Christmas at Ground Zero (song)

Christmas at Ground Zero is a 1987 spoof of the Phil Spector produced Christmas songs. The spoof is performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic. The song is upbeat with lyrics that impose stereotypical Christmas activities to the backdrop of surviving in a nuclear holocaust.

Production
The song was the result of the Scotti Brothers Record company insisting that Weird Al do a Christmas Album. He was reluctant but the label insisted so he created Christmas at Ground Zero and sent it to them as an idea of the album. It wasn't what they where expected and the label relented. Weird Al expressed a desire to have it published as a commercial single, and the label refused. He then used his own funds to create a low budget music video of the song, which was a success and resulted in the Scotti Brothers releasing it as a single.

Reception
Initial reception was positive until 9/11 where the media began to use the term 'Ground Zero' in association with the site of the September 11 attacks. To which Weird Al had this to say; "The sad part is, I can’t really play the song live anymore because too many people misunderstand the connotations of Ground Zero. It’s not a reference to 9/11, obviously. It was written in 1987 when “ground zero” just meant the epicenter of a nuclear attack."

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