Top 10 Rock Christmas Songs

Here it is mid-October, perhaps the finest time of the year. The kids are back in school, the weather is cooler, the leaves are turning and the baseball playoffs are in full swing so there is no better time for a ...

List of best Christmas music!

All the stores want you to beat the rush, so in that spirit, I present the Top 10 Rock Christmas songs. Silent Night and O Come All Ye Faithful are great Christmas songs but you will not see them here. Instead this is a list of original Christmas songs by a diverse group of performers. There is a lot more to rock Christmas music than what you hear played on the radio, even those ones that start playing exclusive Christmas music in November.

So, here are the best rock Christmas songs. Call up your local DJ and get him to play some of the ones here that are not already in heavy rotation.

10. The Killers "A Great Big Sled"

A weird cross between Duran Duran and Bruce Springsteen, The Killers make no apologies for either end of the spectrum.

"I wanna roll around like a kid in the snow
I wanna re-learn what I already know
Just let me take flight,
Dressed in red,
Through the night,
On a great big sled.
I wanna wish you Merry Christmas
Ho, ho, ho."

9. AC/DC "Mistress for Christmas"

Not all Christmas presents were meant to be wrapped up and displayed beneath the tree.

8. The Royal Guardsmen "Snoopy's Christmas"

This was by far my favorite Christmas song as a kid. This song tells the story of Snoopy as the World War I Flying Ace being capture by the nefarious Red Baron. But the Baron did not finish off Snoopy; instead he made him land behind enemy lines to share a drink with him before letting him leave as a Christmas present. The song has a real life background as the Germans and Allied soldiers came out of the trenches in World War I to initiate their own cease fire during Christmas.

7. Greg Lake "I Believe in Father Christmas"

Perhaps the most misunderstood Christmas song of all time. Many believe it to be anti religion while Lake himself said it was about the commercialization of the holiday. Instead of being anti religious, Lake abhors those who believe that it is wrong to wish someone a Merry Christmas and instead use the politically correct Happy Holidays.

6. Timbuk 3 "All I Want for Christmas (Is World Peace)"

The band that gave us "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades!" gives us a Christmas song with lyrics that mention the Contras, GI Joe, Star Wars and Rambo while pleading:

"Looks to me like World War III
Underneath the Christmas tree
Please dear Santa, Mr. Santa, please
Can't you make the firing cease?

All I want for Christmas
All I want for Christmas
All I want for Christmas
Is world peace."

5. Billy Squier "Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You"

We all have our guilty pleasures in life and one of mine is Billy Squier. While I do not have any of his albums whenever a song comes on the radio I am singing along. And the MTV video of this song, with all of the original Vee Jays, puts it over the top.

4. The Pretenders "2000 Miles"

I lived apart from my wife the first 18 months that we were married and this song gets the vibe right.

3. The Waitresses "Christmas Wrapping"

On first listen, this sounds like a blowoff to the season - "Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! But I think I'll miss this one this year."

But in reality the singer finally meets the boy she's been chasing all year. And the song ends: "Couldn't miss this one this year."

2. The Kinks "Father Christmas"

Originally released as a single, along with the terrific "Prince of the Punks" as the flip side, it is amazing that neither one of these songs made in on to a studio album ("Prince of the Punks" made it on to the live One for the Road album while "Father Christmas" was later added as CD bonus track to Misfits).

"Father Christmas" is perhaps the only Christmas song to mention the Six Million Dollar Man. It would merit mention on this list for that fact only. But it is also a plea to "remember the kids who got nothin'" which ultimately matters more than commercialization, glorified violence and mentions of cool TV shows.

1. John Lennon "Happy Xmas (War is Over)"

Last week would have been Lennon's 69th birthday if he had not been murdered nearly 29 years ago.

"A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear."