It's that special, joyful time of year once again: GuitarWorld.com readers' poll season!
This year, we've decided to spread some musical holiday cheer in the form of our first-ever "Best Holiday Rock Song" readers' poll.
It's a chance for all those classic-rock holiday favorites (think of the Kinks' "Father Christmas" and/or Greg Lake's "I Believe in Father Christmas") to go head to head against each other, not to mention several much more recent—and possibly harder-rocking entries—in a festive, friendly showdown.
With the help of several members of the Guitar World staff, we've selected 32 of our favorite holiday rock songs—and we're asking you to vote for your favorites. You can see the complete 32-song bracket near the bottom of this story.
Songs include Keith Richards' version of "Run Rudolph Run," John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," Billy Squier's "Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You," AC/DC's "Mistress for Christmas," Adam Sandler's "The Chanukah Song," Queen's "Thank God It’s Christmas," Spinal Tap's "Christmas with the Devil," Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," the Pretenders' "2000 Miles," the Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping," Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Christmas All Over Again," Korn's "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" and many more.
We'll be a sharing a new matchup every day, right into late December, including weekends. so get your voting fingers ready!
Enjoy our first Best Holiday Rock Song readers' poll, which is sponsored by Boss!
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Today's Matchup
“I Believe in Father Christmas," Greg Lake
As one third of Seventies prog-rock trio Emerson Lake and Palmer, Greg Lake wrote and sang such classics as “Lucky Man” and “Still, You Turn Me On." A young Lake believes in Father Christmas.
“Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You," Billy Squier
Scoring massive hits in the early Eighties with “The Stroke," “Lonely Is the Night” and “Everybody Wants You," Billy Squier was, briefly, rock’s shining light. In this classic video, he stops by MTV to spread some holiday cheer.
Vote Now!
The polls are closed! "I Believe in Father Christmas" (Greg Lake) has advanced to the next round.
Here's how the bracket was—very unscientifically—compiled.
We drew the songs' names out of a hat (It was, in fact, a Quebec Nordiques baseball cap, which is called a casquette in Quebec) to help us create our bracket, which is available for your viewing pleasure below. Obviously, none of these songs are ranked or come from a previously compiled list, so we chose purely random matchups to have as little impact as possible on the final outcome.
Remember that, as with any poll, genre might occasionally clash against genre, so you'll just need to decide which song has (or has had) the most to offer within its genre.
As always, you can vote only once per matchup (once per device, that is), and we'll be posting matchups pretty much every day of the month, sometimes more than once per day, just to give you an early warning. Merci!
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