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What decade were these classic Christmas albums released?
What decade did you rock around the Christmas tree for the first time?
"It's the most wonderful time, of the year."
You can almost hear Andy Williams singing that opening line while reading it. As December rolls in, people across the nation are putting up lights, decorating trees and turning up the Christmas music.
The classics like "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," "A Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" sung by Andy Williams, Burl Ives and Brenda Lee have been playing on radios for decades, and even on streaming services for several years now.
It's hard to think back to purchasing a special Christmas album when they were originally released!
Take a look at some of these all-time classic Christmas albums and guess which decade they came out! Many of these can be found in the all-new MeTV Mall!
Have a Holly Jolly time on this quiz, and happy holidays from MeTV!
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What decade did Merry Christmas from Bing Crosby come out? Click here to purchase this album from the MeTV Mall!
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John Denver and The Muppets teamed up for A Christmas Together in what decade? Click here purchase this album in the MeTV Mall!
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Christmas with the Chipmunks came out in what decade? Click here to purchase this album in the MeTV Mall!
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What decade was The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole released in? Click here to purchase this album from the MeTV Mall!
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How The Grinch Stole Christmas soundtrack was released in what decade? Click here to purchase this album from the MeTV Mall!
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A Charlie Brown Christmas was released in what decade? Click here to purchase this album from the MeTV Mall!
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The Beach Boys' Christmas Album , featuring "Little Saint Nick" came out in what decade? Click here to purchase this album from the MeTV Mall!
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The Temptations Christmas Card came out in what decade? Click here to purchase this album from the MeTV Mall!
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What decade did A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra come out? Click here to purchase this album from the MeTV Mall!
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Can you recall when Elvis' Christmas Album , featuring the hit "Blue Christmas," came out?
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"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" was a big hit from The Andy Williams Christmas Album . What decade did this Christmas record debut in?
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Have A Holly Jolly Christmas from Burl Ives has been a Christmas staple album for years. What decade did listeners first hear this album?
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What about Merry Christmas From Brenda Lee , when did this album come out?
What decade were these classic Christmas albums released?
Your Result...
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I Love Lucy - Wreath
$19.95
A Christmas Story - Fudge
$38.95
I Love Lucy - Wreath
$19.95
Gremlins Holiday Snow Globe
$12.99
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56 Comments
10/13. Happy holidays!
10/13. Ho Ho Ho!
Clicked too fast on 4 & 13. Me bad. :(
6 out of 13.
10 of 13. All are nice Christmas Albums. On a side note, It's sort of cool that "Jingle Bells, "Sleighride" and "Winter Wonderland" are generally deemed as Christmas Songs, but there is no reference to "Christmas". I would classify them as Winter Songs, but they are put away after the holidays! Just my $.02.
Sleigh Ride is my favorite Christmas/Winter song. There's a great version by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormet that was on one of my parents' Great Songs of Christmas albums. The Goodyear Tire Company put out a Christmas Album every year, and my parents had several of them.
Thanks for mentioning the Goodyear albums! Back in the '70's, I always went down to Goodyear and Firestone Stores, (They were a block away from each other) to pick up the latest Christmas album. I still have them and a lot of them had unique songs you rarely heard on the radio! I think I'll get them back on the turntable this year! Good Times!!
My fave vocal version of Sleigh Ride is by the Ronetts, instrumental version is by the Boston Pops.
Same here. To me Leroy Anderson's version is the best to me, but I like the Ronnettes version too. It IS my favorite Christmas song, period.
6/13
The Nat King Cole LP pictured was released in 1963. It is a re-issue of his 1960 Christmas LP titled "The Magic of Christmas" that did not have the track "The Christmas Song". The 1963 LP (the one pictured), has the 1961 re-recording of "The Christmas Song" included. The original version of "The Christmas Song" was recorded in 1946 with just the trio. The popular version that we hear today is the 1961 version.
I thought so!
Thanks for the explanation. I got tripped up on this one. I knew the song was written by Mel Torme and Bob Wells, sometime in the '40's, but I never thought Nat King Cole had an version as well!
Mel Torme and Bob Wells wrote the song, but they pretty much "gave" the song to Nat King Cole after they heard his rendition of it. Of all the covers of this song I've heard down through the years, Mr. Cole's version is the very best (IMHO).
Agreed! A timeless Christmas classic!!
10/13
11/13. I missed #s 2 and 4. I thought that John Denver and the Muppets album came out in 1980, as that's when I first saw the TV special (obviously a repeat) and that the Nat King Cole album - which I have on CD - was released in 1960. I have #s 6, 11, and 12 on CD as well.
My all-time favorite album, sadly, wasn't represented here - "The Little Drummer Boy" (originally known as "Sing We Now of Christmas") by the Harry Simeone Chorale. I can understand why it was one of the Top 10 biggest selling albums of all time; there were so many beautiful medleys and choral arrangements, as well as accompaniment by a brass "choir." Plus, the title song sung by a female choir.
For those who wish to buy the Harry Simeone album, there were two versions on CD: the *original* 1958 album is on Casablanca Records (which I have), while the 1964 remake - which *couldn't* hold a candle to the original version - is on MCA. For vinyl collectors, the original 1958 album was first released on 20th Century, and later on Casablanca (there was also a reprint of it on vinyl on tiny Mistletoe Records, under license from 20th Century; that is *also* the *original* version). The 1964 remake was originally released on Kapp, and later on MCA.
Accept *no* substitutes - seek out the original 20th Century/Mistletoe/Casablanca version of "The Little Drummer Boy." You'll be glad you did (I'm sure you can find them on Ebay or Discogs).
