A Midnight Christmas Mess (Midnight Records)
Before 1987 and the release of " A Very Special Christmas ", Christmas music was pretty much in four categories: 1.) Traditional - Bing, Frank, Conniff, Mitch Miller, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. 2.) Rock n Roll - Elvis, Bobby Helms, Brenda Lee, Phil Spector's Christmas Album and the Beach Boys. 3.) Novelty - Alvin & The Chipmunks, Elmo & Patsy, Cheech & Chong, and the Singing Dogs doing "Jingle Bells". 4.) Country - Chet Atkins, Jim Reeves, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, and Dolly Parton. Throughout the 1980s, small independent labels released incredibly fantastic compilations that foreshadowed the explosion of Christmas music after the release for the aforementioned "Very Special Christmas" album. Two record labels that started out as mail-order record shops out of New York City led the way in this movement: Ze Records released "A Christmas Album" in 1981 that featured songs from up and comers like Was (Not Was), No...