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The 5 BEST Christmas album covers ever

As everybody shows off the most horrible Christmas album cover art we here at Walloh think it’s about time to celebrate the BEST Christmas covers of all time...

1) Disco Noel

Taking the “lame” out of  “lametta”, this great cover shows that Christmas isn’t all about ugly jumpers and Maria Carey. Bling up YOUR Christmas with double Vodka Red Bulls and some pumping disco jams!

2) Christmas Rap

Everybody loves Wrap Music! So get out your fresh kicks, red sportswear and start breakdancing around the Christmas tree. Maybe you have what it takes to become next years Wrap Superstar!

3) Jingle Cats

No regular cat will do after you had Jingle Cats jamming with you!

4) Klappa pa!

This album cover just has everything we want for Christmas: Happiness, a tree, a lot of meat based products and a cheeky hidden bottle of booze for when the house bar runs dry...

5) All I want for Christmas...

DAMN STRAIGHT! Let’s be honest... Christmas is boring, cold and most of the time it’s raining and not even snowing! Eeew!!! So this Christmas we would definitely rather go for a tan...

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The 5 most awesomeballs Christmas songs according to us

The crimbo playlists come out in force but who wants to listen to WHAM or Maria Carey all the time? Here are our 5 alternative Christmas hits!

5) El Vez - Feliz Navidad

Santa Jr is coming to town and he brings with him his whole Tex/Mex/Punk band including scantily clad dancing elves. Ho ho ho! Gustar!

4) Spinal Tap - Christmas with the devil

You know you have been naughty when the devil himself helps you with your Christmas decorations. Oh my!

3) Run DMC - Christmas is

Of cause we are massive fans of “Christmas in Hollis” but let’s mix things up a little with another festive treat from Run, DMC and Jam Master Jay!

2) ??? - ???

Any Japanese speaking Walloh user reading this? We have no idea about this band and/or how this song is called, but we DO know we need these outfits and have to work on our dance routines! Sugoi!!!

1) Christopher Lee - A Heavy Metal Christmas

It comes to no surprise that Dracula, Saruman and Count Dooku preferred a little Metal from time to time. We know which album we put under our Christmas tree this year, and it’s not gonna be Coldplay!

What are your favourite Christmas songs this year?

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Happy 60th Futura 2000!

Great artwork can lift and intensify music. What would Björk be without her amazing outfits or AC/DC without their iconic logo? One of the legendary visual creators who has been working with bands like The Clash, Cabaret Voltaire and UNKLE just turned 60: New York Graffiti artist Futura 2000.

Born Lenny McGurr in 1955, he is one of the early pioneers of New York Graffiti who quickly rose to fame with this stand out abstract pieces as most of the writers of the time rather obsessed with lettering and cartoon characters. 

He first started creating artwork for bands when he went on painting alongside The Clash during their tour. He created graphics for their “Combat Rock” album cover and even recorded a couple of tracks himself.

Another classic piece of his is the lettering of Cabaret Voltair’s Fools Game / Gut Level 12″ single from 1983...

His futuristic style caught the attention of label boss James Lavelle who based most album covers of his iconic MoWax label on his paintings and lettering. This way Futura 2000 broke into the visual consciousness of a whole new generation of music fans and record collectors.

Futura went on to become one of the most influential artists in Graffiti and Street Art with his artwork adorning products from headphones, spirit bottles all the way to skate decks, collectable toys and fashion items. 

In addition to that do his giant canvasses hang in the best contemporary museums around the world. Keep your eyes peeled!

So Happy Birthday Mr McGurr! To the next 60 years...

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Bands You Used to Listen to...

Ah, those teenage years: the experimental haircuts, the dodgy fashions, the heartbreaks of your crush texting someone else, and the bands that we thought were the best thing ever. We’re pretty glad to be out of those years. If, however, you want a musical trip down memory lane, read on and start downloading some of these classic teenage bands:

The Rasmus and Evanescence Remember the Finnish nineties rock band that had classics such as ‘In The Shadows’ and…. Er well we’re sure there were other hits too. It was all very teenage angst – ‘I hate everybody, no one understands me’ sort of music – rather like Evanescence, how could you forget them?

