By Joe Klein

I always knew that Christmas In Malibu was not your average holiday toonage and did feel that the song could become some sort of cult favorite one day, once it got out there. Well, as fate would have it, the song did get out there twenty years ago. But, at that time, Christmas In Malibu seemed to be embraced by the masses as a mainstream kind of holiday hit on radio and the major video channels that existed back then. I remember it almost always brought a smile to the face of whoever was listening to the song or watching the video.

When the song faded from view back in the mid-nineties, I didn’t have any expectations one way or another about it’s future. I was just happy that the first song I ever wrote got made into a pretty cool record which got played on the radio and MTV.

After all, isn’t that the dream of most songwriters, artists and record producers? It was a sweet “dream come true” for me, because I had never been lucky enough to have recorded a “hit” record before.

When I got back into media back in 2005 with the launch of The Podcast Voice Guys, I just thought it would be cool to post Christmas In Malibu on the new PODSAFE MUSIC NETWORK launched by Adam Curry’s Podshow Network and then see what, if anything happened. This was just before YouTube hit the scene. Much to my surprise the song got played on a whole bunch of podcasts that year, including Curry’s own very popular show, THE DAILY SOURCE CODE. Maybe it wasn’t back on the radio, but Christmas In Malibu was back, just the same.

The following year, 2006, is when I made the deal with IODA to distribute the song commercially online and then posted it on YouTube and a few other new viral video sites. The song, and now the video, got a whole lot more play in that year than in 2005, thanks in a big part to the viral video revolution. Last year saw even more of the same, and the video started showing up in all sorts of bizarre places. Embedding videos into blogs became all the rage in 2007, and Christmas In Malibu started popping up on all sorts of surfing, snowboarding and other action sports blogs in addition to music and holiday oriented sites.

This year, the fascination with the little offbeat holiday trinket continues and the song has been appearing in all sorts of crazy places. Recently the very popular skate and surf blog BOARDISTAN featured the music video. Then a blog called ACTION SPORTS BLIPS picked up the post from Boardistan, and late last week the FUEL TV EDITOR’S BLOG embedded the video as well.

So I guess it comes as no surprise that my friend and former agent, ARTIE WAYNE, who recently added the video to his widely-circulated 99 CHRISTMAS MUSIC VIDEOS list, labeled Christmas In Malibu a “Certified Cult Classic” in an ARTICLE POSTED ON HIS BLOG earlier this week.

Okay it may be a bit of a stretch, and Artie admittedly has been known to get a bit over-zealous about projects he supports, but, hey, when a music video like this gets featured on extreme sports sites alongside head-banging heavy-metal skate videos, cult status seems to be appropriate, or, at the least, worth considering.

Like I said, I always thought that Christmas In Malibu could be a cult favorite, so getting anointed as a cult classic by a long time colleague and supporter is something I can live with. Besides, it’s all in the spirit of the season and good fun that has surrounded the project for the last two decades.

Surf’s up, dudes! HO! HO! HO!