It is bizarre that we made Christmas music as a genre and just decided that the genre needed zero additional songs for the rest of time with the exception of Mariah Carey.
Here in Britain we have a whole slew (or sleigh) of others, but, sticking with the theme, very few of those are from the last 30 years.
I’m surprised at least a couple of them didn’t catch on in the US. Maybe they’re too whimsical or alien for the average US audience.
Similarly, Feliz Navidad is largely unknown over here. Then again, we don’t have the large Hispanic cultural influence that might have allowed it gain a foothold.
Feliz Navidad is the only Christmas song that I don’t utterly despise. Perhaps because none of the places I worked at that played music when I was younger ever had it on the rotation, I can appreciate that it’s super catchy and fun.
All other Christmas music makes a holly jolly boy a sour Scrooge.
Two of the inescapable ones* are from the 70s and a couple of others besides, but yes, 1990 is a significant dropping-off point.
Curiously, one Top 40 chart for Christmas songs streamed in the UK, from December 2021 has Feliz Navidad in there at 35, which is kind of funny because that’s above our own band The Darkness. Their '00s Christmas effort tried so hard to re-capture the spirit of the '70s and do well. To some extent it did but the magic wasn’t quite there. It probably didn’t help that it was based around a riff stolen wholesale from Queen’s Brian May (Somebody to Love if memory serves.)
But importantly, that chart does list several others. It’s a fairly safe bet that if you see a song, or band (or both) you’ve not heard of, it’s probably one of our home grown ones that hasn’t made it big where you are.
This is bizarre. And it’s weird that after the boomers die off a similar thing won’t happen for gen X since their childhood Christmases were defined by the same thing.
So I’m imagining a reboot, where adult Macauley Culkin is accidentally left at home by his wife and kids and figures out some robbers are coming. Rather than calling the police like a normal adult, he lays elaborate traps, many involving his current “toys” (power tools). It plays out the next 20 minutes as a Saw-like vignette, then the rest of the movie is a courtroom drama where he is being tried for the murder of the robbers. Does Castle Doctrine cover him? Can he consider it self defense if he never called police even with enough time to set up traps? Will he get treatment for his mental illness as his wife has been begging him to do (plot twist, she didn’t forget him, she left him at home and took the kids to her family’s for safety)?
Also the robbers are still Harry and Marv (just got out of prison) and they were old as shit and very much not a threat as robbers to a grown ass man.
Fuck boomer Christmas. Claymation sucks. Charlie Brown is boring. Frosty should’ve been left to melt. And ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ bombed at the box office for a reason. Just because it was dirt-cheap for TV stations to air during the Holidays in the late '70s/'80s doesn’t make it good.
Are you saying that industries such as the automotive industry exploit nameplates born in the 60s? I thought the Charger, Challenger, Bronco, Mustang, Blazer and Ford F truck were all original names and designs.
https://xkcd.com/988/
“Every year, American culture embarks on a massive project to carefully recreate the Christmases of baby boomer childhoods.”
It is bizarre that we made Christmas music as a genre and just decided that the genre needed zero additional songs for the rest of time with the exception of Mariah Carey.
And god-damned Wham.
Is there some law that every modern musician has to cover Wham’s song? Because it sure seems that way.
Love me some Wham
There have been others that have popped up, we’ve just collectively decided to forget them the following year because they were so bad.
Please don’t make us think of them. Let them die, or I’ll curse you with my yearly Christmas Trolling song, Christmas In The Northwest.
With wonderful Christmas hits like Dominic the Donkey, idk what you’ve forgotten, but I need your seasonal troll music collection for a cd.
Here in Britain we have a whole slew (or sleigh) of others, but, sticking with the theme, very few of those are from the last 30 years.
I’m surprised at least a couple of them didn’t catch on in the US. Maybe they’re too whimsical or alien for the average US audience.
Similarly, Feliz Navidad is largely unknown over here. Then again, we don’t have the large Hispanic cultural influence that might have allowed it gain a foothold.
Feliz Navidad is the only Christmas song that I don’t utterly despise. Perhaps because none of the places I worked at that played music when I was younger ever had it on the rotation, I can appreciate that it’s super catchy and fun.
All other Christmas music makes a holly jolly boy a sour Scrooge.