Daniel Bedingfield You can’t deny it, however much you might try and hide from it now, Daniel’s 2002 single ‘Gotta Get Thru This’ was a winner back in the day, also you have to love the spelling of ‘thru’ -  Gr8 1 M8. It was the same year that we were all obsessed with that Russian one hit wonder duo, t.A.T.u – yes they really did spell it that way.

Busted You either fancied Charlie Simpson, (those eyebrows – very on point now) or wanted their skater-style. It was like ‘What I Go To School For’ was made for Year 8 discos, closely followed by Lou Bega’s Mambo No.5 Chumbawamba They might have only had one song but what a song – ‘Tubthumping’ was the soundtrack to any party normally sung in a drunken slur.

All Saints, Steps, S Club 7, Westlife We could list all the boy/girl bands of the 90s, but you get our drift. The choreographed dance moves, the matching outfits and the key changes, we all had our favourite members, probably had their posters on our wall and probably cried when they split up… probably.

Right well we’re off to dig out our tapes and search for a cassette player…

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10 Things You Didn’t Know About Your Favourite Musicians

We all have that one friend who just seems to know everything about everything - right? Whatever the topic, whether you’re chatting on a bus or taking part in a pub quiz on a Friday night, you’re happy to have them there, filling you with knowledge, even if you secretly resent them for knowing more than you do. If we’re all honest with ourselves, we’d all like to be that guy. The guy with the trivia.

Well, we can help you make a start! We did some digging - investigating, if you will - to find out some relatively unknown facts about all of your favourite artists. Here’s what we came up with…

1. Did you know that every single track on Justin Timberlake’s debut album, aptly named ‘Justified’ was actually written for Michael Jackson? Wonder if he would have done them justice… 2. You know that horrendous moment when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift at the VMAs? Beyonce was backstage crying for quite some time after it happened! 3. ‘All About That Bass’ was actually written for Beyonce… 4. Ryan Gosling was very almost a member of The Backstreet Boys, but turned down the offer.

5. At school, Mariah Carey’s nickname at school was ‘Mirage’ because she always cut class! 6. Brandy and Snoop Dogg are first cousins - them some good genes.

7. Scarlett Johansson’s lips reportedly inspired Katy Perry to write ‘I Kissed A Girl’ 8. U2 were originally asked to perform ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing’ before it went to Aerosmith - we’re pretty glad they swerved that one. 9. Apparently, Akon discovered Lady Gaga… 10. Gaga dyed her hair blonde because she kept being mistaken for Amy Winehouse.

There you have it. Now you can go forth with your newfound knowledge and impress the pants off you friends. You’re welcome.

[wallohapp]

Where Did You Get That Name?!

So you’re in a band but you don’t have a name yet. Classic problem. You’ve tried the Childish Gambino trick of the old name generator but it hasn’t produced any gold yet. Well panic not because some of best bands’ names had rather dubious beginnings:

Coldplay

Coldplay might be known for writing their own lyrics, but their own band name? Nope. They were originally called Starfish until another band they knew who were called Coldplay (after an anthology booked titled Child’s Reflection: Cold Play) decided to get rid of their name and Starfish asked if they could take. Thank goodness.

Vampire Weekend

Lead singer Erza Koening decided that what he wanted to do was a make a film about vampires in Cape Cod featuring a boy called Walcott. The film never happened but the theme stuck and if you’ve listened to their first album XX you’ll recognise Cape Cod and Walcott feature too.

Nickelback

Apparently Mike Kroeger use to say ‘here’s your nickel back’ so many times when he was working in Starbucks that when thinking of a name for his band he couldn’t escape it. Shame it wasn’t ‘here’s your soya vanilla double shot latte’ that rolls much better off the tongue.

Foster the People

Just as we all have that penny dropping moment when we realise we’ve been singing the lyrics wrongly, it seems as we’ve been doing the same with Foster the People. Lead singer Mark Foster, originally wanted the band to be called Foster & The People, which does make much more sense really, except the audience kept wrongly calling them Foster the People. Guess it stuck!

LL Cool J

If you ever thought LL Cool J stood for something street or in fact cool, you’d be wrong. It actually stands for Ladies Love Cool James (LL Cool J’s name is James if you needed that explained), rather cute really.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Even as adults there is something about rebelling against teachers that doesn’t wear off, and Lynyrd Skynyrd is no different. Their gym teacher didn’t like long hair, the teacher’s name was Leonard Skinner – it’s not hard to see where this is going.

