Dead by X-Mas

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"Dead by X-Mas"
Dead By X-Mas.jpg
Single by Hanoi Rocks
from the album Self Destruction Blues
B-side "Nothing New"
ReleasedDecember 1981
RecordedAugust 1981
Genre Rock, hard rock, glam punk, glam rock
Length2:58
Label Johanna Kustannus
Songwriter(s) Andy McCoy
Hanoi Rocks singles chronology
"Desperados"
(1981)
"Dead by X-Mas"
(1981)
"Love's an Injection"
(1982)

"Dead by X-Mas" is a song by the Finnish rock band Hanoi Rocks. The single was released prior to the band's 1982 album Oriental Beat but neither the A- or B-side were featured on an album until the band's third album, Self Destruction Blues [1] .

Contents

The songs are well liked and were the biggest hits of Hanoi Rocks' early career. The B-side, "Nothing New", is not as well known as the A-side, "Dead by X-Mas". "Dead by X-Mas" has since been thought to be as a prediction of the death of drummer Razzle, who died in a car crash in December 1984 [2] . The chorus even has the lyrics "I'll be dead by X-mas now anyway". The lyrics tell a horror story which guitarist Andy McCoy said could happen.[ citation needed ]

A cover version was released by the Japanese Visual kei band The Piass as a bonus track on their first album, Ryouki Kousatsu Chissoku-Shi, in 1995 [3] . The song also played a role in an urban legend similar to that of Razzle's, since the vocalist and drummer, Chihiro and Hiroshi, died while filming a music video later that year. English electronic music band Sohodolls also released a cover version of the song in 2007. [4]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Dead by X-Mas" Andy McCoy 2:58
2."Nothing New"Andy McCoy3:19

Personnel

References

  1. Hanoi Rocks – Dead by X-Mas , retrieved 10 August 2025
  2. "Hanoi Rocks - Biography". IMDb. Retrieved 10 August 2025.[ unreliable source? ]
  3. ThePiass (21 July 2011). The Piass - Dead by Christmas . Retrieved 10 August 2025 via YouTube.
  4. "Dead by Xmas - Music Video by Sohodolls". Shazam. Retrieved 10 August 2025.