They Made a Christmas Album?- Advent 2018: Day 16

For an artist who has written a song about everything, it was inevitable that at some point they would do a Christmas album. I'm talking about the Price of Parody, Weird Al. The accordion playing artist has skewered Michael Jackson, Madonna, Nirvana, Coolio and created his own songs about food, Star Wars and tons more subjects in his 5 decade spanning career. His lone holiday tune is one of his original recordings and also his most controversial.

The song is called Christmas at Ground Zero. When recorded and released in 1986, the term 'ground zero' meant the direct impact of a nuclear attack. In the mid-80s, we were all scared to death of a nuclear war between the US and the Soviets. So, in demented Weird Al fashion, the artist created a Phil Spector style song that really change the meaning of the phrase 'surviving the holidays." It was meant to both relieve a little bit of tension and to mock the silly educational videos that preached how hiding under a desk would save you from the H-bomb.

Now jump to 2001 and the 9/11 attacks. Ground Zero has become the term for the World Trade Center. Many, including my wife, have thought that Weird Al's song was making fun of the events of that tragic day. But he's really not. Again, he wrote and recorded the song 15 years before the terrorist attacks. I'll let Al explain things a little more...

"The sad part is, I can’t really play the song live anymore because too many people misunderstand the connotations of Ground Zero. It’s not a reference to 9/11, obviously. It was written in 1987 when "ground zero" just meant the epicenter of a nuclear attack."

With that in mind, if you feel like the song will offend you, don't hit play. It's a very outdated song. It's also proof that good intentions turn out wrong as time goes by. Just think of all the controversy surrounding Baby, It's Cold Outside.  

So, enjoy the song if you'd like. I don't have advertisers and I don't make money off of this blog. So, there's not really anyone you can boycott if you don't like my selection for today's Advent. I'm posting the song as a sort of time capsule look at the fears and attempts to deal with the nightmare of nuclear war in the 80s. I understand that some may not agree with my decision to feature today's song. But I feel that to avoid the subject rather than brooch many sides of an argument would be just as wrong a choice. 

Try to enjoy...