There’s quite a few from the 80s aren’t there?
Two of the inescapable ones* are from the 70s and a couple of others besides, but yes, 1990 is a significant dropping-off point.
Curiously, one Top 40 chart for Christmas songs streamed in the UK, from December 2021 has Feliz Navidad in there at 35, which is kind of funny because that’s above our own band The Darkness. Their '00s Christmas effort tried so hard to re-capture the spirit of the '70s and do well. To some extent it did but the magic wasn’t quite there. It probably didn’t help that it was based around a riff stolen wholesale from Queen’s Brian May (Somebody to Love if memory serves.)
But importantly, that chart does list several others. It’s a fairly safe bet that if you see a song, or band (or both) you’ve not heard of, it’s probably one of our home grown ones that hasn’t made it big where you are.
* 9 and 12 on the linked chart.
Feliz navidad is surprisingly not enraging for me. Several years in a row now.
Wham gives me a twitching left eyelid.
Sia made a christmas album a few years back and it’s actually very good.
Billy Idol made a Christmas album in 2006 and it is actually very bad.
🎶 With a jolly yell, he cried “ho, ho, ho” 🎶
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My dude, every year micheal buble is all the christmas charts. And how about that kid that’s probably a adult by now.
Ah yes, the grown up child… How could anyone miss that reference.
This is bizarre. And it’s weird that after the boomers die off a similar thing won’t happen for gen X since their childhood Christmases were defined by the same thing.
Millennials as well, considering we’re mostly the kids of boomers
Mariah Carey is our Christmas nostalgia music.
I thought it was avoiding family on the holidays to fight home invaders and meet the neighbors.
So I’m imagining a reboot, where adult Macauley Culkin is accidentally left at home by his wife and kids and figures out some robbers are coming. Rather than calling the police like a normal adult, he lays elaborate traps, many involving his current “toys” (power tools). It plays out the next 20 minutes as a Saw-like vignette, then the rest of the movie is a courtroom drama where he is being tried for the murder of the robbers. Does Castle Doctrine cover him? Can he consider it self defense if he never called police even with enough time to set up traps? Will he get treatment for his mental illness as his wife has been begging him to do (plot twist, she didn’t forget him, she left him at home and took the kids to her family’s for safety)?
Also the robbers are still Harry and Marv (just got out of prison) and they were old as shit and very much not a threat as robbers to a grown ass man.
Funny thing is for me…
Christmas music is like 30% Traditional, 2% new picks and 58% snowy video game music… and 10% Phineas and Ferb.
My favorite Winter-y video game music has to be:
And for P&H, We’ve got S’winter and I know it’s cheating but the Let It Snow cover isn’t all that bad either. And I really don’t hate Christmas.
The snow biome theme from Terraria is an absolute gem.
Don’t forget In a Snowbound Land from Donkey Kong Country 2
Arguably the best track in the game. They only used it a couple times, and it only shows up in some of the last levels.
You see valentines is torture and my birthday is a mess, New years a lot of noise and arbor days a pest
Video game christmas song are bangers, don’t know why.
Killing floor 2 has a really good metal/synthetic cover for carol of the bells
Payday 2 had a joke xmass album,the whole thing is great but this one is my favorite one.
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Killing floor 2
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Fuck boomer Christmas. Claymation sucks. Charlie Brown is boring. Frosty should’ve been left to melt. And ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ bombed at the box office for a reason. Just because it was dirt-cheap for TV stations to air during the Holidays in the late '70s/'80s doesn’t make it good.
Lmk how your inevitable life-changing journey with a magical Christmas creature goes
It’ll have a different vibe when the starving polar bears attack
It’s a Wonderful Life is my favorite movie…
I agree about Charlie Brown and the Rankin/Bass TV specials, but It’s a Wonderful Life is a great film that has stood the test of time.
Would you say everyone who likes that stuff should be boiled in their own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through their heart?
What about Last Christmas? That’s from like the 80s
Also Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time
Are you saying that industries such as the automotive industry exploit nameplates born in the 60s? I thought the Charger, Challenger, Bronco, Mustang, Blazer and Ford F truck were all original names and designs.
I’ve been wanting to remake this chart for a long time… So I made one based on the first 20 of Billboard’s “Holiday 100 most charted songs”