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]

Sucking In The 70's. Christmas music went into hibernation during the 1970's. Less was made, and less was sold. Still, plenty of wonderful, often kooky holiday records were released, you just had to look harder to find them. To prove my point, I've compiled two lists of 100 great songs and 20 great albums recorded during "The Me Decade." [read more]

Holiday Hootenanny. Critics dismiss the transitional period in rock 'n roll after Elvis and Chuck, but before the Beatles and Stones, skipping over developments as significant as the Beach Boys. Paul & Paula weren't all that, but their Christmas record Holiday For Teens (1963) has its moments - albeit very white, squeaky clean moments. [read more]

And It's Sexy, Too. While Motown's mighty Temptations were arguably the label's toughest, funkiest act, their 1970 Christmas album brought out their softer side. That said, tracks like their brilliant "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" were built on an irresistible groove - I think it's the best version of the song ever recorded! [read more]

Clown Time. The music of Huey "Piano" Smith & The Clowns is synonymous with New Orleans because they played on hundreds of classic records produced in the city during the '50s and '60s. Their 1962 Christmas album is equally classic, embodying everything we love about the Big Night and the Big Easy, all set to a joyous, irrepressible rhythm. [read more]

Bronx Bomber. Back in the 50's, Dion & The Belmonts accounted for some of the most thrilling white doo wop around - "The Wander," Runaround Sue," and many more. By the time Dion recorded Rock n' Roll Christmas, he'd gone through many changes and emerged as an elder statesman of the New York rock scene. [read more]

I Can't Help Myself. The Four Tops were the biggest Motown act to never record a Christmas album - until 1995 when they briefly returned to the label to cut Christmas Here With You. It's a solid album, but it doesn't have that magic Motown sound that made songs leap out of tiny transistor radios and into our hearts. [read more]

Hey Charlie, I'm Brown! Long ago, Robert Lopez played in a San Diego punk band called the Zeroes. But, when he donned a white suit and started mashing up Elvis songs with, well, almost everything, he found his special purpose. Twice, so far, El Vez has released Christmas albums, and both are a hoot - but very hard to find. [read more]

What a Bummer. Another Rhino compilation, Bummed Out Christmas! is a harrowing concept album about the dark side of the holidays. It collects 12 yuletide laments - some tragic, some comic - that document divorce, depression, drunk driving, death, larceny, murder, and incarceration. The weather outside is, indeed, frightful. [read more]

Top 100 Christmas Songs. In which I attempt to boil thousand and thousands of Christmas songs in my library down to their purest essence. Countdown to Christmas Day with these always wonderful, frequently crazy songs - from Phil Spector's celebrated Wall Of Sound to obscure punk, country, and rhythm & blues. [read more]

Far Out Christmas Blues. Just before the CD era, Savoy Jazz released an album called Mr. Santa's Boogie, an odd, often fabulous mix of obscure blues and jive - but just a little bit of jazz. It got reissued and rejiggered twice again, but it always remained an eclectic and essential part of my Christmas collection. [read more]

What A Mess! Back in the 80's when alternative Christmas music was a rare thing, a New York record store started a label and created the Midnight Christmas Mess series - three vinyl albums, never reissued in the digital age, that documented the city's burgeoning garage rock scene and helped make holiday music hip again. [read more]

Gonna Be A Black Christmas, Baby. Shreveport's Jewel Records was responsible for a lot of blues, soul, funk, and swamp pop in the 60's and 70's, including a lot of Christmas music. Merry Christmas Baby collects most of it, including gems by Lowell Fulson, Charles Brown, Jimmy Reed, and the mysterious Hot Rock Mays. [read more]

Christmas Gumbo. It's taken me a while to take a close look at Rhino Records' Alligator Stomp: Cajun Christmas. Why? I don't really like Cajun music that much. But, that's my problem. On its own terms, it's a great way to spice up your holidays. But, compared to Rhino's other compilations, it's got some problems. [read more]

Child of God. After breaking into the record racket as a teen idol, Bobby Darin made a beeline towards respectability. He never quite got there, and one of his more curious stabs at redefinition was The 25th Day Of December (1960), a not-so-subtle attempt to put Christ back in Christmas - via Las Vegas. [read more]

I Dig Thee, Lord Jesus. The swing revival gave rise to a vast array of reissues, ranging across jazz, easy listening, and a whole pack of rats. Rhino Records' Swingin' Christmas (2001) was one of the best, including all-time classics by Kay Starr and Louis Armstrong, plus an unbelievable piece of latter-day kitsch called "That Swingin' Manger." [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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