaming into the mic, and it sounds terrible. And Chuck Berry's like, I don't know what to do here. This is the worst thing I've ever heard. You just reminded me of that. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, I can't remember what song they're doing. It might be Johnny Be Good. Um, but they're doing a Chuck Berry song.
SPEAKER_10:Uh Maybelline.
SPEAKER_11:Maybe maybe something like it. And maybe we'll put it in the show notes. We we always say we'll do that, and we don't ever do it. Maybe we'll do it this time. Maybe we'll find that video. But it is actually really good because if you freeze it on Chuck Berry's face when Yoko starts singing, it the look in his eye of what the f what's happening to my song. Well, man, I'm telling you, I've loved this song my whole life, and this week I I really could hear Yoko singing, and oh no. Oh no. Uh that was the song that I chose for the 1970s, the year, the decade of my birth, and yours, I think. And my birth? Yes, it is. What do you got?
SPEAKER_10:I'm gonna say I think these two, yours and mine, might have been in a band together.
SPEAKER_06:The moon is right, the spirit's on. We're here tonight, and that's enough. Simply having a wonderful Christmas time. Simply having a wonderful Christmas time. The party's on.
SPEAKER_10:The feelings Lennon's bandmate from some band.
SPEAKER_11:I believe it's called the Beatles.
SPEAKER_10:The Beatles.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, write it down. Write that down. You'll need that later.
SPEAKER_10:Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings. That joke never gets old. It never gets old. Uh Paul McCartney, this is 1979 Stone Cold. I came in right under the limit. Yeah, like this time. By we it was December. Yeah. Uh released as a single. And really, as crazy as it sounds, not a lot to say about this song. It peaked at 26 uh on the hot 20 hot 100 in 2024. Okay. It was originally going to be a part of the McCartney 2 solo album, but it never made the final cut. So he just said I'll release it as a single. The B side was Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, so feeling a lot of holiday vibe, Stone Cold. Yeah. But maybe McCartney just needed the money. So he threw out a single to keep the coffers full, but he put that Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer on the B side. McCartney does, as we know, he plays a lot of instruments. He does every single instrument on this song: vocals, keys, synth, guitar. Stevie Wonder-esque. That's it. I almost said Prince. You're exactly right, is Stevie Wonder.
SPEAKER_11:Oh, he invented it.
SPEAKER_10:Absolutely. You're right. Guitar, bass, drums, percussion, of course. You hear the jingle bells in there. You can't have a Christmas song without jingle bells. Of course. Now, here's a nugget. And I I would normally say this would tell me if it's on your perfect downside, but I know it's not. Any guesses? Would you like to just throw out a number? How much money Paul McCartney generates a year from this song?
SPEAKER_11:Um$82,000. Oh wow, no. I have no idea. I mean, it could be dozens of dollars, it could be millions. I don't have a clue.
SPEAKER_10:It is$400,000 a year from this song. And from the time this song came out in 1979,$20 million in royalties just from this song. That's insane.
SPEAKER_11:That is insane.
SPEAKER_10:That's a successful recording artist.
SPEAKER_11:I mean, it's a good song. It's not, it's not Shakespeare.
SPEAKER_10:It's really not. And it's not my favorite Christmas song. It's not considered one of his best songs. And actually, this is a big topic of conversation of whether or not this song is actually any good, period. But he gets a lot of perfect album side.
SPEAKER_11:You had 10 years of songs to choose from, and you went with one, yeah. I'm not even sure it's good, but I had a couple that I was looking at. Happy Christmas was one of them. I do love the fact that we went back-to-back Beatles by accident. That's a total accident. Yes. That's fascinating. As all of you know, we don't ever tell each other uh the songs before we record the perfect album side. So this is news to us, and it always makes us giggly.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, it's just it's it just seems like an easy song for McCartney, but he does it and he makes it work. And you hear this, we've been hearing this on the radio around Christmas time for decades. It's ridiculous. But it made it work, even though a lot of people will tell you they don't like this song. Um, but it it does make my perfect album sided. It generates some serious Christmas scratch for Mr. McCartney every year. Yeah. Wonderful Christmas time, Stone Cold, makes my PAS for the 1970s category.
SPEAKER_11:Back to Back Beatles in the 1970s. B2B the original B2B by the brothers and the Beatles. Uh fantastic choice. Uh are you ready for mine? We're we're moving on to the 1980s. I think we could have crossover here. I think we could, maybe, maybe have crossover. It could be. I love this song. If I can get it to play. Here we go. 1980s. This is my choice.
SPEAKER_01:It's Christmas time. There's no need to be afraid. At Christmas time, we let it lie and we vanish it.
SPEAKER_07:And in our world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy.
