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3 billion have suffered Slade's 'Merry Xmas Everybody'
The PRS for Music has chillingly announced that Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody could have been heard by 42 per cent of the world's population - a cool three billion souls whose lives have been enriched by Noddy Holder and chums' ubiquitous Yuletide anthem. The song has apparently already been enjoyed in 47 countries around the …
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I read that as...
“"...lifting-the-skirts type Xmas songs."
lifting-the-skirts Christmas song...?
...hmm. Could be the context. I'll bet you wouldn't have mis-read that quote if it had been anybody else but Noddy... especially considering that, given the reputation of British Christmas parties (damn, I'm jealous), there may well have been some serious skirt-lifting while that tune was playing.
Top Tune
It's a classic of the genre, and no wonder Sir Nod calls it "The Pension"!
Top tune for Christmas 09? Carry You Home from The Lancashire Hotpots (see their MySpace site). And I've just downloaded the Christmas 09 compilation from the FolkCast podcast, which is bloody brilliant!
I've heard it 3 Billion times myself
Or so it feels. //shudders///
wont someone please think of the retail workers!
Having worked retail in my youth i would like to send out my heartfelt condolences to all those stuck in an office/store/sub basement whose managers feel that it is acceptable to listen to christmas carols on repeat for the entire month of December (and if your really unlucky half of November and January too!)
I can remember one year as a young fella working at a local department store in Australia and being subjected to Mariah Carey's Christmas Carols on repeat for a 6 week period. I was only a casual (read weekends and nights) but i still came so close to cracking...
... to this day im still in therapy.
Scarred for life
It doesn’t get any better with time. Years have passed, and still the only Christmas tune I can bear to hear is Fairytale of New York. The UN should appoint a Special Rapporteur to investigate Mr Holder.
Not just Christmas,
I was working in the records section of a department store when 'Amazing Grace' on pipes and drums first became a hit. The manager insisted it be played constantly. Although I love the pipes (esp. The Black Bear), to this day I can't stand 'Amazing Grace' in any form.
Re: It doesn’t get any better with time.
That much is obvious: how /does/ one improve on perfection? I'm an unashamed fan of that song ever since I first heard it some time in the 1800s. Still can't remember the lyrics, though.
It isn't Christmas....
...until I hear this on the radio. This year that was today at about quarter to 2. Iiiiiiiiiiiittttt'ssssss Chriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssstmaaaaaaaaaaaasssssss, let the festivities begin Neville.
Tolerant planet this.
3 Billion people have been subjected to this globally?
It's a miracle that we haven't been invaded, stomped into the ground and had all our recording studios confiscated by a multinational coalition formed from Every Other Country In The Entire Bleedin' World.......
title goes here
i'd make a joke about MIME-type for that video, but that'd be a cheap shot.
Yes, but...
...what about the attempt to get Killing In The Name to Christmas number 1? Surely 720,000 Facebookers makes it count as a tech news story? I think they actually have a chance you know!
"Suffered"? Hey, c'mon, El Reg, it's not that bad...
...though I suppose it's just a story demanding to be written in that oh-so-loveable smartassed El Reg style. Still, I wouldn't have you any other way.
I'm an old Slade fan from back in my high-school days -- yeah, a Deadhead who digs Slade, go figure -- and I have to admit with embarassment that I only heard "Merry Christmas, Everybody" for the first time early this year; of course, Slade never got really huge here in the States (a lot of critics pissed and moaned about them being "too British"), so "Merry Christmas, Everybody" never made it over here. I'm totally down with Sam Tana on this one, though; what a sweet tune -- sweet, but not cloying; a great party tune, but not brazen about it (like "Mama Weer All Crazee Now").
Granted, I've heard very little of modern British Christmas music, but if "Merry Christmas, Everybody" is any indication, it's certainly a cut above the crap we're saddled with over here ever year. The only other one I recall right off is Jethro Tull's Christmas single from the mid '70s -- I forget the title -- which I also loved; a bit of classic Ian Anderson snark.
(pint of beer icon, because El Reg has no Noddy's Top Hat Icon)
Jethro Tull
Ring Out, Solstice Bells, I believe; definitely a cut above, that one. Recently we've had Christmas No. 1s inflicted by the hype of the X Factor, which has just about killed the whole process.
oh, yeah, that's absolutely a great one, but...
