Christmas songs that are Norris Approved!

I love Christmas. I really do! Don't try and be a grinch with me good sir. I'm a moody, cantankerous bugger for a good chunk of the year but once December hits and the Christmas music starts being played in every supermarket across the country (including my own) I suddenly am endowed with an un-exhaustible amount of Christmas spirit. Sure many Christmas songs are cheesy but they get you excited for the big day. I'm not a fan of Mariah Carey 11 months out of the year but I defy you to listen to 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' and NOT feel like a kid on Christmas Eve.

Unfortunately not many bands/singers record Christmas songs these days. The Christmas Number One usually belongs to whoever won the X Factor or whichever charity tugged the hardest at our heartstrings. So year after year we tend to hear the same songs. Wizzard wish it was Christmas every day, Cliff dusts off his Mistletoe and Wine while Noddy screams 'IT'S CHRISTMAAAAASSS!!!' at any given opportunity. Even though it's only once a year you'd be forgiven for getting royally sick of the same tunes.

Having said that there are some songs that I really look forward to hearing. Some you may have heard before; others I'm going to guess you may not have. Hopefully my little playlist of Norris Approved Christmas songs will get you in the festive mood!

Queen- Thank God It's Christmas

For a band that are as huge as Queen, it's a mystery as to why their Christmas song is rarely if ever played on the radio. In fact you'd be forgiven for thinking that a Queen Christmas song doesn't even exist- but it does my friends. In between recording 'The Works' and 'A Kind of Magic' albums, Queen released this chilled out little track. It's really quite nice and jolly while perfectly capturing that feeling we all have on Christmas Day- thank God we finally made it!

The Darkness- Christmastime (Don't Let The Bells End)

Arguably the most well known song on my list. Back in 2003 when the Darkness were possibly the biggest band in the UK, everyone's favourite glam rockers of the new millennium decided to release a Yuletide rocker in the hope of getting Christmas Number 1. They lost out to Gary Jules and Michael Andrews' cover of 'Mad World' which had been part of the soundtrack to 'Donny Darko' but that doesn't stop this awesome song firmly cementing it's place in Christmas song history. Bonus points for the choir!

This song will always have a special place in my heart after seeing the band live in November 2011. Being we were so close to Christmas the band played this very song as it started to snow in the O2 Academy Newcastle. Meanwhile a drunken man slow danced with me throughout the whole song. Truly epic.

Madness- Inanity Over Christmas

This obscure Madness track was presumably a B-Side or something. I discovered it on a 3 track retrospective called 'The Business'. It's not the Christmassiest song I've ever heard. It's just completely insane. You can tell they had a lot of fun with it and that at the same time it was never really intended to join the likes of Slade and Band Aid. A definite must listen for fans of Suggs and co.

Michael Bolton- White Christmas

Ah 'White Christmas'... so many people have covered this song and we all know Bing Crosby recorded the definitive version. But my personal favourite version is one that I only discovered this year. Michael Bolton's version is everything you'd expect of him. If you hate him then avoid. If like me you actually secretly (and now no longer secretly) love him then you'll love it. Love it I tell you. Michael!!!

But I've saved the best for last. My personal favourite Christmas song. Until I hear this song on the radio or at work I can't truly get into the Christmas spirit. Don't ask me why, I've simply always loved it. In tribute to my very good friend Danielle Bage, here is my favourite Christmas song...

Chris Rea- Driving Home For Christmas

Pour yourself some hot chocolate, put on the fire and enjoy... unless you're actually driving home for Christmas in which case put this on IMMEDIATELY!! Chris Rea demands it!

So what do you think? Those are simply MY favourite festive tunes but maybe you have others that get you in the mood. Please tweet me @NorrisApproved3 or leave a message below or on my Facebook page.

Until next time!

In defence of: Nickelback

Canadian rockers Nickelback released their latest album 'No Fixed Address' earlier this week and took the time to announce a huge UK tour to commence in November 2015. The tour starts in Sheffield and ends in London which will certainly disappoint THIS GUY (click to follow the link). When you go to as many gigs as I have in the past your email inbox is inundated with pre-sales and ticket information regarding all the big UK tours. An email from Live Nation proudly stated that this will be Nickelback's 10th World tour. In an age when bands split up within six or seven years or never get the opportunity to shine on the big stage 10 world tours is damn impressive! It got me thinking about the redheaded stepchildren of rock. Nickelback have been around for 20 years by the time they tour next year and for a good half of that they've been maligned as one of the WORST bands in music history. My opinion? I like them. I'm certainly not alone in that perception otherwise they wouldn't have the huge success they currently enjoy. If you search 'Nickelback' on any search engine, I'm sure you'll find a million and one articles talking about how much the band suck. Admittedly some of the points they make aren't hugely inaccurate but very often some of those same points are also a part of what makes them appealing to so many of their fans.