SPEAKER_11:Do they know it's Christmas? Band-Aid is the name of the band. 1984, December 3rd, 1984. It was not on an album, it was just a single released uh songwriters Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, I believe it's pronounced, uh, recorded at Sam or SARM West Studios in London. Uh this was a Band-Aid uh was was created by Bob Geldof in 1984 after he saw a BBC report on the famine in Ethiopia uh late October 1984. Uh the urgency of that broadcast became the engine for this project. Uh, and in an almost impossible turnaround, the song went from idea to release in just six weeks. Uh he sees it in October, he releases it at the beginning of the beginning of December 1984. Lead vocals uh and featured lines by Bono, George Michael, Sting, Boy George, Simon LeBon, Phil Collins, and others. Um, it's one of my favorite Christmas songs ever. It was really the beginning of some of these uh singles for charity. Uh We Are the World came a year later. Um, and then FarmAid and Band-Aid and all these all these things happened after this one. You talked about Paul McCartney making millions off of that last song. Uh Bob Geldoff and Friends of Band-aid raised tens of millions of dollars for the famine in Ethiopia in 1984. Uh, this song makes my perfect album side, I haven't asked you yet, but I'll do it now. Is this song on your perfect album side? Not really. Not really, he says. I can't wait to hear more about that.
SPEAKER_10:I think I wouldn't have told you this came out before we are the world. I would have I would have bet the house. Well, that's why you showed up here and led away.
SPEAKER_11:And that's why all the world-wanted listeners to the Perfect Albumside Podcast show up to understand these things. This one came first. Um most of the vocals were recorded in a one non-stop 24-hour session. Um, most of the artists arrived to the studio without ever having heard the song. Which is a lot like uh We Are the World. You know, some of them only got it the day before. Uh the the song was more of an event than a recording. All of these huge British artists coming together, uh again, we talked about Paul Young, Boy George, George Michael, Simon the Bond, Bono. There's a really cool moment in the song where Bono uh sings the line about um tonight, thank God it's them instead of you, which is a weird line to begin with. But at the last second, he changed it and pushed it up an octave, and so it really stands out in the recording, the way with the way Bono sings it. It wasn't written like that. It was supposed to be one octave lower and just to fit in, but he the time of recording just fucking let loose. And they're like That's a cool catch. That's the take. Uh it's my favorite line of the song, and I didn't know that about that this week. Uh, this one became the blueprint for every charity super group recording that followed, uh, directly inspiring We Are the World and Live Aid. Um Geldoff later called it a flawed song that worked. And by working, he means raising money. Um yeah, that's it. I love this song. It's my favorite, maybe one of my favorite Christmas songs.
SPEAKER_10:I I love it too. Geldof is a genius, and he had an idea and he had a good heart. I mean, we can say it like that. And it worked, but I never would have guessed Band-Aid came first. I thought we are the world set the tone. And now they're the uh poachers, as it turns out.
SPEAKER_11:Phil Collins, uh, who recorded his vocal, and then later he performed this song at Live Aid. Um, so I thought it was cool that they performed the song at Live Aid.
SPEAKER_10:Well, Geldo was gonna say, of course we're we're doing it. Yeah, the song at Live Aid, it's my event.
SPEAKER_11:You got it. Uh that was my song for the 1980s. What is yours, find sir?
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, same year. Same month.
SPEAKER_11:Same December. Same December. Stop.
SPEAKER_07:That's a Christmas I give you my heart. That's a Christmas, I gave you my heart.
SPEAKER_10:Last Christmas Stone Cold Wham. Now you know where that not really answer came from. Okay, this song came out right when Do They Know It's Christmas. And those two songs literally were battling in the charts. Last Christmas took a back seat to Do They Know It's Christmas. Massive hit. Of course, a huge holiday favorite. We'll get to the charts in just a minute. Wham hits a major home run with this, released as a single from the Music from the Edge of Heaven album, but it was a double A-side. And the other side of this was Everything She Wants, which is a really good song.
SPEAKER_11:Wow. And I love actually maybe my favorite song that uh would you mind backing up and repeating what you just said about the single, double single with Tumblr again?
SPEAKER_10:It was a double A-side single. Okay, there was no B side, it was two A's. Last Christmas and Everything She Wants. That's a pretty good 45 right there. It's amazing, which is why I put it in here. I think it's really cool. Two vastly different songs, but this song was big in the US, even bigger in the UK, released around the same time again as Do They Know It's Christmas, and competed for chart positions all throughout while these songs were hot. They were they kept just going back and forth. All the royalties from this song also went to fight Ethiopian famine. George Michael wrote this song in his childhood bedroom while he and Wham partner Andrew Ridgely were visiting Michael's parents. George Michael plays every instrument. There it is again. There it is. Uh every instrument on this. He says he's not really a musician. He's a singer. But on the keyboard part, he said he was literally using one finger on each key. So no chords, one finger. That's how I play piano. So he re-recorded the song in 85, and that's the version that continues to hit the charts. Now let's let's kind of run through some of the charts. It was not released uh as a commercial single in the U.S. until November of 2014. Okay, as as of 2016, it was the 10th best-selling digital Christmas song of all time. It debuted at number 50 on the Hot 100 in 2017, right after George Michael passed away. 2018 it hit 25, peaked at 11 in 2020. Then at number nine. It's the 21st. Oh, it doesn't, but it's we're going to talk about this a lot throughout this uh episode. It was uh 2021 was its first jump into the top 10. It returned Wham into the top 10 after a 35-year break. Hit number seven in 22, number, then number six in December of 22, and at the end of 24, it hit number four. And just a couple weeks ago, last Christmas peaked at number two. 41 years. I thought that was one of the reasons why it made my perfect album side. That it just it's fine wine, like you said, it just ages really well. It kept getting better. And just two weeks ago, last Christmas peaked at number two, 41 years after its release.
