Last-Christmas.com
Photo: Brandon Page

In the canon of Christmas songs, there are standards ("Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"), staples (anything by Bing Crosby, "Do They Know It's Christmas?," Eazy-E's "Merry Muthaf---in' Xmas"), novelty numbers (Elmo & Patsy's "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"), avant-garde choices (the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York," the entirety of Sufjan Stevens'Songs for Christmas collection) and tunes that just defy classification (Run-D.M.C's "Christmas in Hollis," anything Mannheim Steamroller and Trans-Siberian Orchestra have churned out).

And then there are songs like "Last Christmas," a harmless, inconsequential holiday ditty released in 1984 by Wham!, the British pop duo comprised of a pre-Faith George Michael and a pre-obscurity Andrew Ridgeley.

The song itself is fairly unremarkable: a Christmas song that's only superficially about Christmas, containing little more than four-plus minutes of gauzy synth lines, breezy vocals and even more breezy lyrics about holiday heartache ("Last Christmas/ I gave you my heart/ But the very next day you gave it away").

In fact, it wasn't even the most popular Christmas song released in 1984 (that would be the aforementioned charity blockbuster "Do They Know It's Christmas?"). And yet, in the 22 years since it hit the airwaves, "Last Christmas" has become one of the most-covered Christmas tunes in recent memory, with more than 200 artists paying tribute to its, er, majesty.

Why? We have no idea.

And neither do Alex Liebold and Adam Cote, the masterminds of Last-Christmas.com, a Web site dedicated to collecting the best of those covers. Since launching on December 1, the duo have posted 135 different versions of "Last Christmas" — with a total running time of well over nine hours — for, well, for whatever reason.

"In the simplest sense, this project began last year when I was trying to find holiday songs to play at work, and I was shocked to find more than three versions of 'Last Christmas,' " Liebold told MTV News. "It's just a ridiculous concept. Finding four versions is really funny, and eight versions is funnier still. It became almost compulsive to find one more ... and then one more.

"But in discussing my collection with others, there seemed to be a complete lack of understanding as to why the song had so many iterations. Few would claim it as their favorite song, and few would say they hated it," he continued. "It just happens to be on everyone's holiday mix, whether they like reggae or trance or explicit squirrels. In a more academic sense, perhaps its popularity comes from its unobtrusiveness: It is obviously related to Christmastime, but only superficially; it is both hopeful and spiteful; it's musically interesting but not difficult to perform."

Um, exactly. And despite (or perhaps because of) the song's "unobtrusiveness," the site has already compiled an impressive who's-who of "Last Christmas" coverers, a list including but not limited to Jimmy Eat World, Carrie Underwood, Travis, Crazy Frog, the Manic Street Preachers, Erlend Øye, Mr. Methane (whose flatulence-heavy version is truly, uh, breathtaking) and the Cheetah Girls. And thanks to visitor submissions and suggestions, that list is growing daily.

Of course, with the ever-growing list comes ever-growing responsibilities, and Liebold claims the duo — who work together at a social-marketing firm in Providence, Rhode Island — spend between two and three hours a day working on the site. And the majority of that time is spent debunking various visitor-generated myths about artists covering "Last Christmas."

"No matter how many times we say it, the Beatles never performed a version — it's amazing that people think that," Liebold said. "Also, people have a hard time believing that the Human Nature version is not 'NSYNC or the Backstreet Boys. So we compiled a list called 'Artists That Have Not Covered "Last Christmas," ' both to help out, and as a non-confrontational way of encouraging those artists to cover the song."

And despite the mounting headaches, Liebold and Cote remain fascinated by the appeal of "Last Christmas" and plan on updating Last-Christmas.com with new versions of the song until December 25, when they'll have posted somewhere in the neighborhood of 175 different renditions. Though, much like the song's appeal, they can't really explain why.

"We've asked ourselves that question ever since we started," Liebold said. "Why are there even three different versions [of the song]? Or eight? Do the artists not realize how many versions exist and think they're doing something new? And what made 'Last Christmas' a holiday classic in the first place?

"We're gonna have over 175 versions, at over 10 hours of playing time, when this whole thing is done," he concluded. "Not too shabby for a 20-year-old song."

• Wham!

Bobby Brown is scheduled to be released on Thursday (March 25) from the Massachusetts jail holding him for missing several child-support payments. Brown paid the $63,000 he owed but is ordered to stand before Judge Paula Carey on Friday for further inquiry into how Brown plans to make future payments, since his reason for not making the earlier payments was that he had no job or assets. ...

Hilary Duff has pulled out of her deal to develop a sitcom for CBS. According to Duff's spokesperson, producers Nina Wass and Gene Stein ("Less Than Perfect") failed to come up with a script the singer/actress liked. ... Howie Day was arrested early Thursday in Madison, Wisconsin, for allegedly using physical contact to stop a woman from leaving his tour bus and another from calling the police. After being jailed on charges of disorderly contact, criminal damage to property and intimidation of a victim, Day was released on $850 bail. The singer, who is touring with the Barenaked Ladies, was ordered to appear in court on April 1. ...

