First of all, thanks to Whitney at Pop Candy, USA Today’s culture blog, for the 3rd year in a row, she’s been kind enough to give us a mention! If you’re visiting us from there, “hello!” and keep checking in throughout the month for amazing awesomeness. The M-Z set from 2006 is acting strange, but we’ll fix that asap.

Secondly, I’ve been thinking for sometime about the original version. Without it, we wouldn’t be here, obviously, but what sort of status does it take now that so many other artists have covered it? Is it the bar by which all other versions are measured? That’s likely debatable, as opinions are mixed on whether the original is even worth ONE cover. Has it become the Helvetica of Christmas music, the ultimate form of holiday music perfection through which all other artists are now free to express themselves? Or does it suffer the opposite, where it is now the blank canvas from which we hope other artists to work over top of? For instance, at this point, for us at LCHQ, there’s a definite plus to hearing something new being done with the song. Have we stripped the original from all it’s qualities that first made it so appealing? Are we completely over-thinking this ridiculous Christmas song? Maybe, but we wouldn’t be here without it!

Ok, now that we’ve composed ourselves, let’s get down to business…Exile must be one of Japan’s hottest acts. Their intro page claims 2008 as the year of perfection! This page even shows that their single for “Last Christmas” is already out of print and unavailable after being out for less than a month. Japan and Germany simply cannot get enough of this song, that’s for sure. At any rate, Exile deliver a pretty straightforward pop cover sung in Japanese. They sound good.

Exile – Last Christmas


Ok so, reflecting on what we were saying earlier, about what’s become of the original version, well, this next version feels like it picks up on that notion musically. And more likely, is trying to say something about pop music in general by labeling it as “Meaningless Name” and having a vocal bit at the end about people falling dead in the streets. Of course, we could be over-thinking this as well, and maybe this was made to trick people into thinking their cd players are broken.

Meaningless Name – Last Christmas


This one is labeled as Wham!, but it’s not, and we can’t place the female vocals it comes from. After three years, can you blame us?

Wham! – Last Christmas (Electro Mix)

Here we have an offering from The Twang, which is not this The Twang, but rather the German (!!!) Pioneers of Countrification as they like to call themselves. Their albums are full of countrified hits, like “Seven Nation Army”, “Oops I Did It Again” or the dazzling “I Just Called to Say I Love You.”

The Twang – Last Christmas

This track is available off their amazingly named tour holiday e.p. “A Fistful of Presents” now available here

Genetic Sequence aka DJ Mattrick was kind enough to send us his version recently. He explains that he made “a heavy techstep version in 2003, opinions were polarised but I have to say on the whole, people were into it.” So are we Matt! Visit his many sites and check out his many other projects and wish him a hearty “merry Christmas!”

Genetic Sequence – Last Christmas

We’re having a lot of fun today folks. First, we had a mention in Philebrity on Thursday. Second, what an insane mix of versions we have today! We also want to admit, that we may have led you astray…when we first estimated our count for the year, we said our total count “won’t be nearly as impressive as last years.” Lucky for you, we couldn’t have been more wrong! All thanks to a mysterious benefactor who has been filling our inbox with HUNDREDS of versions. We have also arranged a special treat for you guys, which we’ll offer next week, and it’s a doozy, seriously, come back a week from today and poop your pants at its awesomeness.

but right now, time for big mix 5…

We’d like to start by thanking The Walrus for doing a fun interview with us the other day. The Walrus has a lot of fun posts ranging from ’60s psych rock to new indie stuff to anything else you need to know about. Check ‘em out! And while we might have embellished a little about upcoming interviews with Fox News and MSNBC, we do have some other treats coming this year that we’re super excited about. Stay tuned!

And if you’re so inclined, listen in on KNDD tonight (approx 6:30pm EST) for some Last Christmas shenanigans!

Now if you’re like us, you’ve come to a point in the game where you’re feeling a little overwhelmed at 220 versions of the same song. Or maybe some of you missed all the fun last year and you’re not sure where to begin. Either way, we’ve come to a decision and need your help, dear reader. We’d like to package a “Best Of” with your suggestions, so please comment here or email us your top 10 versions and we’ll re-feature them in a special post. Sound good? Good.

If Plas-Tick’s electro-pop version sounds so good, you feel like you’ve heard it before, you have! Most people agree that last year Mon)tag offered one of the best, most genuinely distinct versions of the lot, so you can’t really blame Plas-Tick for wanting to base their cover on a surefire winner.

Berlin based Plas-Tick just released a Christmas EP (complete with Karaoke version of “Last Christmas”) which you can order from their site. UPDATE: This track is also available as part of a free downloadable album, Electric Fantastic Christmas available here

Plas-Tick – Last Christmas


So this isn’t so much a band, as a party. At least that’s what we’ve been told. Mr. Creed held a party to record Christmas tunes, and that sounds awesome to us. I think that technically classifies this as choir music. To us anyways.

More joy awaits you on their Myspace!

Ryan Creed Family Christmas Players – Last Christmas


Even after trying to navigate their Italian webpage, I still have no idea who or what Pork Band is. This particular recording is a live adaptation in which they decide to change “Last Christmas” to “La Scrima”…ok, I’m cool with that. And judging by the squeaky fart at 2:54 and the monologue halfway through, I’m guessing they’re some sort of comedy band?

Buttloads of Pork Band mp3s available here

Pork Band – La Scrima