The coming of Christ as a human being, as the Church's liturgy for Advent Sunday reminds us, is intrinsically connected with his second coming. Part of this blog's function (if it has actually had any) has been to use our festive focus on the coming of December 25th to explore humanity's fascination with looking at, searching for (and often fearing) any clearly defined end points. Quite apart from the sociology of apocalyptic speculation, the rush surrounding Christmas (and particularly any large shopping centre in the run up to the big day) can make us long for the apocalypse just to escape the chaos. Signing off the advent calendar, then, let's turn to a few moments when apocalyptic pop has gone all festive.
Weird Al Yankovic - Christmas at Ground Zero (1986)
What if they chose to drop the big one on Christmas day? Weird Al explores in typically upbeat fashion - While we dodge debris, let's trim the tree/ Underneath the mushroom cloud. This is probably the most well known festive tribute to the end of the world.
Sample lyrics: It's Christmas at ground zero
Just seconds left to go
I'll duck and cover with my Yuletide lover
Underneath the mistletoe
It's Christmas at ground zero
Now the missiles are on their way
What a crazy fluke we're gonna get nuked
On this jolly holiday
The Super Furry Animals front man imagines the last two human beings alive attempting to celebrate some form of Christmas together. Despite the dark humour of the situation, the song is strangely touching, as the two lovers uphold each other - it's his lover's "kisses" which see him through. Rhys has previously used doomsday imagery to even more staggering effect on the Super Furry Animals' "It's not the end of the world", in which apocalypse is a metaphor for the fear of two ageing lovers.
Sample lyrics:
Inside the concrete bunker Post-apocalypse Christmas We lick our wounds to kill the hunger Post-apocalypse Christmas (x4)
Even through a nuclear winter Here comes Santa on his reindeer It's the first Christmas of the post-apocalypse Post-apocalypse Christmas
Emmy the Great and Tim Wheeler - Zombie Christmas (2011)
As every other film these days is about the zombie apocalypse, why not imagine the event taking place on Christmas Eve? Ash front man Tim Wheeler and singer-songwriter Emmy the Great explore the scenario in their entertaining "Zombie Christmas" - which is probably actually one of the weaker tracks on a very, very good Christmas album ("This is Christmas"). The Shaun of the Dead style video is also a lot of fun. No doubt somebody will be along to make a film based on this scenario at any momen... What's that you say?Silent Night of the Living Deaddue out in 2013? To be fair, the talent behind it is top class, but I'll reserve judgement until I've seen the finished product.
Sample lyrics:
They don't feel the cold when it's 50 below The sit and suck the brains out in the snow And don't get caught beneath the mistletoe At the Zombie Christmas
All the angels singing, "Christmas time has come Oh man you better run, run, run" All the bells are ringing, Christmas time is here, I hate this time of year.
They came in through the chimney when the people in the house were sleeping They didn't fill the stockings and there wasn't anywhere to hide If we don't want to have our last noel, we better kick those zombies back to hell If we want to live to tell A Zombie Christmas
Sufjan Stevens - Justice Delivers its Death (2012)
To finish - a bleak but beautiful meditation on the link between our expectations of Christmas and apocalypse. On one of the standout tracks in an often bemusing (but generally wonderful) 5-disk Christmas boxset, Stevens mourns his own love of money and youth - embracing the apocalypse in the biblical sense as the coming of God's judgement and righteousness. A sombre, but appropriate place to finish.
Silver & Gold
Silver & Gold
Everyone wishes for it
How do you measure its worth?
Just by the pleasure it gives
Here on Earth
Oh, I'm getting old
Oh, I'm getting old
Everyone wishes for youth
How I have wasted my life
Trusting the pleasure it gives
Here on Earth
Lord come with fire
Lord come with fire
Everyone's wasting their time
Storing up treasure in vain
Trusting the pleasure it gives
Here on Earth
Oh, I see the end
Oh, I see the end
Everyone is waiting for death
How do you measure its worth?
Justice delivers its gift
Here on Earth
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