Mannheim Steamroller - Trans Siberian Orchestra

[pmcd9]

I don't work in retail and I haven't done a whole lot of shopping the last few Christmas seasons so I actually like Christmas music.  I love a lot of the old favorites and some of the quirky ones too.  Admittedly There's a lot of bad Christmas music, but it's mostly unoffensive to me. 

Trans Siberian Orchestra and Mannheim Steamroller on the other hand are just fuck*ng terrible.  Awful awful music.  Yet they are both wildly popular.

That's not very interesting or noteworthy I don't guess, but I'm pretty interested in the taxonomy of this music.  What brought us to this is what I want to know.  How did we get from White Christmas to Wizards in Winter?

Popular Christmas music has always followed closely along with popular music trends from whatever time period it was created.  But TSO and MS sound like they take their musical cues from The Final Countdown.

Anyway, if that topic doesn't interest you go ahead and rag on some Christmas music in general I guess.  I know that a bunch of you hate it.

[greenkoolayd]

TSO is basically Savatage and an orchestra.

[JorgeFabregas]

Manheim Steamroller has always bothered me. Especially their name. And Manhattan Transfer. Them too.

I don't hate all Christmas music, but there was this extremely overwrought version of I'll Be Home For Christmas (lots of orchestral swells and the "if only in my dreams" part at the end was more or less shouted) that was played at the grocery store I worked at for the last 6 weeks or so. It's so bad that I'd like to find the recording. I was thinking Bing Crosby, but his version on the youtubes doesn't seem to be it.

[CortJstr]

Did you just badmouth The Final Countdown? That is risking a beatdown from "The Best in the World" Bryan Danielson.



(If you don't watch the whole thing at least skip to when the guy in the yellow comes out. That is an awesome high-five technique that he employs)

[pmcd9]

Did you just badmouth The Final Countdown?

Okay, I can leave them out of it.  How about Extreme or maybe Queensryche. 

[Nabubrush]

TSO is basically Savatage and an orchestra.

That video is fucked. So is that song. So is that band.

Okay, I can leave them out of it.  How about Extreme or maybe Queensryche. 

Hey man, I liked Queensrÿche when I was 15. (Ignore the umlaut at your peril, sir.)

To be fair, though, there doesn't seem to be much difference between any of the bands mentioned here. I'm not really sure why the whole metal xmas thing took off. But, as you say, I hate xmas music.

[theinevitable]

I was so prepared to hate Christmas music when I was hearing it 8 hours a day...

but I kind of love Christmas music.

There is some that is pretty bad. But the classics are all good in my book.

[littlefallsmets]

I find myself polarized on Christmas music.

Play a Christmas song and I will probably either really love it or really hate it.

A dude is not lukewarm on the holiday songs.

[pmcd9]

I find myself polarized on Christmas music.

Play a Christmas song and I will probably either really love it or really hate it.

A dude is not lukewarm on the holiday songs.

But what about Mannheim Steamroller and Trans Siberian Orchestra specifically?

[theinevitable]

that was played at the grocery store I worked at for the last 6 weeks or so.

yo dude, join the club! (or you are saying you no longer do that?)


...but seriously, we should hang out again. be on the look-out for free events.

[Victoria Waterfield]

The best Christmas album is the Bob Dylan Christmas album. The second-best Christmas album is the Ringo Starr Christmas album.

[wombat]

There is some that is pretty bad. But the classics are all good in my book.

So when the Christmas season started and we started playing Christmas music on the satellite radio at the store, I seriously thought about quitting. Note that most weeks I only work two four hour shifts. But after ten minutes I was ready to poke my own eardrums out.

After a couple of days of that, I was manager for a shift, and I was all "oh thank god I can play Bruce Springsteen now." But the boss stopped by to pick up some stuff and said "now remember, we have to play Christmas music."

And I asked, is that the only Christmas station? And she said, there is another one, but it's more pop, like Mariah Carey. And I said, isn't there a classsical one? And she said, that's the one we've been playing - you know, Bing Crosby and stuff.

So after she left I went online and of course there is another station, with, like, choral music and so on. Classical and TRADITIONAL Christmas music.

Argh. I try not to be a snob, seriously I do, but Bing Crosby is not CLASSICAL.

The thing is, I really love Christmas music. But I mean traditional Christmas music. Like, I can still sing all the alto lines to, you know, Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Joy to the World and so on, without needing a score, despite not having been in a chorus in about a decade.  I spent formative years of my youth performing in a folk music Christmas theatrical production. I own wonderful Renaissance Christmas music CDs and wonderful folk music. Songs that people have been singing at this season for centuries.

And then someone tells me that Bing Crosby is classical Christmas music and I just want to go live in a cabin in the woods with internet.

[miles]

And then someone tells me that Bing Crosby is classical Christmas music and I just want to go live in a cabin in the woods with internet.

That's just like when my roommate tried to tell me Metallica is classic rock.

Seriously though, I don't think some people understand that, in music anyway, there is a distinction between classic and classical.

[theinevitable]

Now I am thinking of an experiment where I see how many hours I can tolerate the Charlie Brown Christmas CD on repeat.
I bet it is one million hours.

[wombat]

Seriously though, I don't think some people understand that, in music anyway, there is a distinction between classic and classical.

OK, so perhaps this is a fact about language change instead of about musical ignorance, and I should remind myself that there is no point in railing against language change.

Sigh, no, I don't think that's going to help me get through sixteen hours of that radio station next week.