“Various Artists” – Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics

Genre – Comedy/Holiday

Label – Sony

Quick Take: Frozen Concentrate of South Park

Get it if: Your family can tolerate profanity on Christmas Day.

Don’t get it if: You’re easily offended.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Sure, Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics has been around for a while, but so has most holiday music and the word “classic” is right there in the title. I’ve been searching for some good music to review for this holiday season and since I’ve been a fan of South Park since the beginning of the series I figure it’d be a great time to revisit some true modern-day Christmas classics. Well, let me not get too carried away here. You probably won’t hear any of these songs being pumped out of the PA of your local shopping mall, but they are funny and irreverent take on the genre. If you’ve seen the special on TV, the album takes that soundtrack and expands it with 7 additional songs.

First of all, I need to warn that most of the content is offensive. I mean, O-FFEN-SIVE. Sure, a talking/singing Christmas poo already borders on the limits of good taste, but when you have Adolf Hitler himself, singing O Tannenbaum which leads into an upbeat Christmas Time In Hell with Satan leading the chorus, you may want to think hard about who’s stocking you stuff with this album. Mr. Garrison telling non-Christians around the world, Merry F***ing Christmas, is pretty much the pinnacle of off-color comedy. Aside from the over-the-top numbers, I think the collection really does well with the more conventional covers of Christmas classics sung by some of the South Park characters. Eric Cartman’s version of O Holy Night, is just brilliant and Mr. Mackey’s Carol Of The Bells is laugh-out-loud funny.

As far as parodies go, the South Park crew did a fantastic job of maintaining a really high creative standard and doing a top-notch job with the recording and production. I can’t think of a better way to ring in the holiday spirit, however you might want to make sure the eggnog is thoroughly spiked.

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