SPEAKER_11:That is very cool. Almost to the day. Yeah, I mean, a lot of these songs, again, we're gonna come back to this. A lot of these Christmas songs, they start slow and just build up year after year after year. They become staples in people's household and on their playlist and perfect album sides and whatnot. And all the song, all of a sudden, a song that didn't make an impact the year it was released is a huge success decades later. Very cool stuff.
SPEAKER_10:The sustainability of these songs is pretty amazing. And and that's gonna play into a song later. Um, but yeah, this song made it, had to, and I like the idea of the tribute almost the unintentional tribute that it jumps into the hot 100 for the first time in 2017, right after George Michael passes away. Make it my perfect album size.
SPEAKER_11:Uh Band-Aid and Last Christmas will battle it out in the lab at the end of the show, as we always do. Uh we are on to the 1990s, and I'm gonna give you the con. I think I I think I've been kicking these off, but you're supposed to do it. Uh I'm gonna give you the con on the 1990s go, sir.
SPEAKER_10:I'm happy to go. I know this is on your perfect album side. I'm just gonna win. We know it is. I mean, how can it not be? If you'll hit play, if I'll hit play, that will help. Something is not working on my a lot of things are not working.
SPEAKER_11:No surprise to anyone. My my hope is that this this podcast episode will also age like fine wine, because right now it's we're just going off the rails.
SPEAKER_10:Alright, it's going right this minute. Here it is. No surprise.
SPEAKER_05:Don't want a lot for Christmas. That is just one thing I need. I don't care about the present. I believe the Christmas tree. I just want you for my own. Other than you could ever know. Make my wish happy.
SPEAKER_11:Now, this is not the vanilla ice song that I thought you were gonna play. So oh, go ahead and take what you have. This is not what I was thinking. Sorry, go ahead.
SPEAKER_10:All I want for Christmas is you, Mariah Carey, the album is Merry Christmas. This is 1994, Stone Cold, and here we go. The kidding around is pretty much over on today's episode. This is the Christmas song of the 21st century. Came out in 94, but it has been a massive hit. There is something happening with this song right this minute that has never ever happened on the Perfect Albumside podcast before in 95 episodes. Is that what we're saying?
SPEAKER_11:I I don't know. I'm excited. What it what is it?
SPEAKER_10:I'm gonna get to it. All the other songs we've talked about. About are great, but this is the song can't be argued. This is on your PAS. I won't even I won't even ask it.
SPEAKER_11:This song is on my perfect health.
SPEAKER_10:Of course it is. This song did really well on the Billboard charts as it was released, but it never hit the Hot 100 because it was ineligible. It was never released as a commercial single, so it's not allowed to chart on the Hot 100. Until 1998, when that rule lapsed and they didn't rewip it. I don't renew it. I don't know how that works, but uh the song landed at number 83 for a single week. Rules were then reworked and all that. They made some changes. In 2019, it peaked at number two. Later in 2019, it peaked at number one. Number one hit. Number one hit. Now, here we go with the Nuggets. It reached the top spot after 35 cumulative weeks on the chart, making it the slowest climb to number one in the history of the Hot 100, surpassing another PAS spotlight song recently, Macarena by the uh Bayside Boys Reboot.
SPEAKER_11:Macarena!
SPEAKER_10:It reached number it reached the top after 33 cumulative weeks. Okay, now that record has since been broken 2022, Glass Animals with heat waves went 59 cumulative weeks. All I want for Christmas broke the record for the longest trip overall to number one and hit the top of the charts 25 years after release. And this song gave Carrie a record 80th week of having a number one song. Now, she's the first artist to top the hot 100 in four different decades 90s, 2000s, 10s, 20s. This is the song. There are so many nuggets to run through. I don't have enough time. I'm gonna give you some too. Let me tell you something that's never happened on the perfect album side podcast ever. I can't wait. What? This song is currently number one on the hot 100 as I talk this very moment.
SPEAKER_11:We've never number one hit right now. That's unbelievable.
SPEAKER_10:Look what you did. Never ever uh spotlighted a song, or either one of us had a song on the perfect album side that was currently number one.
