Christmas music has always done the inverse of what it’s supposed to for me. So naturally, I was pleased when I heard about a new documentary called Jingle Bell Rocks!, which celebrates the best and weirdest holiday music you’ve never heard, and follows the record collectors who crate-dig to save these vintage oddities. The Mitchell Kezin-directed doc — which is out this week in select screenings as well as via DVD, cable VOD, and digitally — features characters including John Waters (known for his bizarre Christmas album), The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne (who’s behind the Christmas on Mars film), and Run-D.M.C. (known for “Christmas in Hollis”). But record collectors are at the heart of the movie, so we asked one of them to put together a mix of excellent Christmas music you’ve probably never heard and will undoubtedly find more appealing than those tired “Jingle Bells.”
By day, Marissa DeSantis, pictured above, works in marketing for Cleveland’s Great Lakes Brewery, one of the best regional breweries in America that just so happens to be known for its wildly delicious Christmas Ale. By night, she’s known as “The Christmas Girl” at her neighborhood record store. She put together an all-lady Christmas rarities playlist for Flavorwire, which you can stream in all its punk and ’60s girl-group glory below.
- “Teenage Christmas” – Eux Autres
- “Love For Christmas” – The Gems
- “All I Want For Christmas Is Your Love” – Dee Irwin and Mamie Galore
- “Christmas Is The Time To Be With Your Baby” – The Orchids
- “Gee Whiz It’s Christmas” – Carla Thomas
- “It’s A Marshmallow World” – Darlene Love
- “Santa, Teach Me To Dance” – Debbie & The Darnells
- “Snowman, Snowman, Sweet Potato Nose” – The Jaynetts
- “I’ve Fallen In Love With A Snowman” – Millie Small
- “I Want A Boy For Christmas” – Del Vetts
- “I Wish You A Merry Christmas” – Little Eva
- “Six Days Till Xmas” – Betty Lloyd
“Before I fell in love with vinyl, I fell in love with Christmas,” DeSantis tells Flavorwire. “I’m fortunate to have only the warmest, most positive associations with the holiday. When I was a teenager my mom found me a copy of the Rankin/Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special (my favorite) on vinyl, and it inspired me to start building a collection of all the seasonal songs that brought me so much joy as a kid. As much as I revel in finding something rare or obscure, the ubiquitous classics of my youth are just as valuable to me.”
“I thought this mix was a good opportunity to showcase some of the great girls of Christmas,” she continues. “As I started structuring the list, I noticed a teeny-bopper thread emerging, so I decided to kick it off with a more contemporary track to set that tone. My goal was to create a fun, listenable little playlist that might inspire some more girls out there to make the next great Christmas song. I’ve dabbled in the art of Christmas songwriting, so maybe one of my future mixes will include a few tracks of my own.”