...it was another one I was trying to remember -- it was one where Anderson takes a mean shot at materialistic, drunken people at Christmas parties.
But, yeah, "Ring Out" is a really fine one -- especially if, like myself, you're not really a Christian and prefer to celebrate the Solstice instead. Something about a two-weeks-long party complete with dancing virgin maidens and homebrew that really does me good. Those Druids really knew how to do it up, huh?
Another one indeed...
Tull have several that might fit the bill, but it's probably A Christmas Song
("When you're stuffing yourselves at the Christmas parties,
You just laugh when I tell you to take a running jump;
you're missing the point I'm sure does not need making,
that Christmas spirit is not what you drink.)
or maybe Another Christmas Song
("How many wars you fighting out there, this winter's morning?
Maybe it's always time for another Christmas song.")
Hey, Santa! Pass us that bottle, will ya?
You mean...
... "Just Another Christmas Song" by the Tull
"Hey, Santa. Pass us that bottle!"
and you thought terrorism was the new threat
Neo-sladism is in the mainstream (A warning from history: http://www.state51.co.uk/phat/sladism.html).
D'ahh ha ha ha ha hahhh
Oh, man; that's freakin' _rich_... especially considering that, iirc, they'd had one comeback around 1980ish, and finally hung it up around '91.
Ironic, though, as sadly, Hill and Powell were at last report still touring as "Slade" with a forgettable bass player and some other guitarist who's trying to fill Noddy's boots by simply playing really loud and howling like a maniac. Sorry, dude, there's more to it than that. I caught some footage of Dave, Don, and Two Other Guys on YouTube recently, and what a goddamn' loud, sloppy FAIL. I mean, jeez, it's not like Hill and Powell really need the money anymore, is it? I mean, c'mon, you guys; it was a blast, a helluva party for about twenty years, but it's finished. Why can't you just kick back and enjoy getting honorary doctorates and growing old gracefully, like Noddy'n'Jim?
Better than the xcraptor
A classic - lets make it number 1 this Christmas
Have you heard...
...The Christmas single by Bob Dylan??
As mad as a bag of Badgers!!
But up beat and catchy.
@Have you heard...
Bob Dylan has blatantly ripped off Schnitzelbank by The Animaniacs...
Thanks
Now I'll have that going round in my head all evening :(
I still have an original 45 somewhere, bought by a well-meaning family friend 'for the children'...
Ah well, everybody's havin' fun...
It's a classic
I wonder if today's junk will still be played in 35 years time? Proud to admit is was the first ever single I bought back in Xmas 1973, real singles pressed on vinyl, remember those.
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Noddy Holder belting out this this terrific song.
Absolutely
Oh yes, I'm sure the latest X-craptor winning track will still be around in 35 years. What was his name... oh, forgotten already.
If I had a time machine...
If I invented a time machine, sod going back to watch the crucifixion or looking at dinosaurs. I'd go back and find Noddy Holder's father while he was still a boy and irradiate his testicles, just to get rid of that bloody song.
Cheesy but..
It's still a classic - upbeat, cheery, celebratory, a bit of a laugh, all the things that Christmas is meant to be. It says a lot about music that even after 35+ years it's still going strong just about everywhere in the world. Me, I love it, and Merry Christmas to Noddy and they boys
Merry Christmas everybody!
As another paid-up member of the old farts club, I can assure you that in 1973 we needed all the halp we could get to cheer ourselves up, and this song went some way towards doing that. Another activity that helped was the entire team disappearing down the pub for several hours one day close to Christmas Eve. I can't recall exactly what day it was, althought I do recall that the boss was furious, but couldn't fire everyone.
@ Hugh G. Rection
'As another paid-up member of the old farts club, I can assure you that in 1973 we needed all the halp we could get to cheer ourselves up, and this song went some way towards doing that'
So what you're basically saying is that Noddy's song is perfect for today's Brownian economy.
@mike...
I think the next pint goes to you for figuring the context for this (f)article precisely. Then, the next pint goes to me because I'm thirsty...
Good song!
