Christmas Karaoke

It's that time of the year again when Christmas songs from decades past fill the airwaves....the gravelly tones of '70s Glam Rockers Slade, Pretty Boy Pop in the shape of Wham (when George Michael had a perm and was still pretending to be straight), a medley of squeaky clean tunes from Sir Cliff, and Band Aid in all its worthy forms are dusted off and given their annual airing.

Bad hair and clothes were big by Christmas 1973, and this song ruled. I was in utero at the time and would grace the world with my presence in just four short weeks' time....



In recent years, there's been no contest for the UK's Christmas Number One spot....it's been a given that the single of the winner of X Factor (its release conveniently timed to simultaneously line the shop shelves and Simon Cowell's pockets the week before Christmas) will go straight to the top.

But this year, X Factorite Joe McElderry's cover of 'The Climb' (Miley Cyrus) is facing some unprecedented competition from Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing In The Name', thanks to an anti-X Factor Facebook campaign that already boasts over 40,000 supporters.

So which would you choose? This one......



Or this....?



Personally, neither! My favourite Christmas song is this one from The Darkness - I love the way these guys just take the piss....

iPod Memory Roulette

Here's what you do:

Put your iPod on 'random shuffle'. Play the first 10 songs and write down the first thing you think of when you hear each song.

1. China In Your Hands - T'Pau
The road trip back to Cape Town from Knysna late 1998 - this song was playing in the tape deck and I was driving, B was asleep. I'd only had my licence just over a year and long distance trips were something of a novelty. Got up to 160 km/h, then thought probably best to take it a bit easy as we'd borrowed B's mom's car - our piece of s*** would have overheated and blown a gasket before we'd made it through Sir Lowry's Pass. We'd been to a wedding - the first of our then group of friends to take such a big step. Marriage was far from my mind then (not so far from B's) and there were things to do, a doctorate to finish first.

2. Livin' On The Edge - Aerosmith
Steven Tyler - his hilarious guest role in an episode of one of my favourite TV shows, 'Two and A Half Men'.


3. Love Isn't Always On Time - Foreigner
Long haired dudes with guitars.

4. It's Only Natural - Crowded House
A student party circa 1994 - cheap booze and no food.

 5. Walk Alone - Green Day
War in Iraq - probably an association with their video for 'Wake Me Up When September Ends'


6. Cambodia - Kim Wilde
A bridge over a glass lake at night - absolutely no idea why. Can't ever remember seeing the video, so nothing linked to that.


7. Overcome - Live
My student digs in Observatory, 1996. One of my moody housemates was obsessed with this group, and played them incessantly (not this song as it came out much later).

8. Too Lost in You - Sugababes
'Love Actually' - one of my favourite films - this is one of the songs played during the office Christmas party at the gallery scene.

9. Gel - Collective Soul
Working in the labs at UCT, with the radio playing in the background - this group (and often this song) used to be played by a DJ on 5FM just about everyday.

10. Perfect 10 - Beautiful South
First thought - how weird, 'Perfect 10' is the number 10 song! Second thought - of a friend who loves this group.