(December 14, 2012) — No matter how merry you may become during the most wonderful time of the year, a hidden Grinch lies inside of us all; I will go ahead and raise my hand. Before going any further, please do not point and yell, “Holiday hater,” assume that there is no jolly bone in my body, or think that I sneer at fake Santa displays in malls. Classic tunes such as “Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer” and “Jingle Bells” have done no wrong, and my family has a great time singing them off-key. Rather, it’s the albums and singles that come out every year that feature random artists covering these song — those need to stop. Let’s be honest: most holiday albums suck. Every winter, miscellaneous singers try to pop out a new CD for the sake of checking “create junky holiday album” off of their bucket list. Why do people find the need to recreate these each year and how come it only pertains to Christmas and no other religious holiday? Their motive is beyond me. A perfect example of this heinous music is Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta’s recently released This Christmas , a Grease fan’s worst nightmare. “Why does this even exist?” repeated in my head while listening to another purposeless album; even its cover screams “tacky.” We should put together a drinking game for this. How many different ways can you listen to “Baby It’s Cold Outside” without getting annoyed? Coincidentally, as I write this article I can hear one ruined version: the sound is drifting from the television in my living room. Better down a shot of hot cocoa. No surprise that it sounds like nearly every other cover made of the same song, or possibly even worse. I cannot decide, considering they all sound the same. The most irritating aspect lays in how hardly anybody comes up with new music instead of taking a route of originality. Year after year, the same tired ditties are sung into deeper graves. At least some artists take this these songs and try to have their own special twist on it. Last year’s release of Michael Bublé’s album Christmas did not make me want to peer at it through rose-tinted glasses. I genuinely appreciated how each song was sprinkled with his jazzy flavor; those were holiday covers done right. Maybe holiday music would be more diverse if over-commercialized Santa did not get all of the attention; artists should focus on busting out Hanukkah-oriented music. What, Jews cannot jam out to countless covers of “The Dreidel Song?” Let us mix things up a little.