Aretha Franklin was released from Sinai-Grace Hospital on Wednesday, five days after she was admitted for a severe allergic reaction to antibiotics. The legendary singer released a statement thanking her doctors and the many friends who supported her, including Chaka Khan, Clive Davis, and Ron and Lee Maten. Franklin went home just in time to celebrate her 62nd birthday with friends and family, "taking it real easy," on Thursday. ... Marc Anthony has responded to tabloid reports about his broken marriage to Dayanara Torres and alleged relationship with Jennifer Lopez with a heated personal message on his Web site. "Let me start by saying that even having to write this letter goes against everything that I believe in, for I have always cherished and protected my privacy," the letter begins. The singer later adds, "The specifics about my marriage and who I was with while I was separated is nobody's business. But I would like to make clear that the fact that the demise of my marriage is being blamed on infidelity is laughable." About Lopez, he writes, "The fact that Jennifer Lopez has been unjustly dragged into this is wrong. In no way, shape or form did she have anything to do with the rupture of my marriage. I want to make that 100 percent clear." ...

Ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic has written a book called "Of Grunge & Government: Let's Fix This Broken Democracy!," which is scheduled for release in September. The book, part memoir, part political dissertation, will be published by Akashic Books/RDV Books. Novoselic is currently actively involved with various political organizations including Music for America, which encourages young people to vote. ... Korn have released a remix of their latest single, "Y'All Want a Single," with commentary from Howard Stern on www.korn.com. The embattled disc jockey has used the anti-record and radio industry track as something of an anthem in recent weeks, as he has been waging a war against the FCC and Clear Channel, which pulled Stern's morning radio show off its stations last month. ...

Kim Mathers, Eminem's ex-wife, was back in a Macomb County Jail Tuesday after dropping out of a court-mandated drug-treatment program. Mathers was released from jail to the program on March 1 but left well short of her 90-day term. The sentence stems from her guilty plea to drug and traffic charges. ... Downhill Battle, the group that organized the "Grey Tuesday" online protest in support of Danger Mouse's The Grey Album, have launched a virtual record label for outlawed music. BannedMusic.org will offer peer-to-peer network downloads of albums targeted by the RIAA and publishing companies for not having been legally cleared. The site is currently offering The Grey Album, the Metallica/ Jay-Z mash-up The Double Black Album and a mix-CD history of sampled music. ...

Bassists who are miffed about not being called to audition for Metallica can seek solace in being invited to try out for Disturbed. Of course, the two audition sessions are open, so everyone's invited, but that's beside the point. The first audition will be in Los Angeles on Saturday at a rehearsal studio called the Swinghouse and the second will be in Chicago on April 4 at the club Oasis One Sixty. The band's former bassist, Fuzz, left in December because of personality conflicts. ... Courtney Love's glass coffin from her "Mono" video, in which she arises from a fairytale-like beauty sleep, is being auctioned off on eBay. The highest bidder will also be the proud owner of the pink "sugar" satin pillow, flower wreath, and pink assorted flowers which were inside. ...

In January, Elvis Costello started shopping around a book proposal, and his witty write-up has paid off. Costello now has a two-book deal in place with Simon & Schuster, which said in a statement that he "resisted the rewards for writing a traditionally scurrilous and scandalous biographical memoir" and will instead focus on a work of semi-fiction, due next year, that takes its cue from the styles, themes and characters found in his lyrics. His second book, "How to Play the Guitar, Sing Loudly and Impress Girls ... or Boys," would be a "work of comic philosophy" about taking a more punk approach to learning music. ... Mudvayne — Chad Gray, Greg Tribbett, Ryan Martinie and Matt McDonough (no stage names this time around) — are working on their third album in a rented ranch in northern California. The band will appear on Sunday's episode of HBO's "The Sopranos," in a scene where AJ attends a Mudvayne concert. ...   Following in the footsteps of Culture Club, ABBA and Billy Joel, George Michael and his former musical mate Andrew Ridgeley are fielding offers from producers wanting to do a musical about their '80s group Wham! ... System of a Down have recruited Bad Acid Trip, political rapper Saul Williams and Hella drummer Zach Hill to open up their Armenian Genocide awareness benefit on April 24 in Los Angeles. ...

A retooled lineup of punk pioneers MC5, featuring Michael Davis, Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson along with a rotating cast of special guest musicians, will hit the road for a tour this spring. Dates will be announced shortly, but confirmed collaborators include Evan Dando, Mark Arm of Mudhoney and Marshall Crenshaw. Meanwhile, "Sonic Revolution," a documentary on the band's history and influence, will be released on DVD on July 6. ... The first single from the Roots' upcoming Okayplayer compilation will be "Take It Back" from rapper Skillz. The collection, due in May, includes new music from artists affiliated with the Philly hip-hop group. ...

Lou Reed will be one of several artists presenting new fiction works at "Where's My Democracy?," a reading supporting the political-action committee Downtown for Democracy, in New York Thursday night. Other readers include authors Dave Eggers, Jonathan Safran Foer and Colson Whitehead. ...

03.24.2004

Is Christina Aguilera following Britney's lead and heading to the altar? Rumors have been spreading that X-tina is getting hitched to her boyfriend, Jordan Bratman, after she started sporting some diamond bling on her engagement-ring finger, but both Bratman and the singer's representatives say that the rumors are false, and they're not engaged. ...