SPEAKER_11:That is incredible. This song is not on my snow, I'm kidding, it is. Uh oh my gosh, I was about to have a heart attack. No, for all the reasons you just said, I mean, it's it's the biggest Christmas song of all time. Songwriters Mariah Carey and Walter Afonasieff, I believe I'm pronouncing that correctly. I mean, all the things that you just said, everybody knows. We could talk this one to death. Mariah Carey has called this song her biggest surprise, which I thought was kind of cool. She just wasn't expecting, you know, she didn't really want to do a Christmas album at first, and it has uh cemented her in music history.
SPEAKER_10:I think it's incredible because she I mean this isn't a one-off thing. You know, she's not one-hit wonder. I mean, she's had hit after hit. Her songs have been at the top of the hot 100 for 80 weeks.
SPEAKER_11:The way it was recorded is a direct nod to Phil Spector's uh sleigh bell soundscape.
SPEAKER_10:Here we go.
SPEAKER_11:There it is again. She recorded dozens of vocal layers herself, uh, turning the chorus into a wall of Mariah as opposed to the wall of sound from Phil Spector. Uh it it it really is a good song. I mean, all jokes aside, it it's fantastic. It's what a great job they did. All I want for Christmas is you by Mariah Carey. It made yours, it made mine, hence it makes the perfect album side podcast. It made yours, it made mine. It makes the hence. All right, we are on to the next song. Uh, I believe I have the con this time.
SPEAKER_10:Take the con, Steve. Take it.
SPEAKER_11:Oh, I have taken it. This one.
SPEAKER_10:I'm so excited about that nugget. I I that and I That's unbelievable. I'm so glad you allowed me to go first. It may never happen again.
SPEAKER_11:It may never happen again. We you've all witnessed history here. Thank God you tuned in here on Christmas Day 2025 to discover the first time that a number one song has made the perfect album side at the time it was number one. Incredible! And the next song on my perfect album side is not as good as that one.
SPEAKER_00:Couple's golden hands, please don't go. Seems like everyone but me is in love.
SPEAKER_11:From the year 2000, released November 7th, 2000, off the album Platinum Christmas, which was a compilation album. Uh, songwriters Brian Kerloff and Josh Swartz, uh, also known as KS Productions, recorded in Los Angeles, Brittany Spears, Brian Kurlf, and Josh Schwartz are all the musicians on there. Spears on vocals, uh, Brian on keyboards and programming. This song, much like the others we've talked about, not a major hit upon release, but it built up over the years. This song's been around for 25 years now. Still feels new to me. But it's been around for 25 years. This song is released at the height of Brittany Dom. Think about 2000. I mean 99, 2000. This is when she is firing on all cylinders. It's she's the ultimate star in the universe, uh, and she is making her presence known with My Only Wish this year. Not a major hit when it's released. It becomes a recurring Billboard holiday chart entry years later. It is one of the most streamed songs of the 2000s, as far as Christmas songs go, one of the most streamed songs. And in 2021, Billboard named it one of the 100 greatest Christmas songs of all time. Which I was a little surprised. I'm I'm a little surprised. This is me being surprised. This is uh, you know, look, no shot against Brittany. She's fantastic, always has been, always will be to me. But I'm not crazy about this song, but it is a huge, massive iconic hit, and I couldn't find a bigger one from the 2000s. I hope that you did. Uh this song is recorded at the height of the TRL era pop. Uh it was kind of treated as disposable pop, which it kind of is, but just like some of the other ones, it just built up. All of a sudden it shows up every year, every year. It's like ear candy, it just sticks in there, and all of a sudden everybody loves it years later. Uh it's re- it's excuse me, it's re-release as a promotional single in 2020, introduced it to a whole new generation of listeners, listeners, and even cracked the UK singles chart in 2021. Uh the song now stands as the definitive early 2000s pop Christmas track, a snapshot of Millennial Sheen. How about that? Snapshot of Millennial Sheen. That's well written. Write that down, somebody. Um Yeah. The song wasn't important when it was released. It became important over 25 years. Uh, that's what I like about it. What do you say about this song, good sir?
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, I I ran across this song. I didn't choose it. Um I did stick with the idea of somebody, a female artist, putting out a Christmas song at the height of their popularity. Um, like you just mentioned with her. So anything at this time, the yeah, what'd you say, the year 2000?
SPEAKER_11:November 7th, 2000.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, everything Britney touched at that time was gonna turn to gold. And yeah, I'm not surprised. Um, yeah, I mean it's a good song. I I know it. I wouldn't consider this a classic Christmas song.
SPEAKER_11:I can't wait to hear what you picked because I bet it's better than this song. Nothing against Britney, I've been over that. It was the most iconic song I could find from the 2000s. I cannot wait to hear what song you have chosen, and I hope it's better than this one. It made my favorite domicile.
SPEAKER_10:We we have talked about a little bit already in the intro and getting this episode put together. There was a decade this is oh, this is the one.
SPEAKER_11:See, this is a lot like 2011. There's just it, the the the barrel was empty, my friends. What do you think?
