Every time I come across MxPx, it’s an unhappy accident. Though they’re often known as the Christian pop-punk band that reprised the Scooby Doo theme for the 2002 live action movie, the hardcore moralists are probably best remembered for their liberty-spiked “Calvin” logo that inspired the fashion of Good Charlotte. I first heard the Puget Sound three-piece as an eighth grader who found out about skate-punk bands like any other poser who didn’t know how to skate: through the NOFX Pandora station. Sandwiched between “Golden Boys” and Blink-182’s “Dammit” was MxPx’s hit single “Chick Magnet”—a song that lives up to its awful name by sounding like the musical equivalent of a polished turd formed into the shape of a crucifix. Vocalist/bassist Mike Herrera was so lazy that instead of writing a second verse, he decided to scat along to power chords for 30 seconds until the chorus came around again. Fast-forward six years: I make the dumb decision to compile a pop-punk holiday mix after hearing Fountains of Wayne’s “I Want an Alien for Christmas” and come across MxPx’s moral critique of consumerism (and hip-hop?), “Gimme Christmas,” which boils down to Linus’ monologue in A Charlie Brown Christmas but with three grown men wearing Santa costumes and bling. Just when I think I’ve seen the worst of pop-punk, MxPx is always there to reassure me with “All I want for Christmas is a yippie little dog/With a diamond collar on, wearing Louis Vuitton.” CAMERON CROWELL