We’ve almost hit the middle of November and already Christmas songs are receiving millions of streams every day on music sites.
Mariah has officially thawed for the holiday season and George is already telling us what happened ‘Last Christmas’. While some are proudly blasting their Chrissie faves, others are positive it is way too early. So when is it too early to play Christmas music?
I asked my friends on socials and a big consensus was that it should be December 1.
I get that theory. I was always told as a child that it was bad luck to put up the Christmas tree before December 1. Don’t know whether Mum said that because of our superstitious Scottish heritage or because it was convenient.
Still, it makes sense for tree and decorations, but does it make sense for music? Retail is bringing Christmas forward earlier and earlier, and unlike the US, we don’t have Thanksgiving to worry about, so as soon as the Halloween decorations are gone, it’s Santa everywhere.
I get retail workers who feel triggered by Christmas tunes, I’ve worked many a Christmas in retail and when you’ve heard ‘All I Want For Christmas’ for the 20th time that day, it can feel like you want to bang your head against a wall. But saying all that, I love it. I love Christmas and I love Christmas songs. Though I do understand people who say that if you have children, you can them too excited too early.
I love Christmas music. But for me, still a tad too early, though I may not abide by the December 1 rule. When I start feeling Christmassy, on will go the tunes. Following tradition, it’s usually the last week of November. I used to work in pre-school theatre, so then would start earlier because I was singing the songs, now, late November feels good.
As for My88, we usually start playing a few around December 1 and gradually increase over the month, though we mostly stay with our usual 80s playlists, you’ll get to hear a big more Band Aid, Wham!, Pretenders, Weather Girls, Chris Rea and those with amazing Christmas tunes.
Is it to early to say Merry Christmas?
Wayne Tunks is an announcer on My88.
