Friday, July 25, 2025, 4:18PM | 
MENU
Advertisement

'Grandma Got Run Over' hardly music to listeners' ears

'Grandma Got Run Over' hardly music to listeners' ears

A little advice: When friends and relatives come visiting around Christmas, don't haul out those old CDs with Madonna's rendition of "Santa Baby" or Barbra Streisand's "Jingle Bells?" And by all means, avoid "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."

Unless, that is, you want to drive people away.

In the vast songbook of seasonal music, those recordings are Christmas poison, the sonic equivalent of a chorus of screeching cats. They are among the most-hated Christmas songs of all time.

Advertisement

This isn't just our frankly subjective opinion. It's the frankly subjective opinion of representative samplings of radio listeners, which makes it sort of, kind of scientific. Not one, but two research companies -- Edison Media Research and Pinnacle Media Worldwide -- independently surveyed listeners to divine their most loved and loathed holiday songs.

The most beloved songs in both surveys were often standards: Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" (he first recorded it in 1942); Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" (1946) and Burl Ives' "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (1965) turned up at the top of each company's lists of favorites.

Which leads to Christmas Music Observation No. 1: Despite all the new holiday music that is released each year, people prefer hearing the "classics."

Music analysts Sean Ross and Mark Carlson say adults have strong psychological ties to the Christmas music of their childhoods. "It's the season of nostalgia," says California-based Pinnacle's Carlson. Ross, of New Jersey-based Edison, says that some of these songs have stayed in popular consciousness because they're part of holiday TV specials and movies that reappear year after year.

Advertisement

Among the most-hated Christmas songs, according to Edison's research, are Streisand's "Jingle Bells?" (too "acrobatic," Ross ventures); the Jackson 5's "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (Ross: "I wonder if it's a vote about Michael Jackson"); Elmo & Patsy's "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"; and "O Holy Night," as butchered by the cartoon character Eric Cartman (voiced by Trey Parker) from Comedy Central's "South Park."

And the No. 1 most-hated Christmastime recording? That would be "Jingle Bells," as "performed" by the Singing Dogs. This 1955 Danish record (re-edited and rereleased in 1970) is just what the name and group say it is: a bunch of dogs woofing out the familiar tune, one bark at a time.

Christmas Music Observation No. 2: People aren't crazy about singing dogs.

Pinnacle has a much different list of "most hateds," reflecting differing survey methods. "Santa Baby" by Madonna, "Merry Christmas, Darling" by the Carpenters and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" by Bruce Springsteen popped up repeatedly among the despised. (Springsteen? Despised?)

The only song that bobbed to the top of both most-disliked lists is "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."

First Published: December 15, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

RELATED
Comments Disabled For This Story
Partners
Advertisement
David Mielnicki, left, and Debbie and Jerry Santucci, owners of Cafe Notte in Emsworth.
1
life
Cafe Notte sharpens its focus after transformation via a major TV makeover show
There is a large covered porch at the front of the house at 115 Forest Hills Road in Forest Hills.
2
life
Buying Here: Forest Hills home in its own 'mini-forest' listed for $425,000
An aerial view of Hersheypark.
3
news
9-year-old dies in incident at The Boardwalk in Hersheypark
Pirates starting pitcher Johan Oviedo delivers against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023.
4
sports
Pirates Pipeline: Johan Oviedo earns 1st win since 2023 as he inches closer to MLB
New Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf, (4), hauls in a pass during practice on the first day of Steelers Training Camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe Thursday, July 24, 2025.
5
sports
Steelers training camp observations: Aaron Rodgers-DK Metcalf connection is a work in progress
Advertisement
LATEST ae
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story