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's New In 2024? Believe it or not, they've begun announcing new Christmas albums - lots of vinyl reissues, mainly - plus big names like Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson, and Little Big Town and indie darlings like Phantom Planet and the Sunturns. So, I've started my annual, obsessive, quixotic attempt to keep up with it all. Highlights also include a full-length Tower Of Power album, a new collection from the Carpenters, and yet another Bear Family compilation. [gimme gimme]
Carols Covered (Again). Apple Music has made an annual tradition out of a batch of exclusive holiday tracks by young artists. I'll be honest, I don't even recognize most of these people. But, I sure do love the Linda Lindas, a young band of Angelinos who contribute a bangin' version of "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree." [get it]
This just in! Dean & Britta are having a listening party on Nov. 17 at 4:00 PM CST for their much-anticipated Christmas album, A Peace of Us, which arrives on Nov. 22. Dean, Britta, and their buddy Sonic Boom are members of indie rock icons Galaxie 500, Luna, and Spacemen 3. Pre-order at Bandcamp, Amazon, and around the web. [rsvp]
Well, Now I'm Excited! So far, the biggest news for me this year is Ben Folds' first-ever Christmas album, Sleigher. Most of the tracks are new, original songs with his usual mix of pathos and humor - plus keen musicianship. Oh, and he lets AI write the lyrics for one of the songs! Read more in Variety and order the CD or vinyl at Amazon.
Spotify, Schmotify. Once again, the company busy destroying the music industry is taking a breather to add new new tracks to their ever-growing, exclusive holiday playlist. It's free to stream, but you'll have to upgrade if you want to download. This year's biggest name is Kesha who does a nifty cover of Lindsay Buckingham's "Holiday Road." [spot me]
The Christmas Jukebox. My online Christmas music player is bulging with over 800 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. [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]
Actually Very Special. After decades of increasingly awful sequels, it's easy to forget what a big deal A Very Special Christmas was back in 1987. It spawned more than a few hip holiday classics, but its biggest impact was the slew of Christmas releases that followed in its wake - and continues unabated to this day. [read more]
Santa Goes To Memphis. Six soul music stalwarts from the 60's sing 12 holiday favorites arranged in the classic style of Stax Records. That was the concept behind Christmas Soul Special, a 1982 album produced by a long-forgotten New York label. It turned out to be a better concept on paper than in reality, but it's still a lotta fun! [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]
Euphemisms for Boring. Columbia's Acoustic Christmas (1990) was a harbinger of a genre that we would struggle to put a name to before settling on Americana. Most of the tracks are, indeed, acoustic, and nearly all of the arrangements are spare, if not altogether solo. Some are lovely, but they sure don't rock, roll, swing, or twang. [read more]
Man, later, like, dig? The subtitle "A
Collection Of Rockin' Stocking Stuffers" doesn't quite do Rhino's Cool Yule justice. Almost bereft of hits, it compiles strange, wonderful, and rare sides from the halcyon days of rock 'n' roll - obscure slices
of discomfort and joy that make Christmas music so fascinating and record
collecting so much fun. [read more]
No Present, No Cry. To western ears, reggae music can be a challenge. Perhaps that's why reggae covers of popular Christmas songs works so well - and why Rhino Records' Natty And Nice: A Reggae Christmas (1998) sounded so familiar and friendly to my ears - even though I'd never heard most of the recordings before. [read more]
Sh-Boom, Indeed. There was no purer form of rock 'n' roll than doo wop, and Rhino Records' Doo Wop Christmas (1992) taps into an even more rarefied vein. It's the closest thing rock has to sacrament, and when doo wop crossed paths with the pure world of Christmas music, good things were bound to happen. [read more]
Raising Capitol. Once upon a time, Capitol Records was an independent label cranking out an incredible body of eclectic Christmas music - from dirty blues to brassy pop. In the 1990's, the now-corporate label compiled four compact discs that chronicled those heady, halcyon times. Return with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear... [read more]
Christmas Spirit?? Released on tiny Etiquette Records in 1965, Merry Christmas From The Sonics, The Wailers, The Galaxies is a compendium of three garage bands from the Pacific Northwest that's not quite the Christmas-themed Nuggets one might expect. But, with no less than two
songs from my Top 100, it's very, very good. [read more]
A Cavalcade of Christmas Craziness. The 1992 EMI compilation Legends Of Christmas Past includes acknowledged rock 'n' roll nuggets, rare rhythm 'n blues classics, and a host of random singles ranging from wonderful to wacky. Altogether, it collects 20 gems spanning 20 years, including two unreleased songs by Bill Haley. [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]
Dig That Crazy Santa Claus. Rhino's Christmas Rock EP (1982) and Rockin'
Christmas albums (1984) are partly responsible for this website. Their diverse, nontraditional, wackadoodle portrayal of holiday music gave me one of my first glimpses into a world where Santa is twistin', surfin', rockin', and rollin' - and everybody is welcome. [read more]
Instant Record Collection. Christmas Classics is as close to an instant record collection as you could find when it was released in 1988. It was one of the first installments in Rhino's historic 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]
Intimate Christmas Music For Young Lovers. The
legacy of Hollywood Records is both glorious and shameful, encompassing
some of the greatest holiday rhythm & blues ever waxed - including the 1956 album Merry Christmas Baby - and some of the
shabbiest reissues in the history of record collecting. [read more]
Not-So-Smooth Grooves. Rhino Records' Smooth Grooves: A Sensual Christmas is a contradiction. First, lots of the songs aren't smooth at all - they're uptempo R&B jams. Second, it fails to live up to the standards set by Rhino's series of historic Christmas compilations - even though all 12 tracks are essential holiday listening. [read more]
A Christmas Gift For You. Every year, I offer five free MP3's from my voluminous collection - all unavailable easily or legitimately in the music marketplace. In 2023, I chose lost treasures by the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde, XTC in disguise, fake Rolling Stones, Boston's barbecue guru, and a Christmas bummer by Concrete Blonde. [listen or download]
[old news] [top of page]