Love it or hate it, Christmas music is big business – especially in the US, where it seems that almost every great artist has recorded something festive for posterity. Apparently, if you’re a country artist, recording a Christmas album is the law. The amount of time and money invested in festive tunes is huge, and that becomes rather bewildering when you consider that the music basically has a shelf life of four or five weeks a year.

We now live in a world where the commercial impact of Christmas music has gone far beyond people trotting out the usual staples in a fairly easy listening manner. There’s a Christmas album for everyone. Even Bad Religion have recorded one. 2025’s ‘It’s A Wicked Cool Christmas!’ (issued on “Little” Steven Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool label) is another release that should appeal to those with more eclectic and alternative tastes, since it pulls together a raft of great, cult artists, reworking traditional – and often not so traditional – Xmas songs in their own image.

Leading the charge, The Empty Hearts’ 2016 Xmas single ‘It’s Christmastime’ kicks everything off with stlyle. The track’s upbeat nature, driven by chiming chords and festive bells, immediately recalls Wizzard’s ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day’, but with a poppy tone outstripping the glam, a huge harmony driven chorus that sounds like a throwback to the Ph*l Sp*ctor Xmas album colliding with a very 60s melody, it eventually sounds like something with a much older heart, despite the huge, shiny production values. Although this is an original work, the raft of choirs and sleigh bells makes it sound like part of a December soundtrack you’ve known forever. Opting for something that, in places, sounds equally retro, Prima Donna’s ‘Gimme Christmas’ blends old rock ‘n’ roll riffs with stabbing pianos in a way that tips the hat to New York Dolls, redressed in a more melodic way. The incessant chorus hook makes a great use of harmony vocals, and those, coupled with a strong blend of hard edged power pop and proto punk hooks makes this an instant standout.

Opting to resurrect an underrated tune from Xmases past, Steve & John Conte hammer through The Kinks’ ‘Father Christmas’ in a hugely respectful way. There’s little attempt to change the arrangement, and even the lead vocal does its best to deliver Ray Davies’s original sneer as faithfully as possible, but for lovers of the track – and hopefully a few people discovering it anew here – this will certainly entertain. It wouldn’t be a Wicked Cool celebration without an appearance from power pop legend Kurt Baker, whose 2021 single ‘Christmas In The Sand’ – already brimming with 60s inspired festive cheer – gets a makeover in a “Mistletoe Mix”, which strips everything back to an acoustic root, allowing the vocal to take more of a centre stage. The original melody remains unchanged, but the addition of semi-audible chatter, clinking glasses and semi-live feel offers a somewhat cheekier feel. A performance that plays, somewhat deliberately, like a loving tribute to the Beach Boys’ ‘Beach Boys Party!’ album from 1965, this should raise a dry smile from many listeners.

Opting for something vaguely within the boundaries of folk punk, Ryan Hamilton’s ‘To Heck With Ole Santa Claus’ hits the audience with a chunky rhythm guitar and walking bassline, blending 50s influences with a melodic nod to Frank Turner. This creates a perfect backdrop for an enthused and slightly echoing vocal, an angsty lyric, and the kind of hook that’ll plague you for ages. Ryan attacks everything with a knowing grin, and although everything is a little gruff, the end result never feels overtly aggressive. It’s still subtle in comparison with Wyldlife’s ‘Another NY Christmas (Piss The Season)’, which offers something rockier. The tune’s combination of sneered vocals and muted chords creates the perfect fusion of melodic punk and power pop – definitely sounding like something tailor made for the Wicked Cool stable – before a rollocking lead guitar break briefly threatens to derail the melody in hand. The careening vocal will be make or break for some listeners, but a few great harmonies and huge swathes of bells make this feel suitably festive, regardless of style.

Adding a couple of traditional pieces to this well curated selection, The Chesterfield Kings turn the staple ‘White Christmas’ into a mod friendly rock ‘n’ roller full of twanging lead guitars and semi-inebriated sounding vocals, and the almost legendary Dollyrots take ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and rework the melody into a straight up slab of pop punk where muted chords and cheeky vocals create something that sounds like a Frankenstein creation cobbled from the best bits of early No Doubt, 80s Ramones tunes and a sprinkling of classic Green Day. As you might expect, no matter where the music goes, Kelly Ogden’s vocals are massively endearing, and her power pop charm shines through absolutely everything. For the Dollyrots’ fans, this is likely to spend years propping up the end of a New Year’s Eve playlist.

All of that material is great, but it’s in danger of being outshone by Jessie Wagner, who, despite sounding a little different to the typical Wicked Cool stock – or perhaps because of that – shares something that deserves to be a part of your festive listening for years to come. ‘Christmas With Me’ (recorded with Rocco of The Snow) opens with stabbing pianos and sleigh bells, helping to telegraph some really traditional festive fare with immediate effect. Having pulled in the lover of Xmas tunes in the most direct way, the melody then branches out into some very 60s inspired pop, taking the heart of ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’, melding it to something almost that’s Sp*ctor-esque, before delivering everything with a slight power pop punch. Against a near perfect arrangement, Jessie’s vocal positively soars, sharing a radiant lyric and melody that really adds to the yuletide tone. Adding some superb harmonies and an even more retro sounding middle eight, this is a track that goes from strength to strength. There’s nothing here that you won’t have heard from many a Christmas track over the years, but in many ways, that’s what makes it so perfect – it already sounds like a classic. If you have any fondness for Xmas tunes at all, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll love this.

Although a lot of the material here has been issued as digital singles previously, it’s great to hear so much good stuff in one place. The variety of voices creates a compilation that’s always interesting, and even the more traditional cuts lend the collection something fun. Jessie Wagner, Kurt Baker and The Dollyrots make this a must-have, but in fairness, all eleven cuts are very enjoyable. ‘It’s A Wicked Cool Christmas!’ not only adds to the more off-kilter end of the Xmas music mountain, but is also a genuine treat.

December 2025