Billy Squier opened the door for Christmas rock videos in 1981.
George Thorogood and the Destroyers strolled through that door two years later and found themselves in the middle of another holiday party at the MTV studios.
This was no sweet sing-along like Squier’s.
NO, THIS WAS A PARTY.
At 0:35, “Let’s have a rock and roll Christmas just like we used to know!” George Thorogood goes through the door and is handed his guitar by MTV DJ Martha Quinn.
At 0:42, “Go, Santa, go, go go!” That’s bluesman John Lee Hooker as Santa.
At 1:10, “I’ll meet you by the mistletoe!” MTV DJ Alan Hunter holds the mistletoe high aloft and gets a smooch from a young lady.
At 1:17, “Go Santa!” John Lee Hooker gets his groove on, twisting the night away during Hank “Hurricane” Carter’s sax solo.
At 1:57, “I’ll meet you by the mistletoe!” MTV DJ Mark Goodman gets into the action, holding the mistletoe high aloft and getting a more vigorous smooch from another young lady.
At 2:00, “We’ll rock around the tree! Go, Santa, go, go, go!” A young lady grabs John Lee Hooker and they start swinging.
What a blast.
“Rock and Roll Christmas” was released as a single in 1983, (1985 in Australia and New Zealand), 1987 and 1993, always with “New Year’s Eve Party” (which I’ve never heard) on the B side. It, too, has been included on countless holiday compilation CDs and records.
For you collectors and/or completists, the 1987 promo single release came out on red and green vinyl, and the 1993 jukebox single release was on red vinyl.
Until this evening, I didn’t know — or didn’t remember — that “Rock and Roll Christmas” was produced by Dave Edmunds, the great Welsh rocker who’s one of my all-time favorites.