Top Ten Best Christmas Recordings Of Pop Era

[Kelly Frank]

We haven't done any top tens for awhile. Now that Thanksgiving is over, and everyone is feeling pleasantly jolly after the big meal, let's do top tens of our favorite Christmas recordings....

[Dennis Willis]

Wow, well seeing as I listen to a lot of holiday music, I know what I like. And I'm happy to report that the last few years have brought some nice surprises.

-Bing and Bowie, of course. The Little Drummer Boy is so landmark for so many reasons that we have not seen the likes of that pairing since then, and probably wouldn't appreciate it if we did.

-Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas album. I know that you lose street cred for not hating on Mariah but her 1994 album was the best new holiday album for the next decade. No sense in even debating it.

-Twisted Sister's Twisted Christmas. They claimed it was their best album and they were right. It's got all the snarling heavy metal attitude you'd expect with tasty guitar samples from classic rock songs ladled over some holiday goodness. Yeah, seriously.

-The Smithereens released a holiday album last year and it's great. I don't own it and have only heard half the songs but it's streaming on Big R Radio's Rockin' Christmas (streaming on iTunes) frequently.

-Someday At Christmas, covered by Pearl Jam. Yep, and little Stevie would be proud.

-Brian Setzer's pair of Christmas albums are big, brassy and fun versions of some classics and some lesser knowns.

-Trans-Siberian Orchestra's stuff is great too, especially Sarajevo and Christmas Canon. And as a sucker for that kind of cheesetastic rock opera sound, I knew it was gonna be an instant hit. :)

-KT Tunstall's cover of Lonely at Christmas is one of the most haunting and sad holiday ballads ever. And that jangly guitar sounds like something from a Tarantino movie.

-Bryan Adams' Christmas Time. 1985-era holiday ballad that began life as a B-side. One of my favorites.

-Chris Isaak's Christmas album sounded like BOTH a Christmas album AND a Hawaiian-flavored good time collection.

-38 Special. Yeah, go figure but I caught some of their Christmas stuff on Big R also and it's pretty rockin'. It the first thing I've liked from them since that ballad that wrecked their career.

-Lennon's Happy Xmas (War Is Over). Any version, really. Maroon 5's plaintive and haunting. Sense Field's is a chugger. Sarah McLachlin's is optimistic. And Lennon's is, well, perfect. At least until Yoko starts caterwauling.

I'm sure I'll think of more.