Well,
hello there everybody! This is the
continuation of A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR.
We've
made it a whole week already! Day
#7 has arrived!
Now,
usually what happens during a Sunday Jukebox entry is that I choose a song from
random, talk a little bit about the song, how well it did on the charts, and
any funny stories or interesting trivia facts about how the songs were
recorded.
But
on account that this is the holiday season, I am going to toss all of that out
of the window. You see, I am not going
to be posting pop songs that made it to the top of the charts. I'll be posting contemporary Christmas
classics and holiday favourites of yore.
And,
fair warning to all of you who might be reading this post...this blog entry is
going country for today. Now, for fans
of country music, this blog entry will surely make your day. And for those of you who are not - well, at
least there's next Sunday, right?
Oh,
yeah. One other thing. I'm not going to be limiting my song choice
to just one song. In fact, I may end up
posting no less than four songs in this very space! You will understand why as you read on.
Anyway,
the inspiration behind this post admittedly comes from a rather unusual source.
As
many of you know, I work in the media/electronics section of a department
store. And, as many of you know,
Christmas is only eighteen days away.
So, naturally, with electronics and media being in huge demand for the
holidays, it is a fair assessment to say that I am putting in a lot of hours on
the sales floor. I once kept a
pedometer on me during a standard eight hour shift, and it claimed that I took
over 21,000 steps!
Side
note: Nobody can EVER tell me that I
slack off at work!
Anyway,
the point is that while you are stocking boxes of merchandise on the shelves,
you overhear the strangest conversations from customers who happen to be
shopping.
One
conversation happened just yesterday. I
was trying to put away recovery from the night before and I happened to be in
the section where we sell our CD's and concert DVD's and I overheard two men
having a discussion near the country music section. And clear as a bell, I heard one man exclaim that he believed
that Kenny Rogers has had so much cosmetic surgery that he looked like Michael
Jackson!
Okay,
so maybe comparing the two singers might be a bit of a stretch, but it isn't
really any secret that Kenny has had work done. He openly admitted to Anderson Cooper that he underwent plastic
surgery in an effort to look younger.
And comparing two Kenny Rogers albums side by side, it is hard not to
notice a difference. Here's Kenny from
his latest release, 2013's "You Can't Make Old Friends".
And,
here's Kenny from thirty years ago from a Christmas album that he released.
Hey,
wait a minute. Isn't that Dolly Parton
posing beside Kenny Rogers? Sure looks
like it. And, I suppose one common
thread between these two country music superstars is that they have both openly
admitted to undergoing plastic surgery.
But
there's another major connection between these two that happens to be a lot
more meaningful. They record beautiful
music.
In
fact, the album cover that I just posted up above happens to be the subject of
this blog post. We'll be looking at the
album "Once Upon a Christmas", which believe it or
not was released thirty years ago, in 1984.
So,
Kenny Rogers had already released a holiday album back in 1981, but this was
really the first time that Dolly Parton ever released a Christmas album. And who knew that when the two got together
and recorded "Once Upon a Christmas" that it would become of the
biggest selling holiday albums of the year.
Of course, it didn't quite make the top of the list for the Top Holiday
Albums - it was released the same year that Band-Aid recorded "Do They
Know It's Christmas". However, on
the Billboard Christmas Charts, it peaked at #4. Not only that, but it was a Top 20 album on the Billboard Top
Country Albums chart, and peaked at #31 on the Billboard 200!
So,
how did this album grow so popular?
Well, I suppose you could thank CBS in part for that.
It
had been in the works for a while, but CBS decided to air a Christmas special
that featured Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton singing a mixture of original
Christmas songs with classic Christmas favourites. The special originally aired on December 2, 1984 and has since be
re-run on selected cable outlets.
(Interestingly
enough, the special has never been released on Blu-Ray, DVD, or even VHS,
making it quite difficult, but not impossible to find.)
The
name of the special was Kenny & Dolly: A Christmas To Remember, and here are just a few of
the songs that you could hear in said special.
How
about a rousing rendition of "With Bells On"?
Maybe
you'd rather hear Dolly singing "Winter Wonderland"?
Or,
how about the biggest hit from the special and the album? A little song called "The
Greatest Gift Of All", which peaked at #81 on the Billboard Hot 100?
Even
thirty years after this album was released, it is still widely popular. Country music stations often play this
record during the holiday season. In
1989, it was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of
America. And in 1997, the album was
re-released, but with two tracks deleted, and one track added. The original 1984 release is unfortunately
out of print.
Still,
though...if you're looking for an album that will complement your good
old-fashioned Christmas, give this one a try.
I don't mind it, and I don't really care for most country music. If I like it, I think you will too.
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