SPEAKER_10:It really was. This was, I think that's a great comparison. Um, 2011, but I gave it I swung the bat and I gave it a shot. So uh this is the I think so far the only song from a soundtrack to make the perfect album side today, Stone Cold.
SPEAKER_11:Well, I hope it's at least number one on the charts today. It's gonna be hard to beat the last one. All right. What do you got?
SPEAKER_05:Where are you, Christmas? Why can't I find you? Why have you gone?
SPEAKER_10:This is Where Are You Christmas by the one and only Faith Hill. This is off the How the Grinch Stole Christmas soundtrack from 2000, Stone Cold. Very similar to what you just threw up on the board. I thought this was an incredibly tough decade for Christmas music. I listened to a lot of music from the 2000s and I landed with Faith Hill. She's coming off that album Breathe from 1999. Yeah. Same as Britney. Anything she touched turned to gold, but I actually know this song. It's from that soundtrack. That movie was a huge hit. I went with it. It was the Jim Carrey movie. It peaked, you know, up there. 68. Uh on the Billboard Hot 100.
SPEAKER_11:Did you say 68?
SPEAKER_10:Number 68 I was trying to pass on that, but I need to be honest, that's who I am. Oh my god. Okay. Uh now, originally written by and for Mariah Carey. Here she is again.
SPEAKER_09:Wow.
SPEAKER_10:Uh her influence may not be finished on the perfect album side today. Uh, originally written by her, and she was supposed to sing it. However, due to some legal issues with her husband at the time, Tommy Matola, she couldn't release it. So in step steps Faith Hill. And if you listen to this song, you can kind of hear how this would have been written for Mariah Carey.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, okay. I can absolutely hear that. And it's it's actually a little outside of Faith Hill's comfort zone, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_10:I think so too. Absolutely. It's a great call. But strike while the iron is hot. I mean, is basically what we're talking about here. Yeah. So I think, as I said, the song is really good. The video is very good. It's uh a lot of movie stuff. Cindy Lou, who, if you will, sang along with Faith in the Grinch Mountaintop home from the movie. And she makes my perfect album side. Where are you, Christmas? Um I'm going with it. Great writing, great recording collaboration here with Mariah. There it is. Makes my perfect album side, Faith Hill.
SPEAKER_11:On the Britney Spears song, uh My Only Wish This Year, I used the phrase a snapshot of Millennial Sheen. On your song, you used Christmas woo-hoo. What what what did you say?
SPEAKER_10:Christ Well haven't you seen the movie? No, you know the story.
SPEAKER_11:I don't I don't know.
SPEAKER_10:Cindy Lou Who, that's the character.
SPEAKER_11:Okay, I don't know what that is. Is that that's from the Grinch? Cindy Louis.
SPEAKER_10:You have kids, right?
SPEAKER_11:I do, but I don't watch their movies. Yeah, I mean, well, you know Dr.
SPEAKER_10:Seuss, don't you? Well, of course. Yeah, Cindy Lou Who, that's the main character. She's the one that convinced the convinces the Grinch to uh have a change of heart, if you will. Thank goodness for Cindy Lou Who. Oh gosh, who knows where we'd be without her.
SPEAKER_11:And Faith Hill. And Faith Hill, Faith McGraw. Faith McGraw. Wow. I've never heard anybody say that before. But you're right.
SPEAKER_10:It's on her Wikipedia page.
SPEAKER_11:Is it really? It is. And then it must be true.
SPEAKER_10:It must be true. I thought it's on the internet.
SPEAKER_11:Faith Hill versus Brittany Spears for the Battle of the 2000s Christmas song. Uh two weaker contenders have never shown up for a decade, but we'll give those two a run here at the end. We've got one decade left, and I've got a winner. You've got a winner. I think I think I've got a winner. Uh you can go first, though. I'll let you go first. Unless you want to go second. You choose. No, I'm happy to keep going. Go for it, my man. You've got the con. All right. Hey, before we get to that, before we get to that, tell me you mentioned the the the Dr. Seuss, the the Grinch, the stu, the movie, the kids' movie. Uh tell me, I want to hear Wyndham Pridge's favorite three Christmas movies. Go. Ooh, wow. Okay. Here we go.
SPEAKER_10:It's a little unorthodox. Oh God. I mean, you've got your Christmas vacation, which everybody likes, and it's it's magnificent. Everybody knows it. It's online. Yep. I go for Christmases. Okay.
SPEAKER_11:Who's in that one? Is that uh Vince Vaughn and it's Reese Witherspoon?
