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]
Hag's Christmas. Merle Haggard had a reputation for his rough and rowdy ways. Maybe so, but his music was less so, usually sounding soft-spoken, dignified, and 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]
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]
Top 40 Christmas Oldies Songs. The web is crammed with blogs and tweets, obscuring the fact that experts might know more than know-it-alls armed with a quick wit and a laptop. To me, that's sad, and this rock solid list from (now defunct) About.com shows why. [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]
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]
It's A Punk Rawk Christmas. Pop punk icons (and sometimes Christians) MXPX put out a Christmas song every year for about a decade - mostly exclusive releases for their fan club - before finally compiling them on an album in 2008 for the rest of us - and then summarily deleting it. Great stuff, though, if you can find it. [listen & learn]
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]
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]
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]
Songs for Naughty Children. First Warning Records started out as an indie label, but they were on board with corporate behemoth BMG by 1991. So, they got to include bands like the Primitives and Hoodoo Gurus on A Lump Of Coal - a pithy snapshot of early 90's alternative rock, with both barrels aimed squarely at the holidays. [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]
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]
Christmas In A Honky Tonk. Three vinyl volumes of The Austin Christmas Collection, released in the early 80's, gave rise to The Texas Christmas Collection, a compact disc released in the early 90's. They did a pretty good job of representing the regional music scene, past and present - albeit in a very Chamber-of-Commerce sort of way. [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]
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]
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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