The Best (and Worst) Omnipresent Christmas Music

Being unemployed (and having people tell me that I don't have to be in any rush to find a job) I'm spending a lot of time by myself. That is, I'm spending an impressive amount of time watching television. Coming from living in Chile with limited channels and an obsession with Dr. 90210, the world of choices and movies and DVR have left me on commercial overload. And it's working. I hear a song, and I know that I'm supposed to buy something. The bell is ringing, and I am a dog.

These songs were chosen to be included in ads ad movies for a reason, for their catchy quality, their nostalgia, or their "hip" beats. And they're everywhere. They just opened a Starbucks in my neighborhood, and those crazy kids and obligatorially blaring their overpriced itunes playlist/ixed CD. But the fact is, no matter how hard I try to hate what Christmas has become, and how much the music feeds into it, some of the songs are just really good. They make me happy to be home. So what's the best? What should you play at your next holiday party and not have peole hate you? Here you go:

1) God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen: Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLaughlan
I heard this in Starbucks today, and I just love those Canadians. They managed to spice up a tired oldie, that I always hear sung by a men's choir. It's good times, trust me.
2) Stars: The Weepies
This is the song from the Old Navy commercial, and it's very sweet, if not an actual Christmas song. They also have a song in the JCPenney commercial (all that I want), which coincidentally is on the same album as the above song. And their song "The World Spins Madly On" is awesome, but overplayed on hip television shows. Commercialism at its best!
3) Please Come Home for Christmas: Charles Brown
Now, this song is overplayed on the movie circuit. But I'd come home if Charles Brown sang to me, and that's that.
4) River: Joni Mitchell, Indigo Girls or Travis (my personal favorite) versions
This is always played at the sentimental point in the movie, and that annoys me. It's a truly beautiful tune, and should just be appreciated for that.
5) A Change at Christmas: The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips brought us Yoshimi, and then they brought us this. And it's awesome.

Honorable Mentions:
-Carol of the Bells
-Santa Claus is Coming to Town (Bruce Spingsteen)
-Christmastime is Here (A Charlie Brown Christmas)
-Keep Christmas With You (Christmas Eve on Sesame Street)

And the worst:

1) All I Want for Christmas is You: Mariah Carey (or whichever wannabe is singing it at the moment)
This was a great song. A new classic, if you will. But right after that little girl sang it in Love Actually, it should have gone to sleep. Out of movies, off of tv shows and absent from ads. But instead, it became just as tired as all of the other Christmas standbys, which is really a shame.
2) Santa Baby: Whoever
I so fucking hate this song I can hardly stand it. It's everywhere, it's endless and it makes me want to rip my ears off my head and sling them at the poor shop workers peddling their soap or scarves or slippers wearing hideous outfits, even though it's probably their boss making them play it. This is the worst Christmas song in the world. It should be shot.
3) All Alone on Christmas: The Holiday Express
See above. Only replace "shops" with "movies", which makes the whole sentence somewhat nonsensical. But whatever, that's how much I hate this song.
4) Blue Christmas: Elvis
You know what? I hate Elvis. There, I said it.
5) Grandma Got Runover By a Reindeer
Is so truly idiotic....

In my very intense research, I stumbled upon this article about selling out, or Beyonce-ing as I like to call it (that HDTV commercial...are you kidding?). The use something called "The Moby Quotient" (hee) to calculate sell-out-ness of music as used in commercials (how does my beloved Wilco measure up?).