Liz Giuffre sings the praises of Christmas songs.
Christmas songs can do more than torture retail staff trapped in department stores. They can also be important players in popular music history.
One of the most iconic Christmas songs, Bing Crosby's 1942 recording of Irving Berlin's White Christmas, has been described as ''a cultural event transcending the insularities of the three [white, black and country] streams'' of the American recording industry at the time of its release.
The success of Crosby's recording was a gift for the American recorded music industry at a time of segregation.
The song itself (with and beyond Crosby) has been the subject of broader studies of nationalism, cultural industries and American identity.
A decade or so later Elvis Presley broke through racial boundaries with That's Alright Mama, his first recorded single in 1954. The recording was later heralded as ''the beginning of rock'n'roll'' because of its defiance of apparent industry wisdom.
Both Crosby and Presley were artists who managed to cross over, or cover, different audience groups.
Such crossovers helped demonstrate the importance of a great performance and move the music industry from publishing towards recording.
Crosby's 1942 recording was named the highest-selling single of all time by Guinness World Records in 2009, putting it at the time ahead of the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Abba.
Not everyone agrees on the technicalities of the Guinness conclusion but the logic behind this apparent success is clear. Other recordings go in and out of fashion over the decades (think about how many denials and revivals folk has had), but Crosby's recording is reliably popular - at least once every year.
Bing Crosby has become something of a Christmas institution as a result of White Christmas. He appeared in the film White Christmas, as well as on various television ''holiday specials''.
Christmas songs provide an interesting opportunity - and anomaly - for the music industry broadly, too.
Financial success can last for generations, as playfully demonstrated by Nick Hornby with the character Will Freeman and his father's fictional Christmas song, Santa's Super Sleigh, in About a Boy.
And if a writer also happens to be a solid performer, the returns from Santa can double, as with George Michael's gift that keeps giving, Last Christmas (1985).
While it's easy to dismiss Christmas recordings, the sheer volume of releases shows the phenomenon has legs in the music industry broadly. Everyone from Bob Dylan to Elvis Presley to James Brown, Motown and Frank Sinatra has had a go - with new artists getting in on the act each year.
In 1984, the commercial Christmas song was used for good (or at least for a good cause), with Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas?
The song's combination of charity, season's greetings and superstars took it to the top of the United Kingdom charts (as well as into a few record books). The recording was included in the 2007 documentary Songs That Changed The World.
Beyond the novelty factor, Christmas songs can provide more lasting (and much less daggy) mainstream music as well.
Paul Kelly's How to Make Gravy, a song originally commissioned for a local charity release, has since become a stable in his catalogue.
How to Make Gravy sits easily in Kelly's pub or festival set, but has also become so loved that it's been named by Ben Anderson in the Daily Review as Australia's only Christmas carol.
A rival for Kelly's Australian carol crown is singer-songwriter Tim Minchin, whose 2010 song White Wine in the Sun is also a great mix of the cynical, sentimental and slightly twisted.
Written as a present for his young daughter, Minchin's song is decidedly non-religious.
It upset the Salvation Army so much that it refused his offer to give proceeds from the song to it.
Since 2010, November to January profits from the song have been given to the National Autism Society - and will be again this year.
It's not such a great leap from White Christmas to White Wine in the Sun - and proof that Christmas songs continue to appeal.
- theconversation.com/au
Liz Giuffre is a lecturer in media, music and cultural studies at Macquarie University.
