#bob rivers

[caeric-arclight]

The only Christmas song I need....

[harkpodcast]

4/20 nice nice nice it's the fucking weed day man fuck

This week we listened to "Be Claus I Got High" by Bob Rivers and "I'll Be Stoned for Christmas" by Dent May. Did you think we were out of weed holiday songs after last year? We are not even out of weed holiday songs by Bob Rivers.

[snowflakesonchristmas]

270 days until Christmas 🎄

[sleepyleftistdemon]

(via Walkin' 'Round in Women's Underwear - YouTube)

Today’s song going through my head

[why5x5]

[greensparty]

Holiday Songs from Rockers We Lost in 2025

We lost some great musicians this year. As I play some holiday music (Christmas, Hanukkah, etc), I’m reminded of some great holiday chestnuts from those we lost in 2025. Here are some:

Buster Poindexter "Zat You Santa Claus"

In March we lost David Johansen. As his alter ego Buster Poindexter he did this 1987 holiday song. It needs to be added that he also appeared in the holiday classic Scrooged!

Bob Rivers "12 Pains of Christmas"

In March we lost radio personality and song parodist Bob Rivers. Among his comedy albums was the hit Twisted Christmas, featuring this 1987 Xmas novelty!

Blondie "Yuletide Throwdown"

In April we lost Blondie drummer Clem Burke. In 1981, Blondie and Fab 5 Freddy did this rare holiday song to the music of "Rapture" and it was reissued in 2021.

The Alarm "Happy Christmas (War is Over)"

In April we lost The Alarm singer Mike Peters. In 1990, the band covered John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Xmas classic.

Sly Stone, Haven Gillespie and J Fred Coots "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"

In June we lost Sly Stone, who did a cover of this Xmas standard in 2023.

The Beach Boys "Little Saint Nick"

In June we lost Brian Wilson. While he was with The Beach Boys, they did more than a few holiday songs including this 1963 gem!

Spinal Tap "Christmas With the Devil"

While it was a good year for Spinal Tap fans (the movie re-release and the sequel release), but a sad year in that we lost David Kaff (who played keyboardist Vic Savage) in July and director / co-writer of the films Rob Reiner in December. Here is the 1984 Satanic Xmas song from Spinal Tap featuring Kaff!

Ozzy Osbourne and Jessica Simpson "Winter Wonderland"

In July we lost Ozzy Osbourne. In 2003 on The Osbournes Family Christmas Special he did this duet with Jessica Simpson on a Xmas classic.

The Crickets "Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly"

In September we lost Sonny Curtis, guitarist for Buddy Holly and The Crickets. 2013 saw the release of this Xmas classic with Curtis on guitar and vocals.

Squeeze "Christmas Day"

In November we lost original Squeeze drummer Gilson Lavis. In 1979 they did this new wave Xmas hit that has accompanied me on many compilations!

[misscatholmes]

365 Days of Music || 2025 || 🎄🎅 Christmastime 🎁⛄|| Bob Rivers - The 12 Pains of Christmas || 14 December 2025

[greensparty]

Tribute to Bob Rivers of V66's The Bob and Zip Show including a message he and Zip sent a few weeks ago before the V66 40th anniversary even

Tribute to Bob Rivers of V66's The Bob and Zip Show including a message he and Zip sent a few weeks ago before the V66 40th anniversary even

Remembering Bob Rivers 1956-2025

Sad news this past week that radio legend Bob Rivers died at 68. I wouldn't go so far as to call us friends, but we were friendly. In the mid-1980s when he was the co-host of WAAF's The Bob and Zip Show they did some song parodies that were popular on V66 including "Just a Big Ego" (parody of "Just a Gigolo") and eventually they brought their radio show to V66 on TV with The Bob and Zip Show in 1986. Decades later as I was doing my documentary Life on the V: The Story of V66, I reached out to Bob, who was now a top rated radio host in Seattle, and he was fully on board for being interviewed for the documentary. He brought so much great insight to the documentary about the Boston music scene at the time and about V66. We actually stayed in touch in the last few years about the possibility of doing a screening event.

Rivers in recent years

In 1986, when Bob and Zip hosted their V66 show, I actually made my TV debut on their show. They were seeking the best joke to win tickets to see The Smiths. At age 9, I called in and got right through. I told my joke and they put me on the air. It was live (no 5 second delay) and as I sat in my mom's bedroom on the phone and spoke I looked at the TV and both Bob and Zip were listening and responding as I spoke. My joke was "Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide!" They responded with "Haha, next!" and hung up. But that was my first time on TV.

In 1987, Bob released the novelty album Twisted Christmas which featured the holiday classic "12 Pains of Christmas". Wherever we screening the V66 documentary, audiences everywhere recognized Bob Rivers because of the reference that he went on to do Twisted Christmas.

album cover

Bob later moved onto radio markets such as Baltimore and Seattle. He also had more than a few moments in pop culture nationally, including appearing in some episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise. From 2013 to 2015 he was the keyboardist for Heart By Heart, the Heart tribute band that actually features member of Heart. In 2023 he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.

Just a few weeks ago before we had a V66 40th anniversary screening at the Somerville Theatre, I was actually in touch with both Bob and Peter "Zip" Zipfel who sent a message over zoom to share with V66 fans. The link above is the tribute video from the V66 documentary Facebook page.