Is Christmas music its own genre?
It’s the same routine every year: there you are, minding your own business in the supermarket, when your brain suddenly tunes into the music playing in the background, only to realise that it’s December and the onslaught of cheesy Christmas songs has already begun. The field of Christmas music is much-maligned both by music fans and casual listeners alike, with its incessant optimism often feeling at odds with the bitter cold and financial burden of the winter months. Love it or loathe it, can you really consider Christmas music to be a genre of its own?
The origins of Christmas music date all the way back to the fourth century, with St Hilary of Poitier’s hymn ‘Jesus Refulsit Omnium’. In fact, the vast majority of Christmas music, depending on how you define that term, is made up of Christian hymns, which probably isn’t surprising given the fact that Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. However, if you consider Christmas music a genre in its own right, that would mean that these hymns and important religious artefacts sit next to Slade or Shakin’ Stevens, and something about that just doesn’t seem right.
To decipher whether Christmas music counts as a genre, we must first decide what exactly constitutes a musical genre in the first place. In essence, the word genre is just a synonym for style, but by that logic, how can the very different bands of Kiss and Bikini Kill both be branded with the ‘rock’ genre? The introduction of endless sub-genres, like pop-rock, hard rock, punk, riot grrrl, soft rock, roots – the list goes on indefinitely – clears up this issue somewhat but also creates an array of new problems. If any artist can make up a new subgenre to suit their own style, then what is the point of having these dividers in the first place?
The simple answer to this is that there is no real point. Genres, as a concept, are declining in relevance year on year, as artists embrace more diverse genre-spanning styles. For years, the only real purpose of genres has been to divide up the sections in record stores and streaming services, or to provide a quick answer to the dreaded question, “What music are you into?”
Ultimately, there is no guarantee that a soul music fan will enjoy all the different subgenres of soul and, in a similar sense, just because somebody likes Paul McCartney’s ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ doesn’t mean that they will know all the words to ‘Away In A Manger’. You could certainly argue, however, that Christmas music incorporates far more styles than any other ‘genre’. The fact that any musical artist can create a Christmas song means that there are festive tunes of all varieties, spanning everything from jazz to ganger rap.
If ‘Christmas’ is indeed a valid musical genre, then it has as many subgenres as you can imagine. After all, the worlds of indie, hip-hop, jazz, soul, pop, metal, and everything in between could theoretically contribute to the landscape of Christmas music, and in many cases, artists from these genres have created enduring Christmas classics; such as Julan Casablancas’ ‘I Wish It Was Christmas Today’, the definitive indie rock Christmas anthem.
There are far more Christmas songs out there than you might realise as a result of the same handful of tracks being recycled every year – I’m looking at you, Bublé. As a general rule, if you can think of a musical style, era, or artist, the chances are that they have recorded a Christmas song at one point or another – either as a fun side project or a lacklustre attempt to earn the converted Christmas number one spot in the singles chart.
Like it or not, Christmas music is its own musical genre, and it is perhaps the most diverse genre of all. Even though virtually all the songs revolve around the central theme of Christmas time, that is really the only common theme throughout all Christmas songs. The Christmas genre may be the only one where songs about conflict and heartbreak fit right at home with cheery songs about childhood and wonder. To all you Christmas music haters – it takes one to know one, I assure you – that resent the genre of Christmas music, fear not: it is, at least, the only musical genre that only appears for one month of the year.
