VA - Punk Rock Xmas (1995)

This is not your father's Christmas music. Or even your little sister's Backstreet Boys sugarplum-fairy dream dancing in her head. But it is a galvanizing collection of 18 cuts deep in the heart of the season, by some of the finest punk bands from rock's '70s and '80s days of rage. As much a profile of the legendary bands that made the music world safe for alternative rock a decade later, Punk Rock Xmas withstands the decibels of time with a number of outstanding performances. The Dickies rant and rave on "Silent Night" and Stiff Little Fingers reprise "White Christmas" with a vengeance, while blokes from the Sex Pistols and Thin Lizzy called the Greedies turn out a blistering "Merry Jingle." Fear spit out a nasty four-letter sentiment that's 45 seconds short, the Ramones weigh in with "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)," and Mojo Nixon, El Vez, and sundry others gleefully reinvent and deconstruct the sound and wounds of the season. A real stocking ripper. --Martin Keller