My all-time favorite album, sadly, wasn't represented here - "The Little Drummer Boy" (originally known as "Sing We Now of Christmas") by the Harry Simeone Chorale. I can understand why it was one of the Top 10 biggest selling albums of all time; there were so many beautiful medleys and choral arrangements, as well as accompaniment by a brass "choir." Plus, the title song sung by a female choir.
For those who wish to buy the Harry Simeone album, there were two versions on CD: the *original* 1958 album is on Casablanca Records (which I have), while the 1964 remake - which *couldn't* hold a candle to the original version - is on MCA. For vinyl collectors, the original 1958 album was first released on 20th Century, and later on Casablanca (there was also a reprint of it on vinyl on tiny Mistletoe Records, under license from 20th Century; that is *also* the *original* version). The 1964 remake was originally released on Kapp, and later on MCA.
Accept *no* substitutes - seek out the original 20th Century/Mistletoe/Casablanca version of "The Little Drummer Boy." You'll be glad you did (I'm sure you can find them on Ebay or Discogs).
One more thing I forgot:
Any collectors searching for the first printing of "The Little Drummer Boy," it *was indeed* entitled "Sing We Now of Christmas." The label was a blue sky one with "20th Fox" on top of the label in red print.
Unfortunately, those early pressings were only in *mono.* Any vinyl afficionados wishing to hear this classic album in *stereo* (believe me, it sounds *much better* that way) would do well to search for "The Little Drummer Boy" on 20th Century Fox #TFS 4100 or #S 3100 from 1963 and 1966, respectively (both pressings have the black 20th Century Fox label surrounded by a gold band with the logo on top; the latter was distributed by ABC Records). There was also a reissue of "The Little Drummer Boy" from 1978 with a white cover surrounded by a green border; these have the 20th Century Fox tan "movie studio" label with the multicolored searchlights on top and the release number is T-580 (distributed by RCA Records). The Casablanca pressing (422-822 744-1 Q1) is exactly the same as that last 20th Century Fox pressing, again with the white cover surrounded by the green border (explanation: when Marvin Davis became the owner of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation in 1981, he didn't want the record division and sold it to PolyGram, who folded 20th Century's catalogue into Casablanca. Rest assured, though, the Casablanca pressing is *the original* 1958 recording). Both the 20th Century Fox late 70's pressing of "The Little Drummer Boy" and the Casablanca version are *automatically stereo.*
Just so you know.
Any collectors searching for the first printing of "The Little Drummer Boy," it *was indeed* entitled "Sing We Now of Christmas." The label was a blue sky one with "20th Fox" on top of the label in red print.
Unfortunately, those early pressings were only in *mono.* Any vinyl afficionados wishing to hear this classic album in *stereo* (believe me, it sounds *much better* that way) would do well to search for "The Little Drummer Boy" on 20th Century Fox #TFS 4100 or #S 3100 from 1963 and 1966, respectively (both pressings have the black 20th Century Fox label surrounded by a gold band with the logo on top; the latter was distributed by ABC Records). There was also a reissue of "The Little Drummer Boy" from 1978 with a white cover surrounded by a green border; these have the 20th Century Fox tan "movie studio" label with the multicolored searchlights on top and the release number is T-580 (distributed by RCA Records). The Casablanca pressing (422-822 744-1 Q1) is exactly the same as that last 20th Century Fox pressing, again with the white cover surrounded by the green border (explanation: when Marvin Davis became the owner of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation in 1981, he didn't want the record division and sold it to PolyGram, who folded 20th Century's catalogue into Casablanca. Rest assured, though, the Casablanca pressing is *the original* 1958 recording). Both the 20th Century Fox late 70's pressing of "The Little Drummer Boy" and the Casablanca version are *automatically stereo.*
Just so you know.
Love the album. We have multiple copies of it (because they kept changing the cover). We love the "painted cover" of "Sing We Now of Christmas". We also have their other Christmas album from 1962, "The Wonderful Songs of Christmas" on Mercury records.
11/13. I missed the Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole questions
For me, Christmas music begins with The King singing, "Here Comes Santa Claus."
Like so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWcFiGKm-JU
Like so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWcFiGKm-JU
10/13. Loved and miss the yearly Christmas specials.
4/13 Love the songs! Do not know the years lOL
9/13
MAN i hate bing crosby. the guy has a beautiful voice, but he is literally disgusting. abused his kids & wife to the point of his wife and two of his sons committed suicide + all of his sons turned to alcoholism to cope in their adulthood. and was just all around an absolute horrid father, no child deserved to go through something so terrible. it's a shame. his son, gary crosby (ed wells on adam-12), is the way to go. he released a book after bing died explaining the abuse, i highly recommend it.
13/13
11/13
9/13
Got the 40’s & 50’s mixed up on the ones that I missed. Fun quiz though.
We used to love the classic Christmas Specials every year. Sure miss that fun wholesome TV. I wonder if MeTV will show any of them, like Andy Williams, The King Family, and Perry Como for example ?
Got the 40’s & 50’s mixed up on the ones that I missed. Fun quiz though.
We used to love the classic Christmas Specials every year. Sure miss that fun wholesome TV. I wonder if MeTV will show any of them, like Andy Williams, The King Family, and Perry Como for example ?
I remember those Christmas specials, too. I watched some on YouTube last year. My mom had a King Family Christmas album. I think she got it from Mobil. Must've filled her gas tank. Anyway, great memories. I used to play it when I decorated the tree. 🎄
Sweet memories for sure. ❤️
''You got 8 out of 13'' -------Did you have a Holly Jolly time with this quiz? -----Be sure to share it when you spread your holiday cheer! I got 6, 8, 11, 12 & 13 WRONG!
10 out of 13