I was just doing my last minute Christmas shopping. While I was browsing for random stuff (just how in the hell do you buy a present for people who make, conservatively, 300 times as much money as you and have no quirky little hobbies? Quite the etiquette puzzler, that.) I gradually became aware that the Christmas muzak was quite good this year. My problem, though, was that songs like Lost In The Supermarket, by The Clash, have some kind of tangential reference to shopping, but were sort of intended as a scathing indictment of crass consumerism. Now they help sell stuff. How does satire become co-opted by the things it satirises? Isn't it meant to work the other way? I blame the craze for irony; once you let people think they're sarcastic and funny when all they've done is watch an Austin Powers movie and sat through every episode of Buffy and Angel it's effectively telling the entire world they are worthwhile and unique vectors of comedy and insight. It is important to remember that most people really aren't. It's like the internet lets us explain how intelligent and wonderful we all are.
My Christmas message to me and everyone else with a blog: remember that you kind of suck. Ho, ho, ho.
Anyway. Back with the muzak, the Pogues Fairytale of New York does mention Christmas and have a stirring string section, but anyone listening to the bit where it goes "You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot, Merry Christmas me arse I pray God it's our last" would probably be a touch confused as to the real meaning of Christmas. Maybe muzak should stick to the carols.