‘Tis the season… to listen to Christmas music just about all over the place you go, whether or not you like it or do not. However who first introduced the vacation spirit to rock music?
The origins of Christmas music date all the way in which again to the fourth century. Numerous sources together with Southern Residing and Billboard cite “Jesus Refulsit Omnium” (Latin for “Jesus, Mild of All of the Nations”), written by St. Hilary of Poitier, because the very first Christmas hymn. The hymn was reportedly written after the first-ever recorded Christmas celebration, which befell on Dec. 25 in 336 A.D.
The English Christmas carols that we all know at the moment did not turn out to be extra frequent till the sixteenth century, although, which was fairly some time earlier than rock ‘n’ roll even existed as a mode of music. As of at the moment, a bunch of rock and metallic artists have coated vacation classics and even written their very own unique Christmas songs, so we needed to discover the historical past of Christmas music in rock.
What Was the Very First Rock Christmas Tune?
In case you ask Google this query, the reply you may possible see come up probably the most is the 1957 music “Jingle Bell Rock,” which was carried out by Bobby Helms, who was technically considered a rustic singer. Nonetheless, a month earlier than that music got here out (in October of ’57), Elvis Presley — the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll — launched a full album of Christmas songs packaged as Elvis’ Christmas Album.
“It’ll be a rock ’n’ roll Christmas,” Presley stated throughout a press convention that yr, in line with the Elvis Historical past Weblog.
That includes songs similar to “Blue Christmas” and “Santa Claus Is Again in City,” the album had a mixture of the blues, gospel music and a few Christmas carols. It was acquired fairly negatively by the media, with some calling it “sacrilegious,” significantly his cowl of “White Christmas.” The Ohio Penitentiary Information wrote that the unique model of the music was “a music beloved till this creature recorded his barnyard model of it.”
Radio stations refused to play songs from the report, however it nonetheless managed to succeed in the highest of the album chart through the vacation season that yr anyway. So technically, any of the songs from this album can reply the query, however the two we talked about simply earlier than most likely match the factors for “rock” and “Christmas” the very best.
Which Rock Artists Launched Christmas Music After Elvis Presley?
As we already talked about, “Jingle Bell Rock” got here out a month after Presley’s Christmas album. The next yr (1958), Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” grew to become the newest addition to the rock Christmas catalog. Brenda Lee’s 1958 hit “Rockin’ Across the Christmas Tree” is taken into account rockabilly, so we’ll give it credit score too,
By the ’60s, as rock music grew to become extra widespread, so did Christmas rock music. The Seaside Boys adopted in Presley’s footsteps, releasing a full assortment of vacation songs in 1964 appropriately titled The Seaside Boys’ Christmas Album.
Since then, tons of rock and metallic artists have dabbled within the vacation spirit to convey a bit little bit of rock and a bit little bit of brutality to followers’ playlists yearly. See a few of our favourite heavy vacation tracks right here.
READ MORE: 2023 Vacation Present Information for Rock + Metallic Followers
Most Metallic Christmas Traditions
Essentially the most metallic Christmas traditions.
Gallery Credit score: Taylor Markarian
