My favorites:
[ul]
[li]Silver Bells[/li][li]Greensleeves[/li][li]Christmas at Ground Zero – “Weird Al”[/li][li]Grandma Got Run Over by the Reindeer[/li][li]Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas[/li][/ul]
Least favorites:
[ul]
[li]Santa, Baby[/li][li]Almost any traditional carol, as well.[/li][/ul]Except for the first one, it’s merely overexposure. The first one is vile.
[Hijack]
Eons ago when my high school (a public school no less) choir sang the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s Messiah our instructor told us that the song was actually performed at the end of the Messiah and represented the elation of believers knowing Christ rose from the grave.
So if he had it correct one of your favorite Christmas songs ,and mine too, is actually an Easter song.
[/Hijack]
The Kinks - Father Christmas
The Vandals - Oi To The World (No Doubt’s version is pretty good too)
Sting - Gabriel’s Message (I’ll second this one)
Eartha Kitt - Santa Baby
The Coventry Carol
The Holly and the Ivy
Good King Wenceslas
I forgot to add, those are all my favorites. The onlt Christmas music I can’t stand is stuff like Mariah Carey and The Backstreet Boys etc.
Honorable Mention for Least Favorite Christmas Song - Santa Baby by Madonna. The pouty, Betty Boop singing is not good for Christmas.
So if he had it correct one of your favorite Christmas songs ,and mine too, is actually an Easter song.
Yep, I’ve always heard the same thing.
I wonder who decided it should be played at Christmas.
My favorite Christmas CD’s are by the Trans Siberian Orchestra. There’s something about a symphony orchestra fronted by a rock band that really gets me in the sprirt! You’ve never really heard The Nutcracker until you’ve heard it with electric guitar. I also like:
The Little Drummer Boy - a love it or hate it song if there ever was one!
Mary Did You Know - the Mark Lowery version is the best.
Favorites:
Adeste Fidelius(Come All Ye Faithfull)
Jingle Bells(the full version)
Little Drummer Boy by David Bowie and Bing Crosby
Silent Night
Grandma got Ran Over by a Reindeer
Practically anthing by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
The Christmas Song
Least favorites:
Twelve Days of Christmas(especially since hardly anyone knows it past “Five Golden Rings!”)
Deck the Halls
Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer
Frosty the Snowman
Santa Clause is Comin’ to Town
Feliz Navidad
I will admit, Christmas is my least favourite time of year, but I like the Kinks’ Father Christmas and also Brenda Lee’s version of Rocking Around the Christmas Tree because of the guitar work.
I play classical guitar and have a lot of gigs this time of year, but instead of Christmas songs, I play 15th and 16th century Renaissance music…it’s funny, but many, many people have stopped in between tunes to tell me how much they like it better than the ‘traditional’ stuff!
I keep the radio OFF from November onwards cos nothing makes me run screaming from the room faster than oldies stations that play novelty Christmas records…in another thread, I mentioned the abomination that is the Mel Blanc/Porky Pig version of Blue Christmas…my mum banned Little Drummer Boy forever after I was given the sheet music at age 8 by my piano teacher – it’s got this bam bam bam, simple, perfect fifth bass line that reminded her more of Comanchees on the warpath than anything to do with Christmas…
beadalin stole mine!
Favoritest ever is Lo, How a Rose
Also on the must-have list are:
Silent Night (or Stille Nacht if you prefer)
Angels We Have Heard on High (C’mon, everybody! “Gloooooooooooooooooooria!”)
Go Tell it on the Mountain
The Christmas Song
Christmas is Coming sung by the Muppets and John Denver
Songs I’d willingly never hear again:
Little Drummer Boy (I’ll give you a rum-pum-pum-pum!)
Santa Claus is Coming to Town particularly the Bruce Springsteen version
Christmas Shoes it made me cry the first time and throw up the 3,529 times since!
Actually, it’s not even the end of Messiah – it’s about three-quarters of the way through the piece (it’s the end of the second movement, to be precise).
My favorites are the Coventry Carol (which is a hugely depressing song, actually, but beautiful), and “Lo, How a Rose,” as a couple of others have pointed out.
Oh, and Britten’s Ceremony of Carols is wonderful, too. 
Alot of Christmas songs irritate me, but my absolute favorite Christmas song has to be Santa Baby. Maybe it’s because I love singing it, but as long as it isn’t one of the bastardized versions (Madonna, that woman that I liked before she started appearing on the Pier One commercials, anything that changes the lyrics of it)…think of all the fun I’ve missed, think of all the fellas that I haven’t kissed…
Everyone join in:
And [sup]He[/sup] [sub]shall[/sub] reign [sub]for[/sub] ever and ever
Boy, that has me wondering. Having never taken the time to actually listen to the Messiah I am perplexed by another story. Maybe Katisha has info on this.
I had also heard that the tradition of the audience “standing” for the Hallelujah chorus was based on some royalty figure who, hearing the chorus for the first time, was so impressed that he stood up. Royal protocol stated that one was not allowed to be seated if royalty was standing so the entire audience stood up. (That’s why I always try to stand up first whenever I hear the chorus: If I can’t be a king at least look like a king)
So if the chorus occurs roughly 3/4 the way through then everybody sits back down to listen to the last 1/4?
Sounds anticlamatic to me.
I’m surprised that no one’s mentioned this one: Eric Cartman’s version of “O Holy Night”. Anyone know if this is available to view on the internet?
As far as the songs I loathe, there are just too many to name. I’m not a big Christmas fan. And I think that the music is main reason.
Pretty much, yes. Of course, at every performance I’ve been to there’s a five-minute pause between the second and third movements (the intermission comes between the first and second, as the first is the longest movement by far).
Also, as far as irritating Christmas songs go, perhaps the most annoying thing about the season is being subjected quite frequently to “Jingle Bell Rock.” It does not, to put it mildly, rock. 
I’ve always heard the same thing about why we stand when the HC is played.
I don’t see how anyone COULD sit through it.
More of a “swing” than a rock 
I hate most Christmas music, ever since my mom thought letting my sister play Christmas carols every day for 6 straight months was “cute.” And working retail at Christmas didn’t help. That said, I make some exceptions:
The Night Santa Went Crazy by Weird Al
It’s Christmas Time Again by Blink 182, because I could’ve written it.
Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight) by the Ramones
Christmas in Hollis by Run DMC.
Santa’s Coming And He’s Gonna Kick Your Ass by the Arrogant Worms
Christmas Sucks by the Arrogant Worms
And the video with Bing Crosby and Bowie. Cause it’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
Most of the rest suck.
I know that you can download it from Kazaa, if you’re into that sort of thing. I don’t know about being able to just listen to it without downloading it, though.