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]

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]

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]

Quality Over Quantity. At just 12 tracks, MCA's Rockin' Little Christmas (1986) is brief, but all 12 tracks are classics, from big hits by Bobby, Brenda, and Chuck to obscure goodies by Dodie Stevens, the Surfaris, and the mysterious Lord Douglas Byron. It's a concise history of Christmas rock 'n' roll before the Beatles changed everything. [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]

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]

Is Murder A Disqualifying Offense? It's hard to overstate the importance and greatness of A Christmas Gift For You (1963). It's the best album Phil Spector ever produced, and Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is one of his very best singles. If you can separate the man from his music, this is required listening. [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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

A Super Sunny Christmas. Rodney Bingenheimer, aka Rodney On The ROQ, was a Los Angeles disc jockey who figured prominently in the rise of American punk, new wave, and power pop. He also compiled several influential albums including two rockin' volumes of Santa's Got A GTO. His story turns ugly, I'm afraid, but the music remains. [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]

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]

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]

Sucking In The 70's. The 1970's was a decade of extremes. We got plenty of wonderful Christmas records, but the songs on Rhino's Have A Nice Christmas: Holiday Hits Of The 70's aren't them. Rather, they are the songs that reflect the decade's kitschiest artifacts: smiley faces, polyester pants, lava lamps, mirror balls, and leisure suits. [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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