5 great rock and roll Christmas songs

The holiday season should be a time of happiness and joy. But listening to the same old Christmas song can be quite a bore. Add some rock and roll flare to your celebrations with some great rock and roll Christmas-themed music.

One of the best rock and roll Christmas songs is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town." Recorded during a concert at CW Post College in 1975, the song was initially released on a Sesame Street album In Harmony 2 1981. Four years later it would show up on the B-Side of "My Hometown." The song has since received much radio airplay each holiday season and appears on Billboard magazine's Hot Single Recurrents each year.

The best parts of the song include Springsteen asking saxophonist Clarence Clemons if he has been practicing real hard so Santa will bring him a new saxophone and Clemon's "Ho ho hos" in the background causing Springsteen to begin laughing while trying to continue singing. The song is a concert favorite that the band traditionally plays to conclude performances during November and December.

Another rock and roll Christmas song gained popularity when it was featured in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' "It's Christmas All Over Again" is a great song that Petty teamed up with fellow Traveling Wilbury member Jeff Lynne in the style of another band member, George Harrison. It has also been featured in Jingle All the Way (1996) and Four Christmases (2009).

In 1983, the Pretenders released their holiday song "2000 Miles." The song is a sweet telling of a woman who longs to be near her love during the holidays. While it is considered a Christmas song, singer Chrissie Hynde wrote the song for the Pretenders' guitarist and founding member James Honeyman-Scott, who died of an overdose in 1982.

U2 covers "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," a song originally sung by Darlene Love in the 1960s. The band first played the song during a sound check at a 1987 show in Glasgow, Scotland, as part of the Joshua Tree tour. The song has been covered by many great artists, including The Foo Fighters, Jon Bon Jovi, Michael Bublé, and more. Cher recorded the song as a duet with Love in 2023, bringing her story full circle as she sang back up on Love's original recording.

You can get more rockin' than "Run Rudolph Run" covered by Lemmy, Billy Biggons, and Dave Grohl. Featured on the We Wish You a Metal Christmas and a Headbanging New Year album, the song was originally written and recorded by Chuck Berry, with credit to Johnny Marks, who has the trademark on the character Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Have a fabulous Christmas season with these an many more rockin' Christmas favorites.