Hip Christmas
Welcome To Hip Christmas! I think you'll enjoy my
dysfunctionally vast web archive dedicated to holiday music that rocks, rolls, swings, and twangs. If you do, please support
me by shopping at Amazon, Apple Music,
and Sheet Music Plus! Regardless, the best of
the season to you - no matter what month it is! [about me]
What Was New In 2024? Last year's new Christmas albums included lots of vinyl reissues, big names like Jennifer Hudson and Little Big Town, indie darlings like Dean & Britta and Phantom Planet, a full-length Tower Of Power album, a new collection from the Carpenters, and yet another Bear Family compilation. I've completed my annual obsessive, quixotic attempt to keep up with it all, including my Top 10 Albums and Top 25 Singles. [gimme gimme]
The Christmas Jukebox. My online Christmas music player is bulging with over 900 hip tunes - and counting! You can listen to the music I write about - the coolest, weirdest, and loudest holiday songs ever, all while enjoying my inimitable prose - or not! [press play]
My Face, Your Book. There's a lot of holiday hilarity going on over at Facebook, in case you can't get enough on my website - or vice versa. Check out the Hip Christmas page, and follow me for maximum holiday fun all year long. No Russian trolls, please. I also post cool cover art on Instagram and Pinterest. [follow me]
Go To Rhino Records! From a small record shop in Los Angeles came - eventually - the very foundation of this website. Across 20 years, Rhino Records released nearly two dozen compilations that wrote the history of recorded Christmas music in the 20th century and transformed my curiosity into obsession. [read more]
The Merriest Man In Show Business. The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, waxed a whole lot of holiday music in his lifetime. As much as anybody, Soul Brother Number One made Christmas music the way he made all his other music - funky, soulful, ecstatic, and eccentric. [read more]
Christmas Is Coming. In the 90's, Oglio Records issued two fine, if bewildering, compilations, The Coolest
Christmas and The
Edge Of Christmas. Nearly all the tracks are keepers, a few are all-time classics, and several are pretty rare including singles by George Thorogood, the Cocteau Twins, and Canadian power poppers the Payolas. [read more]
Christmas Gumbo. On the one hand, Fats Domino is an underappreciated founder of rock 'n' roll seldom mentioned in the same breath as Elvis, Chuck, or Little Richard. On the other hand, his 1993 album, Christmas Is A Special Day, is not his finest moment. It's quaint and charming, but you won't find your thrill on this particular hill. [read more]
Everything Is Cool. Wry songwriter John Prine came up with folks like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, but he never earned such notoriety. Rather, he earned the respect of his peers and a devoted cult following. By the time of his death, however, he was universally acclaimed, and his Christmas music had become a big part of his legacy. [read more]
Horny Holidays. Some people love to bask in
the warm glow of friends and family during the holiday season. Others feel like starting a
family (or something to that effect) at Christmas time. Read about the 20 naughtiest songs in the
history of the holiday. You'll never look at a candy cane quite the same. [read more]
Christmas Was Better In The 80's. One of the last great Rhino compilations was VH1: The Big 80's Christmas, which chronicled the decade that brought Christmas music back in a big way - and teed up the internet age, when it went totally bonkers. Great singles by the likes of Billy Squier and the Pretenders signaled great things to come. [read more]
Santa Is Real. The Louvin Brothers are the most important brother act in the history of country music, and they were the direct antecedents of the Everly Brothers, the most important brother act in the history of rock 'n' roll. Not a bad pedigree, but their Christmas album is, sad to say, less impressive. [read more]
How Comfort and Joy Turned into Obsession and Compulsion. For the incurably curious, I've written a page explaining me and my crazy website, Hip Christmas. Like most of you, I love cool and strange holiday music. The difference is, I have a problem with boundaries. Many thousands of records later, here we are! [the whole sad story]
Tortured Carols. Punk and new wave helped pull Christmas music back from the brink, embracing the genre with great abandon and irreverence, helping spur the revival that continues unabated to this day. Rhino's New Wave Xmas collects 17 of the musically lighter moments, including classics by the Pogues, Pretenders, and Squeeze. [read more]
Too Good For Words! The Ventures are an obvious antecedent, but Los Straitjackets take second billing to no one - except Nick Lowe, who they frequently support. More to the point, the Nashville-based masked marauders have piled up a fair amount of Christmas music - two albums plus several singles and odd tracks. [read more]
Just The Hits, Ma'am. In the 1990's, Rhino Records partnered with Billboard Magazine for a series of compilations that attempted to write the history of popular Christmas music from the top down. More than 30 years later, they are still an excellent place to start, even if they stop far short of telling the whole story. [read more]
Too Much Of A Good Thing. Adding up to four compact discs and nearly 100 songs, Ho Ho Ho Spice (2002) and Holiday Heart (2005) gave us a lot of music at a bargain price while serving a good cause - supporting hospice care. But, a lot of that music wasn't very good, and I've spent a lot of time finding the jewels amidst the dross. [read more]
Yo, Santa, whuzzup? When I first heard Snoop Dogg's hilarious "'Twas
The Night Before Christmas," I assumed Christmas
On Death Row would be more of the same. I was wrong. The compilation from the infamous West Coast rap label has some good stuff (including another joint from Snoop), but it's mostly soft-headed slow jams. Sigh... [read more]
Dreaming Of A Green Christmas. You'd think the combination of Al Green and Christmas would be magic, but the good Reverend was past his peak when he recorded White Christmas (1983), having long ago left the Hi Records stable where he cut his Memphis soul classics. Don't get me wrong - I like it. But "classic"? No way. [read more]
A Christmas Gift For You. Every year, I offer free MP3's from my voluminous collection - all unavailable easily or legitimately in the music marketplace. In 2024, I revisited the legendary, exceedingly rare Flagpole Christmas albums, filling in some gaping holes and sprucing up the sound quality. [listen or download]
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