The Soundtrack of Christmas: The Songs That Made the Holiday Iconic

Even if you’ve never celebrated Christmas in your life, pop culture has made sure you know exactly how it “should” look. Dozens of films (mainly romantic comedies) and series (mainly sitcoms) have turned you into quite the experts on everything related to reindeer, Santa Claus's presents, and the illuminated Christmas tree standing in the living room.

The world of music has also contributed significantly to the international holiday spirit. In the years when people still bought albums, almost every name you can imagine recorded a song or an album for the holiday. No genre was overlooked: from Rap (e.g., Run D.M.C.) to Punk (Iggy Pop and even The Ramones). Some of the songs written in the spirit of the holiday, most of them on the list before you, are certainly masterpieces that can be enjoyed even today, regardless of how your living room looks on Christmas Eve.

Band Aid, "Do They Know It’s Christmas?" (1984)

Bob Geldof in the mid-eighties wasn't looking to change the world. He was merely leading a nice British rock band (The Boomtown Rats), which even managed to get a few songs onto the charts. In 1984, he watched a TV report about the drought afflicting Ethiopia, and his world turned upside down. The harsh images shown on screen, especially the pictures of children with swollen bellies from hunger, would not leave him. In a radio interview, he called on his colleagues to do something about it, because while they were sitting by the fireplace, waiting for Santa, and handing out treats to their children, people were dying on the other side of the world. The first to take up the challenge was Midge Ure, the lead singer of Ultravox, who wrote one of the most beautiful and important Christmas songs ever with Geldof. Trevor Horn, the man who more than anyone else defined the sound of that decade in the British Isles, was put in charge of production. A dream team, which included most of the kingdom's stars of the time, showed up for the recording sessions held on November 25th, including Bono, Phil Collins, Sting, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, George Michael, Paul Young, and Paul Weller. The song, released a week later, became a huge hit, but more importantly, it succeeded in raising a lot of money for the hungry in Africa and raised awareness of the issue. A year later, pop and rock stars in America also opened their hearts with "We Are the World," and Geldof put on the massive Live Aid concert.

Wham!, "Last Christmas" (1985)

Anyone who entered a teenager's room in the mid-80s probably saw at least one Wham! poster on the wall. George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley formed the hottest pop duo at the time, and not just in Britain. After the release of the album Make It Big, which certainly lived up to its name, Michael wrote this holiday ballad that became a massive hit. The song experienced a revival a few years ago with the romantic comedy that bore its name and paid tribute to the songs of Michael and the duo. Wham! did not last long. Michael cut out for a successful solo career and mainly managed long, unnecessary disputes with his record companies. Michael ironically passed away on the exact holiday he wrote this charming ballad about. Ridgeley has done a little less since the two split, releasing an album in the early nineties and writing a book about those days a few years ago.

Mariah Carey, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" (1994)

You say Christmas, you say Mariah Carey. The singer with the five-octave range has had many hits in her long career, but none of them succeeded like this or survived the ravages of time better. A year after releasing her blockbuster Music Box, which sold over 30 million copies, she released another album, this time dedicated to Christmas. The single chosen to promote it: "All I Want For Christmas Is You," hit the mark and quickly became Carey's most successful song. Although the album sold less than its predecessor (only 16 million copies), this did not stop the singer from establishing the song as a modern holiday classic and even re-recording it later on. This month, she was even informed that 31 years after its initial release, it had returned to the top of the British charts, and incidentally, put a few more dollars in her pocket.

Kanye West, Teyana Taylor & Cyhi the Prynce, "Christmas in Harlem" (2010)

This is what happens when you try to combine the holiday spirit with Hip Hop. Kanye West in 2010 was at his peak. His masterpiece album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, had just come out, received widespread acclaim, and made him the most important creator in the world at that moment. In the spirit of the holiday, he gathered Teyana Taylor, Cyhi the Prynce, and a few other friends in the studio (because it's not really a Hip Hop song if there isn't at least a minyan in the studio), cleverly sampled Marvin Gaye (including his duet with Tammi Terrell) and the genius black guitarist Shuggie Otis (his magnificent "Strawberry Letter 23"), and also made sure to credit them. The result was a modern Soul classic with a lot of groove.

