Alternative Christmas

Bah-humbug! For those of you out there who thought maybe Scrooge had a point and need shelter from the endless bombardment of carols and cheesy Christmas covers, here's a playlist straight from Yuletide's left field. The Flaming Lips wonder if it's beyond the capacity of the human race to feel Xmas sympathy for those who suffer, Barenaked Ladies sing of a "Green Christmas," and No Doubt raises everyone's spirits with some ska on "Oi to the World." If Santa's getting you down, our Next Steps will cheer you up . . .

Our sideways Christmas continues as Universal Honey put a touching spin on a traditional carol ("Three Ships"), Sarah McLachlan joins Diana Krall under the tree for a mellow-melancholy rendition of "Christmas Time Is Here," and Stars' reference to butchery suggests the outfit is not overly concerned with romantic clichés, like chestnuts roasting on an open fire, on "Christmas Song." 'Tis the season to be jolly angry . . . in Deep Cuts.

There's nothing like a dose of punk to cut through the holiday nonsense — and the Vandals do just that with "A Gun for Christmas." Alt-country outfit the Be Good Tanyas gently persuade us to consider the lives of people forced to sleep under a newspaper blanket at Christmas with "Rudy," their tale of a red-nosed wino, and Pilate tackles big-city Christmas despair in a similar vein with a lilting cover of "Fairytale of New York."

We know how you feel about Christmas — where some people see good cheer, you see hollow jollity; where there's tinsel, you see tarnish; and in place of a rosy-cheeked, white bearded, red-suited barrel of fun from the North Pole, you see a fat alcoholic in an ill-fitting costume fronting yet another tacky commercial assault on the nation's collective wallet. Still, you feel happy, mainly because all the artists on this Alternative Christmas Essentials playlist feel pretty much the same way that you do, and they've tickled the underbelly of Yuletide so that even the most cynical among you can raise a glass and a smile.