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 indie darlings Dean & Britta and the Sunturns, and a few big names like Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken, and Little Big Town. 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]
Well, Now I'm Excited! So far, the biggest news for me this year is Ben Folds' first-ever Christmas album, Sleigher. It's out on October 25. Most of the tracks are new, original songs - one assumes with his usual mix of pathos and humor - plus keen musicianship. Read more in Variety and preorder the CD or vinyl at Amazon.
The Christmas Jukebox. My online Christmas music player is bulging with over 700 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]
12 Worst/Best Songs of Christmas. I enjoyed this list from now-defunct Spinner Magazine (a division of also defunct AOL Music) so much that I preserved it after the rag went belly up. I am proud to say I own all 12 best songs of Christmas - and all but one of the worst! [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]
Yulesville U.S.A. The collective brilliance of Motown's holiday music was one of my first - and certainly abiding - fascinations. The 1973 compilation A Motown Christmas is all most people will need. But, there's a lot more, including Top 20 Albums by the Temptations, the Jackson 5, and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. [read more]
Santa's Done Got Hip. Rhino Records' Hipsters' Holiday: Vocal Jazz And R&B Classics (1989) provides a vivid snapshot of American jive in the full flower of health, from hard bop to swing, from jump blues to doo wop. These songs are unusual, often uproarious, occasionally scabrous celebration of Christmas. [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]
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 From The Not-So-Latin Lounge. Despite appearances, Rhino's Mambo Santa Mambo isn't about Latin music, per se. Rather, it's about the Latin music craze that gripped American pop like a tropical fever during the 1950's - think Ricky Ricardo or Carmen Miranda. This was Latin music smartly packaged for the white market. [read more]
Even Santa Gets The Blues. Pointblank Records and their corporate parent, Virgin, released two Christmas albums in the 1990's that - in the modern world of downloads and streaming - are arguably irrelevant. On their own terms, however, they're pretty great. The first is a blues tour de force, and the second is a mainstream juggernaut. [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]
The Mother of All Compilations. Two Christmas LP's from 1976 were the very beginning of my vast Christmas collection and, nearly 50 years later, they remain its cornerstones. One of them is just a bunch of hit singles. The other, Rhythm & Blues Christmas, is the magna carta of hip Christmas music. [read more]
Soul Santa. Brook Benton recorded several classic Christmas singles, including one of the few "black pride" holiday tunes, "Soul Santa" (1971). But, he never recorded a Christmas album during his prime. When he finally did, it was an original but disappointing effort - and the story just gets worse from there. [read more]
Farting On Santa's Lap. Hip-O Records' 2000 collection Sleighed:
The Other Side Of Christmas aims to present an alternative-rock-meets-Dr. Demento view of the holidays. It falls short of that mark, but 10 of the 12 tracks are pretty great all the same, including big names like Beck, Sonic Youth, the Smithereens, and (ahem) Spinal Tap. [read more]
Even Santa Gets The Blues. Pointblank Records and their corporate parent, Virgin, released two Christmas albums in the 1990's that - in the modern world of downloads and streaming - are arguably irrelevant. On their own terms, however, they're pretty great. The first is a blues tour de force, and the second is a mainstream juggernaut. [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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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 reiussed and rejiggered twice again, but it always remained an eclectic but essential part of my Christmas collection. [read more]
The Mother of all Lists. David McGee's list of essential Christmas albums appeared in Dave Marsh's 1981 Book Of Rock Lists and is largely to blame for my obsession and, eventually, this website. Christmas music had been my parents' music: adult, reverent, boring. McGee showed me holiday music that rocks, rolls, swings, and twangs. [read more]
Um, Hooray? I never miss a chance to say how disappointed I was when I finally heard Christmas
With The Everly Brothers (1962). I love the Everly Brothers, but the album is dull and reverential - and gets trampled to death by the Boys Town Choir. It was finally reissued on CD by Rhino in 2005 and then sporadically ever since. [read
more]
A Punchbowl Full Of Joy. It's just five songs long, and it was just a local record, but A
Boston Rock Christmas (1983) smokes from start to finish, covering everything
from roots rock to techno pop to hardcore punk - and the Del Fuegos make one of their earliest appearances on vinyl. But beware, dear reader, it's rare beyond description. [read more]
Everybody's Christmas Granddaddy. Ever since he started cranking out Christmas classics in the 1940's, Gene Autry has played a pivitol role in almost everybody's childhood experience of the holidays. His cornpone music can hardly be considered hip, but it is deeply buried in our collective unconscious. [giddy-up]
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 In Vietnam. Most holiday music
is escapist. Who, after all, wants to think about death and mayhem during the season of hope? Nevertheless,
the Vietnam war intruded into this idyllic genre during the turbulent 60's, and we examine six
songs that looked at Christmas through the eyes of soldiers and their families. [read more]
Top 20 Christmas Albums. Actually, 40 - I
started unwrapping presents and just couldn't stop! Anyway, who said Christmas music has to be
boring? Not me! These sterling platters will put you in the Christmas spirit faster than you can
say, "Go Cat Go!" [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]
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