Originally published at: After 39 years, Wham!'s "Last Christmas" finally reaches UK Christmas Number One - Boing Boing
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This is a sign. The End Times are upon us.
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To be fair it only reached #2 in the 1984 charts because it was up against this monster:
ETA: come to think of it I don’t think I heard the Band Aid song at all this year.
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I got sent to Whamhalla a couple weeks ago, and then was amused when Lynda Carter of all people trolled her followers on Tumblr with essentially a rickroll of it a few days before the end of it. 
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If you played Whamageddon, did you win or lose? Chances are, you probably lost, as the Christmas hit seems to be ubiquitous
I’ve heard that some sports venues in the UK play it over the P.A. system this time of year and then announce “you all just lost!”
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There was only one that I know of
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One of the US network morning shows (NBC Today Show) effed up unintentionally. The hosts started talking (a teaser) about upcoming brief segment about Whamageddon when their control room just started playing the song without the usual spoiler warning.
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That’s Boris for ya!
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I’m not entirely sure, but I think I actually didn’t hear it this year. Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is you” on the other hand…
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I actually like the Mariah Carey song, which I’ve not heard this year. Also haven’t heard John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas” or Greg Lake’s “Father Christmas”, which I miss.
On a positive note, I haven’t heard Wham or Paul McCartney’s abominations this year, so over all it’s been good.
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Same! Not until yesterday. I thought I heard it a couple of weeks ago but pretty sure it was a cover/remix, as was everything else played in that dept. store.
Same.
In both cases, I don’t remember hearing either song until years after their respective original releases.
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Unbelievably transformed into something wonderful…
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This article sums up the difference between UK and US re Christmas songs:
New York is a Christmassy town where the holiday spirit is strong, but for British people in the city at this time of year there is one sizeable drawback. Over the last few weeks, in department stores and supermarkets, on the car radio and streamer playlist, I have been reminded of the wrongness of the American holiday songbook. For anyone raised on Wham! and Wizzard played on repeat since November, it requires a small but painful annual adjustment.
It’s a curious cultural difference. If British festive music is stuck in 1984, then, ignoring Mariah Carey, as one generally must, the American equivalent hasn’t budged since 1953. It’s Perry Como doing (There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays (music to die to). It’s Frank Sinatra groaning out Silent Night at half speed and having what sounds like a very low moment during the line “holy infant”. It’s the worst rendition of O Little Town of Bethlehem I’ve ever heard (Elvis, in his depressed period) and songs by second-tier lounge singers that turn on the leery delivery of the phrase “old Saint Nick”. The only decent number on rotation this month has been the impeccable Eartha Kitt’s Santa Baby.
Nobody wants this! And yet I’m not sure Americans fully know what they’re missing. The truth of the matter is that Christmas music can only decently fall into two categories: uptempo but fundamentally wistful 80s pop, or carols from King’s. (I’ll make an exception for Chris Rea’s Driving Home for Christmas, the nearest thing we have to the doobly-boobly fare of the American songbook.) And in spite of its aptness, I’ve never once, in 15 years, heard the Pogues’ Fairytale of New York played in a branch of Target at Christmas. Humbug!
Any USians who really are unfamiliar with the UK Christmas songbook could do worse than start here:
There are several more of this ilk.
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(Manic Street Preachers also did a Last Christmas cover on TFI Friday)
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Hate the original but love the Shins cover.
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