What Makes People Hate Christmas Songs?

Christmas songs are contentious. Some love their yuletide trappings and their annual arrival fills them with joy. Some are less thrilled. There is very much a cultural divide between the two camps. Those in retail this time of year are bludgeoned with the same 40 or so holiday standards – this amorphous blob of jingling bells and icy synths that revolve around slight lyrical variations about “Christmas” or “Santa”. There are some definite classics that can endure recurring listens, but then there are others that bring with them a sense of dread. But why do certain Christmas songs annoy us more than others, and what makes Paul McCartney's “Wonderful Christmastime” the worst offender.