Matt Trzcinski’s career in journalism began in high school when he started writing for local newspapers. He’s been a film critic since 2012 and joined the Showbiz Cheat Sheet team in 2019 where he specializes in classic rock and pop music. He loves the larger-than-life personalities in both genres, which provide ample fodder in books and interviews for behind-the-scenes information our readers want to know. Matt has expertise in acts such as The Beatles and The Monkees.
Matt is a Tufts University graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Film and Media Studies. In his free time, he participates in the Boston Horror Society, a group devoted to horror films. He also enjoys reading the work of critics including Roger Ebert and Chuck Klosterman and authors J.D. Salinger, Edgar Allen Poe, and Franz Kafka. See more of Matt’s work on Screen Rant, Cinema Axis, Taste of Cinema, American Songwriter, and his Muck Rack profile.
"Holiday Road" by Lindsey Buckingham fit a sequence from ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’ that Buckingham had not seen. He later turned down the opportunity to do a ‘Ghostbusters’ theme.
One of the rock songs in the Christmas canon is "Holiday Road" by Lindsey Buckingham. The tune is fun but it doesn't deserve a place on any Christmas playlist.
Madonna produced a popular cover of a classic Christmas song. However, some radio stations prefer to play Madonna’s “Holiday” than her Christmas music.
The best Christmas music can be endlessly reinterpreted. Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby" might be one of those songs that covers shouldn't reinvent too much.
The Jonas Brothers were kind of a 2000s equivalent of The Jackson 5. Interestingly, the Jonas Brothers' Christmas song is directly connected to Michael Jackson.
Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby" uses a dignified old-school pop sound in service of a goofy novelty hit. The writer of "Santa Baby" wasn’t impressed with his own song at first.
Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby" has inspired many different renditions, including one by Madonna. The Queen of Pop's cover had a significant impact on the careers of other singers.
If anyone knew how to write songs destined to be covered, it was the members of The Beatles. John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" inspired a Celine Dion cover.
While ‘Friday the 13th’ was not a critical success, it inspired numerous slasher movies that came after it. One was a Christmas horror movie about a killer Santa Claus.
Despite the religious connotations of the holiday, few Christmas horror movies have stirred up much controversy. A Santa Claus horror movie proved there are exceptions to every rule.
Christmas is supposedly about joy, so it's surprising that there are so many Christmas horror movies. Perhaps we need some darker movies to capture the downsides of the holidays.
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas Canon" is a shockingly cynical rebrand of an earlier piece of music. The tune is awful — but it'll stick with us forever.
You wouldn't expect to use the phrases "Fiona Apple" and "killer Santa Claus" in the same sentence. However, Apple's father played a killer Santa in the early 1980s.
After Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” came out in 1994, the canon of Christmas music remained closed for the next 20 years. In 2014, Ariana Grande released “Santa Tell Me,” her first Christmas single. The song’s writers had a lot of faith in the tune. Here’s a look at whether or …