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 1000 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]

Hey Sister, Go Sister! Patti LaBelle started out as lead singer of a girl group, the Bluebelles, and their 1963 Christmas album is charming, but not much more. LaBelle would record several holiday records befitting the diva she became, but none approached the funk grandeur of "Lady Marmalade" or the turbo-charged polish of "New Attitude." [read more]

Let's Get Demented. The high priest of musical mayhem, Dr. Demento, has compiled several Christmas albums over the years, most notably The Greatest Christmas Novelty CD Of All Time (1989), one of my Top 20 Albums. I've taken a fresh look at his lunatic legacy of missing front teeth, talking chipmunks, singing dogs, and renegade reindeer. [read more]

Hag's Christmas. While he had a reputation for rough and rowdy ways, Merle Haggard's music was less so - often sounding soft-spoken, dignified, even genteel. Across his 50-plus year career, the Stranger recorded three middlin' Christmas albums - and one uncontested work of genius, "If We Make It Through December." [learn more]

Snowman Magic. Power pop icon Dwight Twilley scored a handful of classic hits during his long career including "I'm On Fire" (1975) and "Girls" (1984). He kinda capped it off with Have A Twilley Christmas (2004), a charming and eclectic EP that, over the next few years, would be expanded into a full album. [read more]

Instant Record Collection. Rhino Records' Christmas Classics was as close to an instant record collection as you could find when it was released in 1988. It was one of the first of Rhino's historic series of Christmas compilations, and all 18 tracks are, indeed, classic - even if the album lacks the focus that would make the series so great. [read more]

When You Say Lou... I loves me some Lou Rawls. Boy, can he sing, and he enjoyed Christmas music enough to cut three albums of the stuff. His 20-track Merry Christmas Baby surveys all three and is a better value than any particular one - though his first album, Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho! (1967), is easily the best of the lot. [read more]

Bottoms Up! The rise of the compact disc in the 1980's and the lounge music craze of the 1990's converged in Capitol Records' voluminous Ultra-Lounge series, which deftly spotlighted the swinging side of easy listening music. The series addressed the holidays with four volumes of Christmas Cocktails and jingled all the way to the bank. [read more]

Rain, Sleet, Snow. Very few major rock artists cut Christmas records in the late '60s and those that did so made music that reflected the turbulent times. Paul Revere & The Raiders' A Christmas Present (1967) is one such album, and it's easily the strangest and funniest record the band ever cut. [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]

Wicked Reindeer Games. I'm old enough to have witnessed Chris Isaak's emergence as the "It Boy" of roots rock in the late '80s. Overall, his Christmas music lacks the fire of rockers like "Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing" and the smoldering passion of his greatest hit, "Wicked Game." But, there's still a lot to like. [read more]

The Best Christmas Album In The World... Maybe? Wherein I dissect an old series of fairly exhaustive, very English compilations. Now (pun intended), unless you're English (and bloody well right if you are), their greatest significance lies in kickstarting the British mania for annual Christmas compilations that continues unabated to this day. [read more]

Oh, By Gosh, By Golly. You cannot overstate Frank Sinatra's importance in the history of pop music. His Christmas music? Not so much. It's fine, but it just ain't got that swing that makes his best work so magnificent. There are a few gems, though, especially his debut recordings of "Mistletoe and Holly" and "The Christmas Waltz." [read more]

Dreaming Of A Crosby Christmas. He may not be a paragon of hip, but Bing Crosby made more holiday music than anyone this side of Charles Brown. My review of Der Bingle's Christmas catalog takes you from "Silent Night" (1935) to the famous TV duet with David Bowie that aired after Crosby's death in 1977. [read more]

The Man In Red. Who doesn't like Johnny Cash? He recorded four Christmas albums during his long career but, sadly, none compare to his best, toughest music. His legend is monstrous, but he was also a simple country boy longing for the comforts of home. And that's the Johnny Cash we hear on his Christmas albums. [read more]

Christmas Is For Mugs. I'm a huge Graham Parker fan, and his 1979 album Squeezing Out Sparks is a touchstone. His 1994 EP Christmas Cracker is a different subject altogether - just three songs, recorded well past his prime. Which doesn't mean I don't like it. Any Christmas record that mentions sex toys is okay by me.... [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]