National Archives

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963.

Today we all have a nice long weekend thanks to the birthday of one Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Many people just see it as a day off, others just don't seem to understand why we celebrate it. But Dr. King was a civil rights pioneer who still inspires many to this day.

He inspires artists so much that they often use his words in their songs, either as a tribute to him or as a way to convey a certain message. In particular, his famous "I Have a Dream" speech has been sampled by 35 different musicians!

For the holiday, it seemed appropriate to listen to some of those songs and see what the musicians were trying to say in using Dr. King's words for their own purposes. Some of those songs aren't that great, unfortunately, but there are a lot of great ones that are fitting tributes to the man and his legacy, or at least don't abuse his words too much. These are some of those good ones.

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While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait... resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared December 22, 2010.

Through the magic of Christmas, Rocks Off has received a copy of the transcript of the "Sinatra Group" sketch that was filmed in an alternate reality last weekend, one in which Phil Hartman never died, and Saturday Night Live is currently in one of its funniest seasons to date.

What else could we do but share? This episode was guest-hosted by Will Ferrell, and featured special guests Mike Myers, Rob Schneider and Jan Hooks.

(Open on the familiar Sinatra Group set, as the key players chat amongst themselves; main title onscreen)

Announcer: The Sinatra Group, an unrehearsed discussion of current issues in the recording industry. And now, the moderator, Frank Sinatra!

Frank Sinatra (Phil Hartman): Good evening and welcome to my show. As most of you already know, Christmas is coming up next week, so my producers thought it would be a good idea to do a Christmas show. And no, not a "winter" show or a "happy holidays" show, a friggin' Christmas show, because this is America, and we don't disrespect the savior here.

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While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait... resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared December 20, 2010.

Show us one hip-hop head who isn't obsessed with corny Christmas sing-alongs and we'll show you a liar. Nothing says "hip-hop" like cheery holiday tunes about sharing and caring. In the spirit of holiday music, Rocks Off compiled a list of five Christmas rap songs guaranteed to make you the famous at the family Christmas party.

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While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait... resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared December 14, 2010.

No doubt you have all been chin-deep in Christmas movies since you undid your belt on Thanksgiving evening. Rocks Off made sure to steal a copy of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation from our folks' house before the calendar even hit December.

Unlike other blogs, we don't hate all Christmas music. It reminds us of family and being young, before people started dying all around us. We admit most of it sucks, but it's the gems we stick around for. Like the barking dogs and the one about the hit-and-run slaying of a grandmother by an illegal from the North Pole.

Christmas movies have some of the best collections of Christmas music you can find. Most of the time it seems they spend more money on the music than the script. Out of the ten movies on this list, there are really only three or so we could watch in the dead of summer.

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While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait... resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared October 26, 2011.

memecenter.com

Merry fuckin' Christmas, mang.

Halloween is right around the corner, so you know what that means: Time to start making a list and checking it twice. Bourbon, gin, scotch, vodka, Xanax, painkillers...

Walgreen's and CVS have already stocked their shelves with wrapping paper, plastic wreaths and Christmas candles, and this year's crop of holiday albums like Scott Weiland's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is slowly filtering into circulation. Study after study has shown that stress and depression skyrocket during the most wonderful time of the year, and you can fill up an iPod with seasonal music detailing how people choose to "treat" these ailments in no time.

Rocks Off is always looking to do our part for peace on Earth and goodwill towards men (and women), so we made a playlist guaranteed to turn your "White Christmas" into such a delightful winter wonderland you may not even remember the holidays happened at all. If you need us, we'll be watching Bad Santa on a continuous loop from now until Jan. 2.

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While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait... resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared December 11, 2009.

Aside from the heavy metal Christmas songs we threw your way earlier this week, Rocks Off also loves us some punk rock Yuletide jams. Over the years plenty of punks have tried their scabby and tattooed hands at holiday songs, especially the pop-punks, who are very fond of those ironic covers.

We decided to dig out some the classic punk rockers doing their best Santa and Baby Jesus odes, to keep shit classy. We're sure that Green Day and MxPx have done some decent Christmas songs, but who cares? We have a rep to uphold, mama.

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While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait... resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared December 23, 2011.

"Dude, religious Christmas is pretty macabre. All kinds of scandal, sex with a ghost, strangers bringing mystical gifts, and everyone predicting this young couple's baby's death like its glorious wonderful thing. Oh and a decree to slaughter all male babies the next day... what could be more goth?"

-- Kassi Gooch

Far be it from us to argue with Kassi. Some people say that depression rates go up during the holidays, and they're wrong. It's just that incidents of goth occur more frequently. So for your listening pleasure we've put together a special playlist so that Santa knows to drop off some boots and stuff with ankhs on it this year. A little black tape for a blue Christmas, if you catch our drift.

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While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait... resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared November 21, 2011.

As the timeless tale of the Little Drummer Boy reminds us, there is no greater gift than the gift of music. But what about those on your Christmas list who already have plenty of music in their lives?

Buying gifts for musicians is no easy task -- most of them already own the entire Rush discography, and subtle hints that maybe, possibly they should consider taking lessons are impossible to wrap.

That's why it's necessary to think a bit outside the box when stuffing a musician's stocking. Because reading is easier than thinking, Rocks Off has taken the generous step of compiling this handy list of odd, interesting and downright cool gift ideas for the musicians in your life. Just don't forget the earplugs -- for yourself.

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Ray Price is a Texas music legend and a former roommate of Hank Williams. Rocks Off reached him by phone on his tour bus somewhere between Wisconsin and Nashville to talk about satellite radio, his love of stray dogs, and his show this Tuesday at Conroe's Crighton Theater.

Rocks Off: How's the tour going, Mr. Price?

Ray Price: It's going great, we're on the way home now. That's the best part of it.

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Last week we took a look at some of the most holiday spirit-dampeningly awful songs ever recorded. We aren't quite done ruining your holiday spirit just yet however, as this week we have compiled ten of the saddest holiday cover songs ever recorded.

Rewind:

The 10 Worst Holiday Cover Songs Ever

These artists have managed to take the source material and twist the knife just enough to eek out just a little bit more Christmastime melancholy. Enjoy!

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