Cage The Elephant

Cage the Elephant have a crazy guy running around after a show in Tennessee to thank for their name. He ran over to singer Matthew Schultz and ranted that he had to ‘cage the elephant, cage the elephant’. Whether they caged the elephant or not remains a mystery but they did name a band after him.

So go forth and find an obscure children’s poetry book, get people to pronounce your name wrong, or name it after your old science teacher – inspiration is everywhere.

[wallohapp]

What Does Your Band T-Shirt Say About You?

Band t-shirts, why do we buy them? Hyped up at a gig, we end up paying a small fortune for a t-shirt that will most likely wind up as our next pyjama top. Some of us still wear them proudly, part of the band allegiance at festivals and gigs, wearing them when we go to every future gig as if to say ‘look, I saw you before, you can tell because I have a t-shirt with your name on it.’ But what do the t-shirts say about you?

My Chemical Romance, Green Day: You might have a sensible hair cut now, but this is a throwback to your days as an emo: your eyeliner, your sweeping fringe, your trousers so tight they cut off circulation to your thighs. You listened to them whilst updating your Myspace profile and dreaming of going to the black parade.

Rolling Stones, Ramones: You’re either too young to know who they really are and you got it in the Urban Outfitters sale, or you’re quite old and are either trying to relive your youth show off how cool you are with your original tee.

Run- D.M.C: You love hip hop but wouldn’t be seen dead in a Kanye West t-shirt.

Oasis, Blur, Verve: You didn’t really care back then, you just needed a new t-shirt, you don’t care that much now either, but everything else was in the wash. 

Atomic Kitten, Britney Spears, Spice Girls: It’s been so long now that what was once cool is beginning to come back as retro. You probably got it as a present for your 10th birthday, and you definitely paired it with a choker necklace and cargo trousers because you were so sassy back then.

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Five Things We’d Never Spend Our Gig Money On...

If you’ve got money to burn and are after some band memorabilia then we all know the haven is eBay. From used guitars to used water bottles (we imagine anyway) there is pretty much something for everybody. We’ve rounded up 5 of the most ridiculous and most expensive memorabilia out there...

Jesus Attempts to Cheer up Paul McCartney Using a Shari Lewis Lambchop Puppet: £107,044.45 (approximately, but who’s counting?)

If the title doesn’t already sound like some disturbed fantasy/nightmare then wait until you actually see the painting and trust us you won’t miss it because it’s an impressive 5 foot by 7 foot. This is the work of American artist Kata Billups, who paints a picture of a depressed Paul McCartney sitting in front of a painting of John Lennon and Yoko Ono (who is crossed out) who is trying to be cheered up by Jesus with a sock puppet – apparently the work is partially autobiographical.

George Harrison’s Banjolele: £100,000

If you’re looking to expand your Beatles collection beyond paintings of depressed Paul McCartney how about George Harrison’s banjolele? The Dallas ‘E’ (gold plated) instrument comes with a letter signed by George Harrison when he returned it back to Formby family (the instrument was originally given to George Formby). Yes it might set you back £100,000 but you do get free postage and packaging.

Life size Michael Jackson Thriller Statue: £35,678.33

Where do we begin with this one... Firstly, why? Why would you want this quite creepy life sized statue of Michael Jackson? Unless of course you want to terrify any trick or treaters away at Halloween – this should solve all your problems. Secondly who has space for this in their sitting room? Although given the price tag, it’s got to be someone with money to spare, so we reckon they have a pretty big house.

A Tinie Tempah Inspired Number Plate: £8,800

The price that most of us would spend on a car, can you get the number plate from Tinie Tempah’s Pass Out video or as we should say PA55 OUT. The success of this number plate is what kind of car you have, it’s not going to look as good on your Renault Clio is it?

Rarest Nirvana Record ‘Lake of Fire’: £10,000

Claiming to be the rarest Nirvana record in the world, this disc has never been played, or even removed from the sleeve. However, it is said to feature ‘Lake of Fire’ and ‘Something in the Way’, or so we hope - if nobody has even heard it, how do we know it’s not a hoax? If you want to find out for sure, you need to hand the money over first. We’re not entirely convinced.

Time to get bidding!