Christmas songs that rock: from Bob Dylan to James Brown to Lady Gaga

The holiday season has resulted in vats of songs that reek like rotten eggnog.

On occasion, though, someone like Bob Dylan, James Brown or Lady Gaga gets it right.

Here's a look at 16 Christmas songs that rock.

"Run Rudolph Run," Chuck Berry: Contemporaries like Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Beach Boys all recorded great Christmas songs. But only Chuck Berry's holiday hit about the most famous reindeer of all really rocks.

"Jingle Bells," X: Published in the mid-19th century by James Lord Pierpont, this song didn't truly come alive until seminal Los Angeles punk band X got hold of the song a few years back for its two-track EP "Merry Xmas From X."

"Christmas in Hollis," Run D.M.C.: Rhyming over the riff from soul singer Clarence Carter's naughty holiday hit "Back Door Santa," the members of hip-hop kings Run D.M.C. brilliantly recall Christmas in their Queens neighborhood on this song that first introduced suburban moms to rap in 1987.


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Black Sabbath: birth of heavy metal

I find it impossible to pin down the starting point of rock 'n' roll.

Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Ike Turner, Elvis Presley, Little Richard and many others played key roles around the same time in the early 1950s and before.

But heavy metal, goes my column running in today's Herald, began on this day in 1970 with the release of "Black Sabbath."

Here's a snippet:

Ominous rainfall.

Church bells.

Thunder.

Crushing guitar riffs.

The sonic equivalent of a slow, scary journey through mental hell.

And then the ... “Oh, nooooooooooooo!” howl of lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, who sounds as if he were just thrown into a lake of fire.

Read entire piece.

Happy birthday, Little Richard

PUBLIC DOMAIN Little Richard performing at the University of Texas Forty Acres Festival in 2007.

Little Richard gave me one of my all-time greatest journalistic thrills when he sang part of "Tutti-Frutti" during an interview.

Right before the phoner ended the rock 'n' roll great said: "God bless you. God bless you and your family."

So, I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

Richard turned 78 today.

CLICK TO READ MY SUNDAY COLUMN "LONG LIVE LITTLE RICHARD"

Little Richard performing "Tutti-Frutti" in the 1956 Alan Freed film "Don't Knock the Rock."