SPEAKER_10:Yes. Um it's uh that movie's hysterical. Okay. Um Elf, of course. Yep. Which I love. Um I like uh this is gonna sound a little bit off the beaten path. I like The Family Man with Nicolas Cage. Oh yeah, wow. I just saw that one pop up on my live. That movie is really good. It's a little more for the tenderhearted. Um if you want to get into the action thriller, die hard category of Christmas movies, reindeer games with Ben Affleck. Oh, wow. Is really good. So those are those are some of the movies that I like to watch. You know, Home Alone 2 is my preferred home alone. Uh everybody has to have a preferred home alone. I loved two. I thought it was better than the first one. I didn't think they could beat the first one, and they did. Give me yours. Hit me with some. Well, I asked you for your top three. You listed nine. Um, but that's okay. I stopped paying attention to instructions a long time ago.
SPEAKER_11:Uh, Christmas Vacation uh is obviously up there. Elf, uh I watched Elf this week. Fantastic. Uh and I'll tell you what what I watched. Um the name of the movie just fell out of my head. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Uh speaking of Mariah Carey's song, it's at the end. Um God. I've just forgotten the name of this movie. But I mean it's 34 streets. No, no, no, no. Uh it's got um Liam Neeson and Hugh Grant. Oh Love Actually? Love Actually, thank you. I could not remember. That's that's it's a fantastic movie. Uh you know, it's one of those movies that you like like Shawshank. If it's on, you just find yourself watching it. But I chose to watch it from start to finish the other night. Fantastic. Really, really good. I don't think I'm telling all the listeners anything they don't already know. Love actually is awesome, Elf is awesome, Christmas Vacation is often awesome. And uh, as you said, Home Alone 2 is your favorite of all the Home Alones.
SPEAKER_10:I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you guys something. Uh the Pridgeons have, you know, a couple of traditions around the holidays, but one tradition that is our favorite, every Thanksgiving we draw a Christmas movie out of the hat. Do you know this? Have we talked about this? No, no, it's it's almost like we're not even friends. Every it's Scott, right? Every every Thanksgiving we pull a name out of the uh Christmas movie out of the hat, and you are to show up at Christmas dinner on the 25th in a character costume from that movie. Brilliant. And we have a character costume, Christmas movie, character costume, Christmas dinner. That is fantastic. May I ask, what movie was drawn out of a hat this year? I can't Well, I can't say. No one's supposed to know until you walk into the dining room on uh on Christmas night.
SPEAKER_11:Does everyone everyone does everyone dress up? Everyone participates, yes. But but you don't know the movie? I don't I'm now I'm confused. No, no, no.
SPEAKER_10:I know my movie. I don't know anyone else's movie.
SPEAKER_11:So when I'm in with the movie, if everybody draws a different movie, they have to dress up as a character and you have to go to what's going on.
SPEAKER_10:Everybody draws their own movie and you keep it to yourself. Um I have been uh last year I was Scrooge. I had the uh I had the pajama thing, you know, the pajama gown with the uh the hat and the the candle. Yep, I guess um I was Clark Griswold from Christmas Vacation the year before and I had the sweater. Oh, okay. I thought you were. I almost did hockey jersey, Blackhawk sweater jacket. I almost went with it, number 99. Yeah. Uh or 00. It's 0.0 with Griswold on my back. And I had the squirrel on my shoulder. Beautiful. And I had the uh the uh uh Marty Moose uh eggnog. Yeah, yeah. I know year before that I was Yukon Cornelius from Rudolph Redner's Riding Hair.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_10:Uh we've had some good ones. It is it is a lot of fun. Everybody gets excited about it. I brought it up for one reason, and then I'm gonna get to my song. I actually drew Love actually on my initial draw this year. Yeah. But I threw it back because I said there's no way I can dress up.
SPEAKER_11:I mean, that's not a very noticeable You could have come to Christmas dinner completely nude and been like the guy who does the stand-in for the porn scene. You know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_10:Well, I could.
SPEAKER_11:That's what I would have done. That's what I'd I mean, if you haven't shown up nude to a Christmas dinner, have you really participated?
SPEAKER_10:Are you really living the holidays if you don't show up butt ass naked to a Christmas dinner?
SPEAKER_11:The final decade uh not the final decade, but the final decade that we've chosen to select from uh was the 2010s uh I love this song, it made my perfect album side. I'm gonna kick this one off. I thought I was gonna- You are, you are, I apologize. Commence. I thought we were talking about me. We well, we got off the whole the whole scene of you being nude at Christmas really distracted me. I'll be honest.
SPEAKER_10:Well, you really want some lit listeners? We need to start talking about that.
SPEAKER_11:Oh my god, let's not. What song have you chosen from the 2010s?
SPEAKER_10:And we've talked a lot about Mariah Carey the last three decades.
SPEAKER_11:That's not Mariah Carey.
SPEAKER_10:It's not, but this song gets a whole lot of comparison to All I Want for Christmas is You. This is Underneath the Tree. It's Kelly Clarkson, Wrapped in Red, is the album. That's 2013, peaks at number seven. This was a massive holiday hit for Kelly Clarkson, and some people said it revitalized the Christmas music genre because so many people were still listening to some of the songs from 40s, 50s, 60s, the decades we've covered. Right from the start, this song was compared to All I Want for Christmas. She just finished recording her great assist record, talking about Kelly Clarkson. And in 2012, she went to RSC RCA and said, Hey, what about a Christmas record? And they said, We're down with it. Let's go. And the best thing about this Stone Cold, speaking of past topics, it's got a good stack solo.
