sending out a press release in 1977 saying that he wanted journalists to keep the "Christ" in Christmas and not call it Xmas, which, he asserted, was a pagan spelling of Christmas, despite being a representation by the Greek letter chi.
Since then he has appeared in videos for two other Xmas singles - "Bo Selectas! Proper Crimbo" which reached No. 4 in 2003 and Ricky Tomlinson's "Xmas My A*se" which reached 25 in 2006.
The full band augmented by ex-Crackout drummer Nicholas Millard, played 'The Deaf School Xmas Bash' shows in December 2009 at the 100 Club in London, and the Liverpool O2 Academy, making it ten live appearances in 2009, a first since the 1970s.
It was included on Volume 2 of the "Ultimate Christmas Album" series produced by Collectables Records and on the Christmas compilation album "Merry Xmas 2011" by Cinquenta Musica.
The band released a holiday song "Merry Xmas" on the 2004 Kevin and Bean album Christmastime in the 909.
Disputes over production and credits caused a rift between J and the group (although they would later reunite on The Pharcyde’s “Trust” remix in 2000, not to mention several J-Swift-produced tracks on Fatlip’s 2005 solo debut The Loneliest Punk, and Fatlip and Tre Hardson’s 2007 holiday song “All I Want for Xmas”).
They were featured in the 1984 film the breakdance cult-movie Beat Street performing the song Xmas Rap with Doug E Fresh, but disbanded shortly afterwards.
Many of the essays are of an autobiographical nature as Ellison writes about particularly colorful moments from his past, including a love affair gone bad with a woman who he identifies only as "Valerie," an infamous diatribe about his hatred of Christmas entitled, "No Offense Intended, But Fuck Xmas!", a touching tribute to his departed dog Ahbhu and a chilling account of his journey to San Quentin State Prison to visit a man on death row.
In 1994, Grasshopper Enterprises created an animated version of the tale as part of Channel 4's Beastly Xmas in 1995, narrated by Sian Phillips.