Harkpodcast

This week on HARK we return to a musical genre we haven't heard in a while - hip-hop - and do we even have to tell you at this point that the results were mixed? RJ adores the lollygagging "Landy In my Eggnog" by Bad Lucc enough for the both of us, while our opinions are more united on the brief but baffling "Hanukkah (My Favorite Time of the Year)" by Too $hort,

This week we take a request from a dear friend who wanted us to suffer through two poorly-told musical tales of Christmas disillusionment: "Where Are You Christmas?" by Faith Hill and "Silver Bells" by Kathie Lee Gifford featuring Regis Philbin. Join us on this journey through talk show banter and music video hairstyles of yesteryear. Thank you to Mindy for the request!

It's a hot one here on HARK when we cover two Christmas songs about sunshine and fun times. Also about being selfish and rubbing oil on a country music star. We listened to "Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum" by Jimmy Buffett and "All I Want For Christmas Is a Real Good Tan" by Kenny Chesney, and we're still mad about it. This is the MBMBAM bit that partially inspired this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YklkGhtAFmM

This week on HARK, we're not celebrating a holiday... we're celebrating a Holliday. It's Ian's birthday! When the birthday boy is given free reign over song selection, he puts forth two familiar Christmas tunes from his childhood, the always-classic "Let It Snow" by Dean Martin and the never-classic "Christmas Dinner Country Style" by Bing Crosby.

This week, we add another language to our list - we're celebrating holiday songs in French in honor of Bastille Day! While we're not able to shed too much light on the cultural context (and our mastery of the language is... it's just the worst), join us for two very enjoyable chansons en français, "Un Flambeau, Jeanette, Isabella" as performed by Diane Taraz and "Petit Papa Noel" by Tino Rossi.

This week we cover two requests from our # 1 fan timemachine, who followed up on the theme of a previous episode which... well... you'll know which one. We discuss the genre-ruining "Santa Stole My Girlfriend" by The Maine and the surprisingly less surreal but still slightly off "Santa's Beard" by They Might Be Giants. Thanks again to timemachine for the requests!

It's Canada Day and Nickelback still doesn't have a holiday album, so we're covering two original Christmas songs by previously-featured Canadian pop stars, Carly Rae Jepsen and Justin Bieber. RJ has accepted the gospel of Carly into their heart, but Ian is skeptical. We resolve our differences and learn a valuable lesson about sneaking into people's bedrooms to leave them clothing(don't do it).

After 75 episodes and 150 songs, we're finally opening the seal on an unforgettable album: A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector. By request, we discuss Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)", an actual-factual top-of-the-list contender. We pair it with Death Cab For Cutie's more subdued version of the same song, what may be the least terrible of cover versions. Your mileage may vary. Thank you to Chris for the request!

This week we cover our 150th song, and you know what that means! Ian & RJ surprise each other with their picks for the top and bottom of the list. Ian goes for number one with a simple but evocative indie tune. RJ looks for the worst of the worst and lands on a little ditty sponsored by the Koch brothers.

It's the second week of our fortnight celebration of the 1960s! We cover two classics from The Beach Boys' Christmas Album, "Little Saint Nick" and "The Man With All The Toys". Revelations follow.

For the next two weeks we'll be addressing one of the more neglected decades on our list - the 1960s. This week we cover two songs that you might call Christmas music cult classics - "Close Your Mouth It's Christmas" by The Free Design and "Rudolph Pouts" by Israfel's Son.

By listener request, we tackle two Christmas songs from cartoon characters: "When the Saints Go Marching In" performed by the voice of Sailor Moon, Kotono Mitsuishi, and the novelty standard "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" performed by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. as The Chipmunks. Whether you find these tunes cute or cloying may depend on your level of nostalgia - listen in to hear which one causes our biggest ranking disagreement yet. Thank you to listener CJ for the request!

Join us, herald angels, for a sequel of sorts - our second Beatles-themed episode, this time featuring holiday songs written and performed by George and Ringo. If you want knowledgeable analysis of music greats, look elsewhere. If you want more Hogwarts house chatter and at least one sick McCartney burn, tune in.

Multiple people, or possibly one persistent person, requested this week's first song, "It's Called Christmas with a Capital C" by Go Fish. Because they hate us and our happiness, I guess? After suffering through it, we seek an antidote in the form of Eric Idle's extremely rude "Fuck Christmas".

May the... well, you know. This episode is all about Star Wars Day, which means we listened to some truly terrible holiday music - "What Do You Get a Wookiee For Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb)" by some nobody droids that no one cares about, and "A Day To Celebrate" by Carrie Fisher, which is a shining beacon of Life Day spirit in comparison.

This week we cover a request for a familiar song in a new context: "When You Wish Upon a Star", performed by Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket, which has apparently gained Christmas classic status because of its inclusion in a Disney special aired annually in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. We also listen to a song by Disney Channel Original Series star Kyle Massey which involves someone yelling "REMIX!" Thank you to settlechaos711 for requesting "When You Wish Upon a Star"!

It's our 4/20 episode, man. Time to blaze up that menorah and smoke some Christmas trees. We dive into what might be two of the best songs in the surprisingly large and unsurprisingly mediocre world of marijuana-themed holiday music: "Scary F**cked Up Christmas" by Garfunkel and Oates and "Pot in the Latkes" by MC Flow.

It's the most wonderful time of the year... for audiophiles! Record Store Day has rolled around again, and we celebrate with songs from albums purchased this past Christmas at one of our local independent music stores - Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" (the album, not the song), and "It's A Holiday Soul Party" by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.

This week marks a first for HARK as we cover a song performed by a listener! "The Angel Gabriel" by PC Muñoz is a modern take on a centuries-old carol, and we pair it up with another slick update on a classic song - "Dreidel" by Erran Baron Cohen featuring Jules Brookes and Y-Love.

Gosh, we can't wait to celebrate the holidays happening this week! Let's see, the first week of April, that means it's... oh. Oh no. Oh no, no no. For April Fools Day, we have given ourselves the unpleasant task of covering two holiday song parodies. Hear us gnash our teeth as "12 Pains of Christmas" by Bob Rivers teaches us true despair, and "Chanukah Honey" by Rachel Bloom is, you know, also not our favorite.