Back in 1995 when the band formed, right through to 2001 when their breakthrough album 'Silver Side Up' was released, Nickelback were plonked into that ever irritating genre known as 'post-grunge' which you may as well call 'post-Cobain'. I get it. Nirvana were a great band. Kurt Cobain was an enigmatic artist. Why does that mean that nearly every other band post-1994 had to try and sound like him? No one was going to match Nirvana. They were on the crest of a wave and were the perfect antidote to the hair metal bands that the music buying public were tired of. The problem was that post-grunge bands weren't fun. I became a Nickelback fan in when 'How You Remind Me' was EVERYWHERE towards the end of 2001. It reached No.4 in the singles charts and I made sure to pick up their album. It had a very dark tone filled with angst and anger; the perfect soundtrack for the 15 year old me who I'd decided wasn't understood by anybody.

Fast forward a couple of albums and Nickelback were a very different band. Songs about domestic violence and dysfunctional relationships were replaced with songs about sex in the back of cars and generally living the rock and roll lifestyle. People were in shock! What happened to Nickelback? Why aren't they keeping it real? Here's the secret... they are! Once 'Silver Side Up' came out, Nickelback were catapulted into the rock stratosphere just like Linkin Park around the same time. They toured the world, rocked out in front of thousands, got drunk and likely had their pick of sex, drugs and rock and roll. So when it came time to sit down and write the next album guess what they wrote about? Bingo!

I genuinely respect it. That may sound odd but bear with me. I truly appreciate when a band/singer puts everything into what they do. I truly respect the songwriter that spills their heart on the page. But what happens next? They get recognition for their amazing work. They tour and live the rock and roll life. For many the bad times are over. Sure some may have demons to work through be it alcohol, drugs etc but there are many rock stars that would be the first to admit that the bad times in their lives are over. So what do they do? They become complacent before trying to recapture whatever it was that made them resonate with us in the first place. I always use KoRn as an example. Before I go on I want to say that I'm not bashing KoRn. Anyone who reads this and thinks I am is invited to read my previous post Surviving your Twenties before bearing in mind that their music was basically the soundtrack to that very dark time in my life. The point I want to make is that Jonathan Davis went through some horrific things in his childhood. Those first albums resonate very heavily with anyone who has suffered from depression, anxiety or had suicidal thoughts. The problem is once the band became the huge name they are today the motivation to be downbeat had gone. They were rich and were doing what they loved in front of millions of fans. Those dark days were a million miles away. Without downplaying what JD has been through in his life, the band writing the same kind of songs they did in their 20s now in 2014 comes off as trying to recapture something they once had. Nickelback writing about getting pissed and shagging everything in sight is a more genuine approximation of where Chad Kroeger and co are at this stage in their lives. They're freaking rockstars and that makes their music more honest than most.

Ok so perhaps that's what they want me to think. Maybe Chad Kroeger sits backstage with a ginger tea and finger sandwiches and it's all an image. If so I can promise you they aren't the first band to do that. They're just one of the few to be doing it in the modern music landscape. A band like Airbourne can down beers on stage and shout about how rock and roll will never die... but Nickelback can't? At this point we come to a huge part of the anti-Nickelback movement: Chad Kroeger. Yes it seems that some people don't so much have a problem with the band as their ever present frontman. Yes it seems the general consensus is that Chad is an utter twat. This opinion wasn't helped by the fact that he married Avril Lavigne of all people. So let's see... a rock band with an arrogant front man who sing about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll (for the most part), who despite hatred from the critics play huge stadiums across the globe. Sound like anyone else we know?

So perhaps Nickelback are following the Kiss method of being rock stars. Let's be honest it's working... and you know what? I'd sooner buy a Nickelback album than a lot of the other successful stuff out at the moment. Sure it's simplistic but so is AC/DC. Sure the lyrics are extremely sexually suggestive while slipping by completely unnoticed by most ('I'll come for you but only if you want me to' anyone?) but then Aerosmith were always pretty good at that themselves. Sorry haters, I have a feeling Nickelback will be around for a while- they're one of the few rock bands flying the flag for rock's long standing motto:

Agree? Disagree? I wanna hear from you! Tweet me @NorrisApproved3 or leave a message in my Facebook group. Ciao for now!