Christmas music is…polarizing. For some, the annual auditory ambiance elicits pure joy. That unique form of holiday joy—rooted in nostalgia, tradition, and the repetition of ritual—can be connective and grounding. The Holidays, with all their expected trappings and performances, can bring us closer to our family, friends, and even strangers with whom we share cultural history. Christmas music plays a central role in that experience and can send even the most jaded or cynical music lover into a nostalgic trance.
In an article published in the Washington Post, writers Bonnie Berkowitz, Chris Alcantara, and Shelly Tan put it this way: “Even though you might be into avant-garde jazz, death metal or emo, the rest of the year, you may involuntarily turn to mush when you hear “White Christmas” because your brain associates that song with baking cookies in grandma’s kitchen when you were 6.”
Then there’s the other camp, where you’ll find a huddled minority of people for whom the onslaught of familiar tunes inspires nothing but fury and irritation. Anyone who has worked retail or food service deserves on automatic pass for any negative associations they might harbor toward classic holiday hits. But many others who do not bear the battle scars of service sector holiday employment still get a little stabby when they hear Silver Bells or Holly Jolly Christmas. A 2017 survey by the Spotify backed company Soundtrack Your Brand found that 17% of Americans and 25% of Brits actively dislike Christmas music in all forms.
We wanted to hear from artists and learn what skilled players with trained ears think. Musicians have a unique perspective on Christmas music. Scoring a lasting holiday hit is a holy grail in the music industry. George Howard, associate professor of music/business management at the Berkelee College of Music, told marketplace.org that he estimates Mariah Carey’s 1994 hit “All I Want for Christmas is You” earns her $10 million annually. So, artists are incentivized to get into the Christmas spirit, whether they actually feel it or not.
Gigging musicians are in a uniquely fraught position this time of year. Do they drop a holiday standard or two into the setlist for the month of December, go full-on mall Michael Buble and do a complete holiday show, or avoid the genre entirely? No matter which option they choose, they’re likely to irritate some segment of their audience.
We asked a handful of our favorite working musicians to tell us their real opinions about Christmas music. Like the rest of us, musicians have diverse opinions about the genre. We also included links to their preferred holiday jams to help you discover your next favorite holiday songs, or maybe convince you that not all is lost, sonically speaking, during the happiest time of the year.
Jon Torrence, a Michigan artist who’s one of the founding members of The Native Heart, and a full-time elementary school music teacher doesn’t come down hard on either side of the divide.
I have a mixed relationship with Christmas songs. Certain ones set me on edge—some renditions seem simply churned out for profit, but there is some real brilliance attached to some of those songs (traditional and some modern) and others definitely drenched with nostalgia! Overall, I dig them (especially because year after year I get to see firsthand how excited kids get about them).
Gretchen Menn, a technically exceptional player who’s as comfortable with Mozart as she is shredding Page (she plays in the Led Zeppelin tribute group Zepparella) has avoided the weariness some working musicians feel toward Christmas tunes.
I luckily don’t have baggage around Christmas music, and mostly associate it with nice childhood memories. I’ve never played in a band in which that was part of the setlist or worked a job where it was in rotation constantly, or I’m sure I’d feel differently. Listening now with musician ears, I am often stunned by the fantastic musicianship and arrangements in some of the classics—Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Vince Guaraldi, to name just a few. And Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is always a favorite. These are gorgeous, deep pieces by truly great composers and songwriters.
Chris Couch, a songwriter and performer who plays in the Portland, Oregon based group World’s Finest has a similarly balanced perspective. He’s currently doing a month-long solo residency at McMenamin’s Tavern and says he may even work a holiday “deep cut” into his setlist.
For the most part, I don’t mind Christmas music. Joni Mitchell’s “River” would never have happened without Christmas, and that’s a great song! It was probably in their recording contracts to make a Christmas album, but the God Rest Ye Merry Jazzmen record features fantastic jazz playing, and those songs are played at grocery stores around the world during the holidays. Honestly, all of Bing Crosby’s Christmas hits are untouchable.
That being said, there is a time and a place for them, and most of the time there is no place for them. All of my previous jobs decorated their spots like crazy and blasted Christmas music non-stop. So yeah… when it becomes the anthem for rampant consumerism, I tend to grit my teeth.
North Carolina singer-songwriter Travis Shallow has not historically been much of a fan of the genre, though that may be changing.
I’ve never been much for Christmas music, especially in the modern era. But this year a couple of bands put out their own Christmas albums with original songs that made me reevaluate holiday music all together. Hiss Golden Messenger out of Durham, NC put out a beautiful Christmas album titled “O Come All Ye Faithful.” So did Amanda Shires titled “For Christmas.” I’ve been listening to those this month, and they might be single-handedly changing my outlook on Christmas music for the better.
Pete Mroz, this month’s featured artist, contestant on The Voice, and former Blake Shelton bandmate, is all in when it comes to Christmas music.
I love the holiday spirit of Christmas, especially since my wife thinks it’s magical, and we have young kids. Christmas is alive and well in the Mroz household! For me, playing Christmas music really gets me into the holiday spirit. I consider it to be genuinely great music that has stood the test of time for a reason.
Ian Cook was lead guitarist and front man for the legendary central Oregon genre-bending folk-punk band Larry and His Flask. He also happens to be the Sound Optimization technician in the Breedlove factory (basically, he shreds every guitar we make before we ship it out to make sure it’s perfect). Ian appreciates traditional Christmas music for its underappreciated complexity and musicality.
Have you ever sat down and tried to learn The Christmas Song? Those are some serious chord changes. My dad and I have a tradition of playing The Christmas Song together every year during the holidays. We have to relearn it every year from scratch because we never practice it.
I’m definitely a traditionalist. Nothing bothers me more than some auto-tuned soaked rehash of something that never needed improvement in the first place. I’m also a pretty big fan of jazz Christmas records. Like real jazz, not the Kenny G, smooth jazz stuff. A lot of the classic holiday songs were written by proper jazz composers and are fairly complex, harmonically. The lyrics may be hokey but there was some thought being put into the writing. I’d like to think that some of the better Christmas songs have stuck around for good reasons and not just because they’re shoved down our throats every year. Although Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer can go away forever, as far as I’m concerned.
