I love a good Christmas song as much as the next person, but I don’t suddenly wipe off all the eyeliner come December first! As much as I enjoy the classics, these alternative Christmas songs fit in more with my style of music. After all, I live everyday like it’s Halloween!
Here are 12 alternative and emo Christmas songs to get you in the festive season, even if you’re missing Halloween. You might also like these rock Christmas covers.
12 Days Of Alternative Christmas Songs
1. Yule Shoot Your Eye Out – Fall Out Boy
One of the comments says this is “the opposite of All I Want for Christmas,” and I see their point!
Yule Shoot Your Eyes has an old school Fall Out Boy sound. A common Christmas song theme is songs about exes, and this is no different. Fall Out Boy’s sound has changed considerable since this song came out, but a lot of fans love to revisit it every holiday season.
Fun fact: back in my teenage emo days, I got to meet FOB, and Pete Wentz winked at me!
2. Alone This Holiday – The Used
Alone This Holiday came out in 2002. It reportedly features vocals from Kelly Osbourne, according to Genius.
Unlike conventional Christmas songs, rock Christmas songs tend to cover the darker parts of the season. It’s not always good to dwell, but it is validating.
3. It’s Not Snowing – The Broken Kings
I have a feeling that the majorty of readers will have never heard of TBK, and that’s fine! The Broken Kings are the remaining members of Fearless Vampire Killers (minus Kier and Shane) after they split.
FVK are one of my favourite bands, and featured on my emo school survival songs playlist and Halloween songs, so although they’re gone, of course I’m gonna support TBK (and Inklings) with my little Lost Heart forever.
Most of these alternative Christmas songs are pretty negative and depressing, but we’re emo here, so what do you expect?
4. Happy Holidays, You Bastard – Blink-182
I’m not even gonna say anything about this alternative Christmas carol except what else could you expect from Blink-182?
6. XMAS SUX – Frank Iero
I’m not actually sure if this was with Leathermouth or another one of Frank Iero’s side projects but… it’s a very angry rock Christmas song for all the scrooges out there!
7. Merry Christmas I Missed You So Much – Taking Back Sunday
I couldn’t write an emo Christmas songs list without featuring Taking Back Sunday.
TBS penned a mellow acoustic song for the holiday season, but unlike some of the other bands on this list who decided to be a bit…crude, they actually wrote a nice festive love song.
8. Thank God It’s Christmas – Queen
This song became a Christmas classic, but I don’t think it quite hit the same level as John Lennon’s War is Over, or Paul McCartney’s Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime. Personally, I don’t hear it played on the radio nearly near as much as other big Christmas songs, which is a shame.
I work in retail, so I haven’t thought “Thank God it’s Christmas in a few years” – I think, “oh shit, it’s Christmas.” Please be nice to retail staff.
9. The Bad List – Z Berg and Ryan Ross
Z Berg an Ryan Ross’ Christmas song is a bit of a downer but beautiful nonetheless. The video is just amazing too, I love the concept.
10. Oh Noel – I Don’t Know How But They Found Me
Yet another ex-Panic! at the Disco member with some Christmas music! IDKHOW actually have a whole EP of alternative Christmas songs, and Dallon himself released a few too, so technially this could have been a list of “Alternative Christmas Songs by Dallon Weekes” but that would have a very small niche.
As much as I love Christmas Drag, and their cover of Merry Christmas Everybody, I’m a sucker for a good sad song which is why Oh Noel is my favourite. I also love the gritty 80s home video vibe of the videos from this EP which make it feel more nostalgic.
11. Every Snowflake is Different – My Chemical Romance
Gerard Way is dad of the year. His daughter was a big fan of Yo Gaba Gaba at the time, and he wrote a Christmas song and appeared on the show! 16-year-old me was puzzled when they dropped this not-so alternative Christmas carol but honestly it’s adorable.
12. The Fuck (What’s This?) Parody – The Nightmare Before Christmas
I remember seeing the original Tumblr post back in my angsty teenage years and thought it was hilarious when someone made this video based on it. I often listen to The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack around Halloween and Christmas. This version still makes me laugh.
Disney released Nightmare Revisited a few years ago, which is full of covers of the soundtrack from bands like Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, and Rise Against. Disney would not approve of this version…
13. All I Want For Christmas Is You – My Chemical Romance
I love the original Mariah Carey version of this song as much as the next person, but this is not only my favourite on this emo Christmas songs list, it’s probably my favourite Christmas carol ever!
People who don’t like My Chemical Romance, or this genre will definitely find this rock Christmas song hard to listen to.
I’ve been joking every Christmas that all I want is MCR, but we had a Halloween miracle in 2019!
