A Very Special Christmas (Vol. 1)

The holiday compilation album series started in 1987 helps define my December every year.

The Friday after Thanksgiving. It is often associated with the official start of the shopping season, with Record Store Day even taking part with their own RSD Black Friday festivities.

For me, it’s more about putting up Christmas decorations and breaking out holiday music for its chilly month in the spotlight. And no singular album of holiday music is more important to me than the inaugural “A Very Special Christmas” album. Keith Haring’s cover art is just as much part of the holiday as any reference to Santa Claus or elves in his workshop.

The list of artists consisted of the same heroes I carried in my pocket Walkman that went everywhere I went, or who my parents played in the car when we were traveling. The Pointer Sisters, Eurythmics, John Mellencamp, Run-D.M.C., Madonna, and Stevie Nicks are only a sampling of the star power on this original offering—the brainchild of producer Jimmy Iovine.

Travis M. Andrews, a feature writer for The Washington Post, wrote an excellent piece for the news outlet titled, “How a 1987 Christmas album changed the way the holiday sounds.” (NOTE: The Washington Post requires a subscription for most articles.)

It provides a rich history of how the concept began and the personal journey made by Iovine to recruit artists for the tracks of the A&M Records offering. It also shares the impact of this album, beyond the millions of dollars it has raised for the Special Olympics.

He mentions how a teenaged Tupac bought the album specifically for the “Christmas in Hollis” holiday hip-hop track. I bought the album because of all of the artists and how fresh and new they made my holidays. Andrews documented similar thoughts from music critic and author Rob Sheffield.

“This is such a huge album in terms of its impact, just because there hadn’t been anything like it. It changed the place of Christmas in pop culture,” says Sheffield, who believes “A Very Special Christmas” represents “a before-and-after moment in the history of Christmas in pop culture. It’s a thing that had never existed before, and afterwards was never going to not exist again. Pop stars now all want to do Christmas albums.”

The holidays are more memorable and easier to celebrate because of these songs by a collection of massive music stars. “A Very Special Christmas - Vol. 3” may be my favorite overall album in the series, but the magic doesn't get going without the original effort of Iovine and everyone involved in that inaugural album.