Aretha Franklin remains hospitalized at Detroit's Sinai-Grace Hospital following a severe allergic reaction to antibiotics, The Associated Press reports, but the illness is not expected to have any lasting effects. "I am resting comfortably and responding very well," the singer said in a statement. She felt ill after returning from a tour on Saturday and was subsequently found to have a reduced platelet count. ... Now that she's recovered from her knee injury, Britney Spears resumed her Onyx Hotel Tour Tuesday in Atlanta. Her postponed dates have been rescheduled, with the missed Chicago date now taking place April 13, and her scrapped Detroit show set for April 14. All tickets for the original dates will be honored for the new shows, according to her record label. Meanwhile, the full-length black gown Spears wears for her Showtime live concert promos is being auctioned off on eBay. The Roberto Cavalli dress auction closes on March 30, two days after the concert, with all proceeds benefiting the Britney Spears Foundation. ...

On Monday, MTV News mistakenly reported here that Outkast, Beyoncé, Missy Elliott, Alicia Keys and Fefe Dobson would perform at the "TRL" Awards on April 13. While those artists will in fact appear on the show, no announcement has been made yet regarding performances. We regret the error. ... After a couple of memorable appearances in New York last week, Courtney Love called Howard Stern's radio show Monday and Wednesday to rant about charges against her, the coverage it elicited, and how she's dealing with the stress of it all, which is to say, not very well. On Wednesday, Love wept about Michelle Malkin's syndicated op-ed piece that ran in hundreds of newspapers that day, accusing her of being out of control and closing with the comment, "Poor little Frances counts the days until she officially becomes an orphan." Love sobbed on Stern, "I want to retire, I want to go to France ... get my kid and go." After she regained a bit of composure, she added, "I don't care what they say about me, as long as they don't talk about the kid." ...

N.E.R.D. celebrated the release of their second album, Fly or Die, with a warehouse party in Brooklyn, New York, Tuesday night. The band performed an hour-long set at midnight on the back of a flatbed truck across from a half-pipe full of skateboarding fans. The crowd consisted mostly of local hipsters who were all given free tickets the day before the show. Backstage, Pharrell Williams confirmed that he and Neptunes production partner Chad Hugo have been producing tracks under a new name, though he wouldn't divulge exactly what it was. Meanwhile, the tandem's label, Star Trak, officially moves to its new home, Interscope Records, next week. ... Just three weeks before the Pixies kick off their reunion tour in Minneapolis, bassist Kim Deal will head out with her other band, the Breeders, for a jaunt of her own. Beginning Wednesday (March 24) in Fairfax, California, Deal and crew will play seven dates in the Bay Area and Southern California, ending with an April 1 show at Los Angeles' Spaceland. ... Meanwhile, the Pixies have been tapped to headline the Bumbershoot Festival on September 6 in Seattle. ...

If your dream is to sing next to a legend, you have a shot this week. Patti LaBelle is holding auditions for backup singers Thursday through Saturday for her upcoming world tour. Tryouts start promptly at 11 a.m. each day at Indre Studios in Philadelphia. ... Dame Dash just signed junior middleweight boxing champion Ronald "Winky" Wright to an endorsement deal with Roc-A-Wear's State Property clothing line. You may remember Winky wore the State Property logo on his trunks recently when he defeated "Sugar" Shane Mosley. ...

Chuck D isn't impressed with Kanye West's success. The Public Enemy frontman wrote on his Web site that he was wondering how "somebody gets top-notch producer credits for speeding up old records." He also questioned Kanye's rapping abilities, saying, "I think his lyrics are decent but 85 [percent] of cats rhymin' have the same voice with little difference in cadence. That's like the NBA having 200 six-foot point guards." ... Kurupt has set a June 29 release date for his latest album, Death Row Presents Kurupt - Against the Grain. The release is the first collection of original material from Death Row Records (apparently back to the moniker after a stint as Tha Row) in eight years. ...

Rancid's Tim Armstrong co-wrote the lead single, "What I Want," from Autopilot Off's major-label debut, Make a Sound. The album is due April 13. ... Dokken will release their new studio album, Hell to Pay, on May 18. The disc is the follow-up to 2002's Long Way Home. ...

Sting will tour with Annie Lennox starting June 27 in Camden, New Jersey. The 42-date trek runs through October 12 in Calgary, Alberta. ... About a month before his first album in seven years, You Are the Quarry, drops, Morrissey will set up shop in Los Angeles for a five-night residency at the Wiltern Theatre, beginning April 22. The album's first single, "Irish Blood, English Heart," has just begun to surface at radio. ... Early tracks by Coldplay, Bright Eyes, the Polyphonic Spree and Death Cab for Cutie are complied on Decade: Ten Years of Fierce Panda. The U.K. indie-label anthology is set for release April 20, almost 10 years to the day of the label's inaugural release, the compilation EP Shagging in the Streets. ...

• Bobby Brown
• Hilary Duff
• Marc Anthony
• Jennifer Lopez
• Disturbed