Rockin’ around the ITunes store, have a happy holiday. Everyone’s leaving the old behind in the new Christmas world; you will get a musical epiphany when you hear the dubstep version of your favorite holiday song through the radio.

When looking at the evolution of holiday songs it is best to start at the beginning. As with the Christmas tree, holiday music came from the Germans. The Germans can really celebrate Christmas apparently. In 1840, Queen Victoria of Britain married Prince Albert (who was German). Albert brought with him all of the German traditions, particularly of the celebration of the Yule, which contains the elements of exchanging gifts, the Christmas tree, and caroling.

From about 1838-1868, at least fourteen popular Christmas songs were written including “Up on the Housetop”, “Silent Night”, and “Jingle Bell”. Funny story about “Jingle Bells” is it was written by an American composer and was originally meant to be a Thanksgiving song.

Christmas music came to America through “Industrialization and a massive influx of immigrants from around the world with their diverse views of Christianity and Christmas. The marketing and exposure of these songs will expand as radio becomes more prolific in the 1920s and 30s. There is also a standardization of how Santa looks that comes out of the advertising boom of the 1920s and especially the 1950s.” (Ron Gorr).

Deep in the trenches of World War I, the exhausted soldiers started singing Christmas music to the men on the other side. Many Christmas truces were set up along the front as Germans and British exchanged gifts, shared each other’s Christmas songs, and played football. As the war went on however, and the carnage of the war became worse, less and less Christmas truces were introduced on the front.

In the 1920s and 30s, the music releases were dispersed even with the introduction of the radio. “Carol of the Bells”, “Winter Wonderland”, and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” are some of these rare newbie Christmas songs.

During World War II, many songs came out to bring hope and courage to the men at the front. Some however weren’t effective. For example, “I’ll be home for Christmas” which was released in 1943, was too sad for the soldiers to listen to until Bing Crosby sang and recorded it; in England the BBC banned the song because they thought it would lower moral among the British troops. Others songs recorded included “Let It Snow!”, “White Christmas”, and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.

In the years after the end of WWII, Christmas music was released in higher quantity. Along with two of the most famous Christmas movies coming out after 1945 (end of WWII) (Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life), Christmas music flourished in the baby boom.

In 1984, a group of musicians joined together to create Band Aid’s “Do They Know Its Christmas?”, which was a song designed to raise money for famine in Ethiopia. This was an incredibly popular Christmas song with favorite musicians like Sting, Bob Geldof, David Bowie, Phil Collins, Paul McCartney, and U2.

After 1994, no extremely popular Christmas favorites came out again. However the music world decided to remake many of the old songs into new and improved versions. In light of the technological age, remixes, mash-ups, and trap versions of many of the old classics have been produced.

Along with these technological advances new musical groups have formed like the Tran Siberian Orchestra: a group of individuals playing Christmas music on electric violins and other electric instruments with light flashes and fire in the background. A group of musicians have also gotten together to play a new jazzifed version of the classic Handel’s Messiah. Conveniently named Too Hot to Handel, it has become a popular Christmas tradition for jazz enthusiasts.

How the next years of Christmas music evolution will go is up to the next generation but it’s clear that the music has shifted over the years. Whether the old classics are more appealing or the new funk is cooler, the most wonderful day of the year can be filled with all the music of the times.