Christmas music is used ad nauseam during December. So much so that by the time the 25th rolls around, you’re just about ready to shelve any song containing a jingle bell forever. Nevertheless, most of us warm back up to the festivities the following year, completing the cycle once again.
Videos by American Songwriter
One couple, Hannah and Tomas Mazetti, however, are not so likely to get back into the Christmas spirit. The English husband and wife have decided to take a stand against their least favorite of the holiday bunch: Wham!’s 1984 release “Last Christmas.”
The couple has raised more than $60,000 (£50,000) to buy the licensing rights to the Christmas anthem, hoping they will then be able to limit its use.
Per the Daily Mail, Hannah Mazetti said her dislike of the song began in her early 20s (she is now 33) when she worked at a café that played the song relentlessly.
“The owner of the cafe had planned for a super cozy holiday season and had his own made CD with a number of ‘hits’ on it,” she explained. “He was only in now and then, so he didn’t fully appreciate the agony the rest of the staff felt when ‘Last Christmas’ played for the 111th time of the working day.”
She went on to explain that it was Tomas’ idea to buy the rights after a friend let them know that it was a theoretical possibility.
“It started last Christmas—pun not intended—when we asked friends how much they would be willing to pay never to hear the song again. Quite a lot it turned out, and when the song started playing this November we were reminded,” she said.
She continued, “Then someone told us it was theoretically possible to buy the rights to the song and then take it off all streaming platforms! We asked around among our friends and word spread. It’s fun because people either love or hate the idea. Maybe next Christmas will be the last Christmas!”
So far, the Mazetti’s have received donations from around 330 contributors. Unfortunately the rights—owned by Warner Chappell Music UK—are estimated to be worth $15-20 million, so they have a long way to go.
As far as what their plan is if they do reach that lofty goal, Hannah says she will send the master tapes off to a nuclear waste site in Finland where “it’ll rest for at least two million years.”
Despite her staunch opinions about the song, she says her and her husband’s feelings don’t extend to Wham! themselves.
“I’m sorry, but this is the way it has to be. We don’t hate Wham!, but we hate this song. It is because it is being played 5,000 times per day, but we felt something had to be done to support the people that suffer like us,” she said.
Photo by Steve Rapport/Getty Images
