The Superions: Destination… Christmas!

My reluctance to enjoy Destination… Christmas! may be evidence that I lack a sense of humor. If so, Fred Schneider’s Christmas music killed it. The B-52s vet offers 11 bitchy, kitschy Christmas rants over the listless electronica of his Snuggie-garbed pals, Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall. The songs tend to be one-joke takes on holiday ephemera — chalet vacations, hating Christmas, seasonal sex, hungry yeti, fruitcake — stretched out way past their sell-by dates. At least Schneider seems to be having fun, but his B-52s-era exuberance is gone. The one laugh comes at the beginning of the Serge Gainsbourg parody “Santa Je T’aime”, but once that laugh disappears, you’re left with an exhausting fake smile plastered on your face. True, my preschooler now walks around the house singing “Santa’s Disco”, but he also says of “Fruitcake”, “This is a LONG song.” It lasts three and a half minutes.