'Tis the season to read Jeffrey Morgan's Media Blackout #198!

John Lennon — "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (Apple) :: Hippie.

Various Artists — We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year (Armoury) :: I may be just an old softie at heart, but even I can only take so much of Perry Como, Andy Williams and Kenny Rogers before I get a hardcore hankerin' to dreck the halls with gobs of metal. That's why I'm already listening nonstop to this 12-track compilation of carols, which features everyone from Lemmy to Alice to Dio. I'll be deaf for Christmas, if only in my screams.

Cristina — "Things Fall Apart" (ZE) :: Originally released in 1981 on ZE's A Christmas Record and still the most mentally disturbed Noël song ever released.

Rhonda Silver – "Chri$tma$ on Credit" (Silver Shadow) :: You can forget all about Eartha Kitt mewing out the high-priced "Santa Baby" for the umpteenth year in a row because this is the new torch song for today's troubled times. You'll sign up for a government bailout when you hear sultry songstress Silver croon: "You know that Santa's got the blues 'cause he ain't got no green. Looks like Mrs. Claus has picked his pockets clean!" In other words: Cash is king.

SIZZLING PLATTER OF THE WEEK: Johnny Cash — The Johnny Cash Christmas Specials 1976-1979 (Shout! Factory) :: What's the best way to have a cool Yule this year? By watching this four-disc box set containing the Man in Black's holiday television specials. Cash doing Christmas would be reason enough to watch at any time, but what really makes this a seasonal must-see is the truly eclectic line-up of guest stars, including everyone from longtime stage stalwarts June Carter and Carl Perkins to country legends Merle Travis and Roy Clark to seminal Sun rockers Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis to … stand-up comedians Andy Kaufman and Steve Martin?!?

Mr. T — "I Told You Hannibal: I Ain't Gettin' on No Sleigh!" b/w "Shut Up, You Crazy Yule!" (T-Neck) :: I love it when a Media Blackout comes together!

Be seeing you!