SPEAKER_11:Oh, great sacks. I'm a big fan of good sacks. I've always said that.
SPEAKER_10:I love boy do I love great sacks, especially.
SPEAKER_11:So you're saying this Kenny Clarkson song? Sorry. Once again, I was picturing you naked. Sorry. Uh going back, you said this song was compared a lot to the Mariah Carey song from the 90s.
SPEAKER_10:Yes, and you can even hear some of the flow, the way the song goes, the groove to it. Uh it still got the Especially the way it entered, you know, it's kind of slow, and then you got the the jumps brought it in. So this was this was getting a lot of sounds like all I want for Christmas. Um Atlanta Journal Constitution in 2019 said this was the only new song from the past 20 years that they listed in their top 50 Christmas songs of all time. And as most of the songs uh again 40s to 50s, but it was proclaimed all over the place as the best Christmas song of 2013. Oh, you hear that, don't you?
SPEAKER_11:Sacked.
SPEAKER_10:Oh, that's that's good, that's good sacked. Uh but you hear that influence that we talked about, grooves and the bells and saxolder, there it is, but makes my PAS don't call for the 2010s.
SPEAKER_11:And I really American Idol, the original American Idol, Kelly Clark. Totally. Totally. Uh you said it sounds a lot like Mariah Carey. It also sounds a lot like uh Phil Specter and and and Darlene Love from the very first song we played, and there's a reason for that. Oh there's a reason for that. Is this because the producer, Greg Kirsten, looked at two pieces for inspiration? Vince, Garaldi's trio Charlie Brown Christmas, oh love Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift for You featuring Darlene Love. There's no reason it sounds like that. No one knows it unless it's on their perfect album side. It's on yours, it's on mine, it's on Z. This song is uh I'm gonna have to check the explicit box when I upload this podcast because this song is fucking awesome. I love it.
SPEAKER_10:Wow, Merry Christmas.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, Merry Christmas. Well, I mean, you were talking about nude pornography at your home. I mean, for God's sake. I didn't say that. That's what I heard. That's who you wanted me to be in love, actually. This song was featured uh in Office Christmas Party, the movie. Oh, a very merry toy store from 2017, The Princess Switch, switched again in 2020, Zoe's Extraordinary Christmas from 2021, All I Didn't Want for Christmas from 2022, and from TV's The Clash Christmas Special 2020. It's all over the movies and television throughout the 2000s. Phenomenal song from our original uh American Idol. I love this song. Great choice.
SPEAKER_10:I love this song. Um, I think making the Darlene Love connection is I like that even better than the All I Want for Christmas. They do sound alike.
SPEAKER_11:They do, and it was done by design. Spectre's influence is especially direct. Kirsten shaped underneath the tree to echo the feel of 1960s pop Christmas records, and Clarkson's vocal approach is often compared to Darlene Love's 1963 performance on Christmas Baby, please come home. In the context of this perfect album side, that creates a deliberate lineage from the first song to the last song. Isn't that beautiful? Full circle, as we like to call it.
SPEAKER_10:Circle.
SPEAKER_11:That's what we do here on the PAS. Uh nice key change in that one. I think we've done a have we done a perfect album side about key changes? I think we did. That one should have made it. There's a good subtle key change in that one, too.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah.
SPEAKER_11:We have completed the nomination portion of the perfect album side of Christmas songs by the decade. It is that time to get into the lab, me amigo. Are you about ready for that too?
SPEAKER_10:I'm I'm ready. I'm putting on the lab coat as we speak. Uh, I believe you need to hit send on something. Yeah, just give me a second. As we are getting this all set up, we're all getting loaded with our own.
SPEAKER_11:You have shared your perfect album side parchment with me. We are now ready to build the perfect album side. As always, if it's on yours and it's on mine, it's on thee. We that happened twice. The over-under was one and a half, it was the over with two. Mariah Carey's uh obviously huge hit for the 1990s. Uh All I Want for Christmas is you, and then Kelly Clarkson from 2013 with Underneath the Tree. Uh, fantastic songs. They both make the perfect album side. Now we gotta go back and get, you know, battle it out. In the 1960s, I said uh Darlene Love, uh Christmas, baby, please come home. You said Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives. Is that right? Burl Ives? You got it. Am I saying it right? Okay. Yep. Um for the 70s. Well, well, let's just get to the 60s. What do you think? You got a strong, you you you standing by Burl Ives or are you laying down? Big Burl. I mean, with a name like Burl.
SPEAKER_10:Um, I I think all of these, minus the 90s and 2010s, I think all of these are going to be really, really tough.