However, the *ONLY* Christmas song allowed to be played before Christmas Day itself is Fairytale of New York by The Pogues.
"You're a bum, you're a punk!"
"You're an old slut on junk! Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed."
See? Bit of Christmas cheer...
Ah yes
"You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot
Happy Chrismas your arse, I just pray it's our last."
Kirsty MacColl had a great way with lyrics(*), and is sadly missed. Come to think of it, it was 9 years ago this week that she was killed :( I'll raise a glass to her.
*(Always liked the line from another one of her songs "I put you on a pedestal, you put me on the pill". Now /that's/ social commentary).
A way with lyrics
A great way with the delivery I'll agree and the same words wouldn't have the effect sung by anyone else, but she didn't write them. New England was a Billy Bragg song, and of course he sang it from the male perspective. You are right about the social commentary though, what else do you expect from Billy Bragg.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1554602
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jphA05ka6E
Mind you as a youngster, when I first heard it, the Kirsty version, I was just amused that they got away with having "bloody" in it, how times change.
Of course you're not allowed to hear those lyrics from Fairytale any more, muted out on the music channels so they are, taking the Beebs lead and impeccable timing, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/18/faiytale_censorship/, but not backing down like the Beeb did.
How about a mass request to the music channels to play it, in full, on Friday.
Raising a glass to Kirsty's memory.
Bard of Barking
Sorry Steve, that last was from New England, courtesy of one William of Bragg
Cheers
Raising a glass to Kirsty's memory.
I'm not much of a fan boy and I've only been emotionally affected by the death of two musicians, mainly because I suspect they would have been great people to have a drink with; one was Ian Dury and the Kirsty.
Thanks girl!
Christmas?
As one of the 30,000 people who heard them play it as part of their 1980 Reading Festival set, on August Bank Holiday, I can say that, given the right alcohol threshold, it pretty much works all year round.
One of the better ones
Compared to most of the crap that's put out as Christmas records, Slade stand out as one of the better ones. If I hear certain Christmas tunes on the radio (including any of Sir Cliff's offerings) then I turn off or tune to something else. This one does at least have a decent tune and captures the fun part of the season.
As the song says...
The old ones are the best.... (Well, they're old for me anyway)
Merry Christmas Everybody - Slade;
Lonely this Christmas - Mud;
I wish it could be Christmas Everyday - Wizzard;
Stop the Cavalry - Jona Lewie;
Mistletoe and Wine - Cliff Richard;
Last Christmas - Wham;
Let them Know it's Christmas - Band Aid (Original)
All of these, and a few more, piss over any recent Chrismas "hit"... Especially X-Craptor. And these will still be played for years to come.
BTW.... I find it really funny when die hard X Factor fans can't even remember who won X Factor before Alexandria Burke.... In a year, they'll even forget about her too!
snowy title bit
I know when it's Christmas when I hear Stop the Cavalry
Humbug
This song has 2 effects on me. (1) it makes me want to rip the person responsible for this music selection limb from limb, and (2) it without fail conjures up a huge elephant in the room, namely the billions of people who plainly _won't_ be having fun at Christmas, for whatever reason. So this piece of crassness doesn't bring any cheer whatsoever, it's just brainless and annoying. As it was probably meant to be. (On a par in annoyingness with Live and Let Die with the fabulous line "this world in which we live in". Why aren't people throwing rotten vegetables at P.McC. when he sings this crapulence??)
Oh Pleeze
You think it's bad listening to it.? Imagine what it was like being a teenager in the 70's with a surname of Slade...
No matter how original and funny you think you are I and my namesakes have heard all the puns before !
Mr. Slade, ...
... as someone who was christened Richard Burton in the late sixties, you have my sympathy.
Pair of whiners
"Mr. Slade, ...
... as someone who was christened Richard Burton in the late sixties, you have my sympathy"
You should see what it's like for me.
J. Christ.
Best Xmassong ever.
It's just a pity Slade are remembered for this one song rather than any other of their great tunes.
Hard to think it was way back in 1973 when it went straight to number one and still sounds fresh today.
Give me this over any of that X factor crap any day.
Noddy is a Legend
He should have a statue on the fourth plinth of Trafalger Sq.
The nation salutes you.
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