Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of carols or songs may employ lyrics whose subject matter ranges from the nativity of Jesus Christ, to gift-giving and merrymaking, to cultural figures such as Santa Claus, among other topics. Many songs simply have a winter or seasonal theme, or have been adopted into the canon for other reasons.
Ebenezer Scrooge is the protagonist of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. At the beginning of the novella, Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas. The tale of his redemption by three spirits has become a defining tale of the Christmas holiday in the English-speaking world.
John Milford Rutter is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger, and record producer, mainly of choral music.
The Muppet Christmas Carol is a 1992 American Christmas musical fantasy comedy film drama film directed by Brian Henson from a screenplay by Jerry Juhl. The fourth theatrical film in The Muppets franchise, it was the first film to be produced following the deaths of Muppets creator Jim Henson and performer Richard Hunt, with the film being dedicated to both of them. Adapted from the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, it stars Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, alongside Muppet performers Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Jerry Nelson, and Frank Oz portraying various roles. Although artistic license is taken to suit the aesthetic of the Muppets, The Muppet Christmas Carol otherwise follows Dickens's original story closely.
"Christmas Wrapping" is a Christmas song by the American new wave band the Waitresses. It was first released on the 1981 compilation album A Christmas Record on ZE Records, and also appears on the Waitresses' 1982 EP I Could Rule the World If I Could Only Get the Parts and numerous Christmas holiday compilation albums. It was written and produced by Chris Butler, with vocals by Patty Donahue. The song received positive reviews and AllMusic described it as "one of the best holiday pop tunes ever recorded".
The Ocean Blue is an American indie pop band formed in Hershey, Pennsylvania in 1986. Its original members included David Schelzel on lead vocals/guitar, Steve Lau on keyboards/saxophone, Bobby Mittan on bass guitar and Rob Minnig on drums and vocals.
Downhere is a Christian rock band from Canada. They have released six studio albums to date: downhere (2001), So Much for Substitutes (2003), Wide-Eyed and Mystified (2006), Ending Is Beginning (2008), How Many Kings: Songs for Christmas (2009), and On the Altar of Love (2011) and have won several Juno and Covenant Awards.
FF5 is an American Christian rock band from Atlanta, Georgia. The band formed in 2005 by brothers Solomon "Soul Glow Activatur" Olds, Joshua "Fatty" Olds, and Jacob "Crouton" Olds along with their two friends, Nathan "Nadaddy" Currin and Brad "20 Cent" Allen, who was later replaced by Derek "Chapstique" Mount. The group has released five studio albums, nine EPs, and two remix albums. They are often noted for their raucous, party-centric personae and eclectic mix of genres, ranging from rap metal to dance-pop.
Matthew Kermit Miller, better known as Matt K. Miller, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, playwright and voice artist. He is also known as Kermit Miller and Kermit Beachwood. His best-known voice role in anime was Tenchi Masaki in the Pioneer dub of Tenchi Muyo. He reprised the role in the Funimation English dub of Ai Tenchi Muyo! in 2018
David Mckee Barnes is an American musician, singer, and songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee. He has released eight studio albums, including two Christmas albums. His most recent full-length album, Who Knew It Would Be So Hard To Be Myself, was released February 9, 2018.
"Gabriel's Message" or "The angel Gabriel from heaven came" is a Basque Christmas folk carol about the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary by the archangel Gabriel that she would become the mother of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
A Christmas Carol, the popular 1843 novella by Charles Dickens (1812–1870), is one of the British author's best-known works. It is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a greedy miser who hates Christmas, but is transformed into a caring, kindly person through the visitations of four ghosts. The classic work has been dramatised and adapted countless times for virtually every medium and performance genre, and new versions appear regularly.
Harry and the Potters are an American wizard rock band formed in Norwood, Massachusetts in 2002 by brothers Joe and Paul DeGeorge. They have released three studio albums, three singles, three extended plays, four other albums, five miscellaneous releases and two side projects. All material has been released by the independent record label Eskimo Laboratories which the duo founded.
"The Ghost of Christmas" is a song by the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released during Christmas time as a gift to fans of the band.
Unextraordinary Gentlemen (UXG) is a musical project formed in Los Angeles in 2005 by bassist/keyboardist Richard Pilawski & vocalist/lyricist Eric Schreeck to "...explore our love for post-punk, synth-pop, industrial & experimental music combined with the literary genre of Victorian fantasy." The project went public in early 2007, joined by Jennifer Pomerantz on violin. The band's name is a tongue-in-cheek nod to Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Fruitcake EP is an EP released by Filipino alternative rock band Eraserheads released by BMG Records (Pilipinas), Inc. in 1996 as a promotional material for the launching of their album Fruitcake in December 1996. The album contains three tracks that includes the band's well-known Christmas song "Fruitcake", "Old Fashioned Christmas Carol" and an unplugged version of the song "Christmas Alphabet".
Oh Blue Christmas is an EP by the American band A Fine Frenzy that was released in November 2009 in the United States by Virgin Records. It was initially released exclusively through Target two months after the release of the band's previous studio album Bomb in a Birdcage. The EP contains cover versions of three popular holiday songs—"Blue Christmas", "Winter Wonderland" and "Christmas Time Is Here" from A Charlie Brown Christmas—as well as three original tracks. According to Alison Sudol, A Fine Frenzy's leader, the collection of songs was recorded in five days at record producer David Bianco's studio in Los Angeles.
The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing are an English punk band from London, England, formed in 2008. Their name is a reference to the chalked graffiti discovered above a section of blood-stained apron thought to have been discarded by Jack the Ripper as he fled the scene of Catherine Eddowes's murder. They describe themselves as "Crusty punk meets cockney sing-songs meets grindcore in the 1880s." Initially associated with the steampunk movement, they have since sought to broaden their sound and distance themselves from the tag, incorporating elements of death metal, hardcore punk, the new wave of British heavy metal, thrash, black metal, goth, stand up comedy and music hall. Their songs are usually set in the Victorian era but can often be read as allegory for the present day.
A Very Gaga Holiday is a live EP released by Lady Gaga, containing songs performed on the ABC holiday television special A Very Gaga Thanksgiving. It was made available for purchase in the United States on November 22, 2011, exclusively on the iTunes Store and Amazon, and on November 26 in the rest of the world. The EP is made up of jazz covers of the songs "Orange Colored Sky" and "White Christmas", the latter featuring an extra verse added by Gaga herself, and acoustic versions of "You and I" and "The Edge of Glory", both songs originally from the singer's second studio album, Born This Way (2011). A recurring theme on the EP is Gaga stopping midway through singing to talk about background information on the songs with her listeners.
Marc Martel is a Canadian Christian rock musician. He was born in Montreal, Canada, to father Michel Martel and mother Barbara Beresford Martel. He attended Briercrest College and Seminary in Saskatchewan, where he formed the band Downhere with his roommate Jason Germain and a few friends in 1999.