Joni Mitchell, "River" (1971)

Christmas can also be sad. Very sad, even. Especially if you listen to Joni Mitchell's "River." Although it doesn't snow in Los Angeles, she feels cold in her heart. Everyone around her is celebrating, and she just wants to earn enough money to get away from there. If there were a river nearby, she would sail on it immediately and not look back. "River," a masterpiece of writing and delivery, appeared on the album Blue, Mitchell's greatest work and one of the greatest works of the 70s. Later in her career, the folk high priestess connected with Jazz, got a little lost in the 80s, only to return big in the 90s. Mitchell wrote quite a few great songs after "River" too, but none of them were as beautiful as it.

The Pretenders, "2000 Miles" (1983)

Like Mitchell, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders is also broken during Christmas. James Honeyman-Scott, the band's first guitarist, died of a heart attack after excessive cocaine use, and Pete Farndon, the bassist she fired, also died, but from heroin, which didn't exactly lift her spirits. She wrote one of the most beautiful songs of longing about Honeyman-Scott, set during Christmas, the joyful holiday that turned sad because the children keep waiting for the one who is 2000 miles away and will never return. The album Learning to Crawl, which contained this heartbreaking ballad, sold well. But Hynde continued to be frustrated with her musicians and sent the drummer, Martin Chambers, home too.

The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, "Fairytale of New York" (1987)

Although The Pogues used quite a few acoustic instruments and were the most successful and celebrated representatives of Irish folk in the eighties, they often sounded like a cheerful punk band after a few rounds of Guinness. They have many great songs, but none succeeded like "Fairytale of New York." Vocalist Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl sing this New York legend as a duet, which is also far from happy. The song recently caused an uproar after it was claimed to be homophobic because of the line "You Cheap Lousy Faggot", which will probably hurt its frequency of airplay in the UK this upcoming holiday. MacGowan dismissively responded to the claims, while MacColl, an amazing singer whom many only know from this song, has been gone for almost 20 years to answer.

Tom Waits, "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" (1978)

The heroine of this Tom Waits ballad is also not exactly the stuff cast in a family Christmas comedy. She is a street prostitute from Minneapolis and a (currently former) drug addict who writes a holiday postcard to her ex, Charlie, telling him that she is pregnant, and her boyfriend, who plays the trombone, promises to raise the child even though he is not his. He is a committed guy who even gave her a ring, one that belonged to his mother, no less. She's doing well, relatively speaking, of course? It's a Waits song, not a Mariah Carey ballad, but she misses all the fun she and Charlie had in those good old days, and also a bit of the money that went to too many drugs. The listener, who is slightly encouraged by the improvement in the heroine's condition, finally breaks down toward the end of the song, where it turns out that everything she wrote was one big lie.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (1971)

Not only were cheesy love songs or heartbreaking ballads written in the spirit of the holiday. John Lennon and Yoko Ono decided to utilize their popularity (well, his) to explain to the world that the joyous energies of Christmas could be harnessed to stop all wars. The two not only wrote this protest song against the Vietnam War but also made sure posters were hung on billboards in 12 cities around the world, so that the entire planet would unite behind their call for peace. The idea was beautiful and primarily naive, the execution reasonable, the result far less—the war continued for a few more years, and the death toll on both sides kept rising. Lennon, by the way, was not the only Beatle to write a song for the holiday. George Harrison wrote "Ding Dong, Ding Dong" three years later, which was almost immediately forgotten, and Paul McCartney released "Wonderful Christmastime" at the end of that decade, which actually survived well. Ringo Starr went further and released an entire album of holiday songs in 1999.