What are your favourite alternative Christmas songs? Also, what regular Christmas songs do you like?
You might like to add these books by rock stars to your Christmas list. You might also like these alternative and horror Christmas movies.
Thank you for this list. I’ll need to share a few of these on my Facebook page. I love Christmas music and I love a good laugh and having options to break up the norm.
You can’t go wrong with an alternative Christmas song. Last year my partner and I found a few metal and black metal Christmas songs to listen too. Made our Christmas so much better. We’ll have to try some of your suggestions this Christmas
I haven’t heard any of these before! I actually don’t listen to a lot of Christmas music because I get so bored of them every year. Will definitely give these a listen! X
https://www.femaleoriginal.com
I’ve never been a huge fan of Christmas songs, So having a good alternative is great,
GR | https://www.thegreat.uk
What a wonderful list! Although I’m very much an ATL fan girl at heart, my favourite alternative Christmas song is Ho Ho Hopefully by The Maine but to be fair it’s probably a fave any time of year!
Hayley | http://www.thriceuponadream.com
I haven’t heard any of these!! I’ve been stuck on Lindsey Stirling’s Christmas album though 😉
I love her version of Phantom of the Opera!
Great choices!!! I love alternative than the usual tradition songs and will be listening to these all night! Emma x
I’ve never heard of these Christmas songs before. I’m definitely going to be checking them out!
I love Christmas music, but I’m always looking for alternatives to the same 3 old songs that get played on the radio over & over! Fun post!
I gotta admit that I never heard any of these before but I do like the All I want for Christmas is you by My Chemical Romance. My favorite christmas song is Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande and Mistletoe by Justin Bieber. 😅
Love these suggestions! I forgot about Shane’s Christmas videos. I also came across Corey Tailor – Xmas on twitter. It’s amazing!
I love fall out boy and had no idea they’d done a christmas song. Same with shane dawson im going to have to give some of these a listen
I absolutely needed this! Awesome list!!
Oooh! I haven’t heard of FOB in forever!! They were totally my high school vibe, hehe. You can’t go wrong with All Time Low as well. Oh man, this gives me some major throwbacks. I didn’t know that Shane Dawson made music too! That is pretty cool. Thanks for sharing these selections!
Nancy ♥ exquisitely.me
I didn’t know this was a thing! I didn’t even know that bands I love, like Queen and My Chemical Romance had Christmas songs :O thank you for this!
aimlief
Very interesting choices. I love the classics, but I do love to change it up! These make a nice alternate for tradition.
I cannot help it; I cracked up listening to more then one of these! A twist away from the classics is wonderful; the many ways people see Christmas and sing about it is fascinating.
I work in retail too, and I’m really happy to have something else to listen to when I’m feeling festive at home. The same old songs for eight hours a day are getting, well, old. So thanks for this list!
I’ve never heard of these songs! I’ll have to check some of them out soon. Happy holidays!
Whats this is epic.. and ANYTHING by MCR is just worth having on repeat.. thankyou for this you took me back to me teenage years!! 😀 xx
Fun post! I’ll have to check these out. Never really thought of mixing it up a little but that should be a good holiday addition! Thanks for sharing.
Interesting list! Never heard these songs before. They sure are different lol
I love Queens Thank god it’s christmas and it’s on my play list every year 🙂
The rest was mostly unknown to me so I’ll have to check them out (even if I’m very stubborn with my christmas music) thanks for sharing.
wait, I never knew that shane made music!? I’m a huge fan of the all time low christmas song, but I’m going to definitely have to listen to shane’s christmas songs! Great recommendations 🙂 xxx
Melina | http://www.melinaelisa.com
Shane had a phase in 2012ish where he wanted to be a singer, and it didn’t go all that well but he had some good songs
This is brilliant! I’ve always loved MCR’s version of All I Want for Christmas.
I never knew Shane had released Xmas songs – just listened for the first time and they’re so cringey but hilarious! 🙂
my fav one of these has to be kiss my ass – all time low x
great post! merry christmas kiss my ass is one of my favorite songs!
mich / simplymich.com
LOL!! I love this! I adore Queen’s Christmas song and play it probably way too much! XD I never knew Shane did songs!!! That man is just so cool!
YASSSSSS MCR ❤️ So fucking happy they’ve got back together aswell 😁 my music taste hasn’t changed since I was a teen 🤣 I’m 28 now!
What a great topic for a post. This is going to keep me from having “Last Christmas” stuck in my head for the next three weeks, thanks!
Love queen! Great post can’t wait to check them all out!
You’re list was not what I was expected but that’s why I loved it so much!
This list is awesome. I love Christmas songs that are different or done by unexpected artists (like MCR).