SPEAKER_11:Uh I'm sticking with Burl Ives. I am sticking with Darlene Love. We'll have to come back to that one. For the 1970s, I'm not laying down. I don't think you should either. I see that you're not for the 1970s. We chose Beatles, for God's sake. You can't go wrong with the Beatles. Happy Christmas by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and then uh Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney. Normally, I would have stood by my guns until I heard Yoko. So I'm gonna give it up to Paul McCartney with Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time has made the perfect album side.
SPEAKER_10:And his tens of millions of dollars in royalties.
SPEAKER_11:Paul McCartney. Uh, it's not his first time on the perfect album side, and it won't be his last. Oh, it gets better every time. Yes, for the 1980s, uh, Band-Aid, Do They Know It's Christmas versus Last Christmas by George Michael.
SPEAKER_10:I was ready to stand my ground on this and uh put the gloves on, but I'll tell you, because of one simple fact stone cold, and that is Band-Aid, Do They Know It's Christmas, came out earlier than We Are the World. I concede. I think you can't the original. You can't beat it.
SPEAKER_11:As we get to 1990s, Mariah Carey wins. 2000s. This is the one that we both struggled with. Brittany Spears versus Faith Hill, Where Are You Christmas versus uh Britney Spears, uh My Only Wish This Year, I'll flip you for it.
SPEAKER_10:I mean, it's almost the other than the movie soundtrack with uh Where Are You Christmas, these are almost the exact same songs. I'll tell you, Where Are You Christmas kind of reminded me of the Taylor Swift song from Hunger Games that you spotlighted in 2011?
SPEAKER_11:Interesting. You know what I mean sound the same. You know what I have in my in my hand here, which you can see. I'm holding it up. This is a 50 cent. It's a 50 cent piece. And I just noticed that it has JFK.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, I I can actually see that on the camera. That's crazy. My eyesight's better than I thought.
SPEAKER_11:I'm thinking Heads Brittany, Tails, Faith. What do you think? Okay. Tails, Faith Hill, Where Are You? Christmas has made the perfect album side. And for the last spot on the perfect album side, Kelly Clarkson uh with Underneath the Tree. Fantastic. We had to go back to the 1960s. Darlene Love versus Holly Jolly Christmas. Man, is there room for both of these on there? I mean, I wish there was.
SPEAKER_10:And we've done that before. I think we've had a tie uh and put that on the very unheralded seventh song on the perfect album side. Um it's rare when that happens. It it is rare and it almost never happens. I think it's only been one time. But Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives, that's that's what I think of. But you know what? I actually might, and then I actually may like Baby Please Come Home better because of the connection you just made to Underneath the Tree.
SPEAKER_11:Can I can I can I just say one more fact about that song? Yeah. For almost 30 years, David Letterman had Darlene Love come on his show every Christmas and sing that song.
SPEAKER_10:Okay. Okay, I mean you're you're you're selling me on the school system, and I've already bought the house. Go for it. Darlene Love gets my vote.
SPEAKER_11:The perfect album side of Christmas songs by decade from the 1960s, Darlene Love, Christmas Baby, please come home. For the 1970s, Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney of Wings. The 1980s, we have gone with Band-Aid, Do They Know It's Christmas. 1990, Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas. From the 2000s, Faith Hill, Where Are You Christmas? And from the 2010s, Kelly Clarkson's Underneath the Tree. Fantastic perfect album side. We have made up for that shit show that was last week of 2011. I'll tell you that much.
SPEAKER_10:Uh, I will say this: there is one song that didn't get chosen that I thought for sure would. It it scared me a little bit because I couldn't figure out it was released on a TV show in the 70s, but released on an album in the 80s. So I wasn't really sure which decade to put it in. But I'm kind of surprised it didn't make it. Peace on Earth, Little Drummer Boy, Ben Crosby, David Bowie.
SPEAKER_11:The reason I did not select that one. Oh, here we go. I think that we added that song to the Christmas songs that rock. Oh, did we? I think we talked about it in episode 35. Christmas Songs That Rock, which is but first of all, my favorite Christmas song ever, David Bowie and Ben Crosby. Now I remember. Uh maybe we'll play that one out. Uh Merry Christmas, my man. Uh always happy to see you. Uh to your family, your children, and to uh our listeners around the world in all seriousness. Uh Merry Christmas to each and every one of you. Uh happy that you you spent some time with us uh on the perfect album side. Wendham, you got anything else to say?
SPEAKER_10:Yes, I do. Uh I don't think we are going to be doing another recording before the end of 2025. So just another year of the perfect album side where we owe it all to the listeners and everyone around the globe uh who not just listen, but I Steve hears it from people. I hear it from people all the time, how much uh they appreciate this show. And that means the world to us. It means what we do matters, and it's having positive effect and impact on others. So really appreciate everybody who listens and uh thinking about everybody, all of our listeners that we cherish so much over the holidays, and we'll see you again in 2026. I think we've saved Christmas. I think we have. I think I'm I think I'm gonna start crying.
SPEAKER_11:See ya, man.
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