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.
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.
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.
* 9 and 12 on the linked chart.
My dude, every year micheal buble is all the christmas charts. And how about that kid that’s probably a adult by now.
