AMERICANWAY

CHRISTMAS ROCK Johnny Marks, who had co-written "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." It, too, became a signature holiday treat. The most ambitious Christmas rock state- ment came three years later from record producer Phil Spector, whose creative vision was so daring and original that he has been called justifiably the Orson (Citizen Kane) Welles of pop. A brilliant but tragic figure (he was con- victed of second-degree murder in the 2003 shooting death of actress-model Lana Clark- son), Spector was still in his early 20s when he filled his teen-minded records with such exhilarating textures that the songs would make your heart skip — much like a first kiss. To accomplish this emotional punch in such hits as "Da Doo Ron Ron," Spector brought in an army of musicians and singers to build what he called a "wall of sound." Sp ec tor w a s lo ok i ng for new world s to conquer in the summer of 1963 when he made a Christmas a lbum, giv ing such songs as " W hite Christmas" and "Frosty the Snowman" the same winning "wall of holiday rock culture. Among the song's invit- ing, sing-along lyrics: "Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet JINGLE AROUND THE CLOCK. MMMix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet That's the jingle bell rock." A yea r later, Chuck Berr y applied his invigorating guitar style to "Run Rudolph Run" (sometimes w ritten "Run, Run Ru- dolph"). The single went only to No. 69 on the pop charts, but it was later covered by a color- ful array of rockers — from the Grateful Dead and Lynyrd Skynrd to Keith Richards and Billy Idol. Then in 1960, Brenda Lee, only 16 but known as "Little Miss Dynamite" because of her amazingly powerful voice, had a Top 20 hit with "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." The song, which had been released two years earlier but largely ignored, was written by sound" dynamics that characterized his teen gems. The album A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector remains a pop landmark, arguably the most thrilling single collection of the Christmas-rock genre — but it was a commercial disappointment at the time. The album was released on a day the nation was in shock — Nov. 22, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The LP went largely unnoticed until it was reissued by the Beatles' Apple label in 1972. Today, collectors pay hundreds of dollars for copies of the original vinyl album. The failure of the Spector album may have caused record companies and other artists to back away from rock Christmas packages. Besides, most rock artists in the 1960s were concentrating on themes — from rebellion to sex — that didn't lend themselves to Christ- mas cheer. Numerous rock artists did make Christmas records in the '60s, but they were not a top priority. In fact, in many cases, they were released as the flip side of a single or as a fan club bonus recording. A m on g t h e C h r i s t m a s a l b u m s t h a t 8 4 D EC E M B E R 2 01 4 A A .CO M/A M E R I C A NWAY

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