Community Corner

What's the Worst Christmas Gift You Got as a Kid?

When Christmas present expectations go wrong, so wrong.

Think back, grown-ups, to when you were a kid on Christmas morning, and that thing you really wanted and specifically asked mom, dad and Santa for just didn't happen.

It was the Christmas of 1984 and 9-year-old me was all about collecting new vinyl for my record player. Man that makes me feel old!

I was hung up on the movie Eddie and The Cruisers and would watch it on cable repeatedly, so I had to have the soundtrack. Just freakin' had to!

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I gave my mom a list of records I wanted, including Eddie and The Cruisers, but what I got came way out of left-field, and I still tease her about it to this day.

Under our tree on Christmas morning, I spotted a present wrapped in the shape of an album sleeve. I knew exactly what it was, or what I presumed it was—my Eddie and the Cruisers album.

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I remember tearing open the paper, so relieved that I could soon scurry up to my room to play it and sing along..."On the dark side. Oh yeeaahhh!"

Curiously, the album in my hot little hands looked nothing like the soundtrack I asked for.

There must be some mistake, I thought. A joke. WHERE IS MY EDDIE?

What I got was Chaka Kahn's I Feel For You.

Huh?

"You like that song, right honey?" asked my mom.

Not that I have anything against the legendary Chaka. Afterall, she's every woman. But she wasn't my Eddie Wilson. I learned later that the artist who actually wrote and sang those wonderful songs was John Cafferty and his Beaver Brown Band, but that's another story.

Later on, I took that Chaka Kahn album up to my room and forced myself to play it a few times, even though from a young age I've always preferred rock music, and later on, hard rock and metal.

I discovered some cool tracks beyond the Prince-penned "I Feel for You," like the soulful, "Through the Fire."

I eventually got my Eddie and the Cruisers music, though for some reason, it wasn't the full album with that great cover—still got the shaft! I have a couple 45s somewhere.

As for Chaka, I couldn't tell you what became of that album, but I wish her a Merry Christmas because every year, I think of her.

Do you have a childhood memory of a Christmas present gone wrong? Share in the comments!


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