In monitoring a few radio stations' Christmas playlists, it makes me realize how virtually all of the tracks on the compilation "A Very Special Christmas" - originally released in 1990 - are still in heavy rotation, nearly some twenty years later. Let me repeat: that's thirteen tracks (with the exception of Sting's "Gabriel's Message" and Alison Moyet's "The Coventry Carol") with frequent airplay during the holiday season. Not too shabby at all.
What I find interesting, though, is how the follow-up releases of "AVSC" have literally paled in comparison to the original album, when it comes to churning out radio hits. "A Very Special Christmas 2" has Bon Jovi's cover of "Please Come Home For Christmas," as well as the late Luther Vandross' "The Christmas Song", both of which are in marginal rotation at best; and Tom Petty's original "Christmas All Over Again" got some airplay on rock stations when the album was first released in 1992, but I rarely hear it on radio at all.
And as the number of "AVSC" albums goes up, so, too, does the lack of radio hits, it seems. Read the track listing of "A Very Special Christmas 3" and you tell me if any of these songs have been heard on the radio, at least during this decade.
It makes me realize how much radio has helped in familiarizing people with the tracks on the original "AVSC". I mean, thirteen holiday songs out of a fifteen-track album are still heard on the radio today (at least during the Christmas season). Yet sequels are hard-pressed to produce radio staples. Can anyone explain otherwise?
What I find interesting, though, is how the follow-up releases of "AVSC" have literally paled in comparison to the original album, when it comes to churning out radio hits. "A Very Special Christmas 2" has Bon Jovi's cover of "Please Come Home For Christmas," as well as the late Luther Vandross' "The Christmas Song", both of which are in marginal rotation at best; and Tom Petty's original "Christmas All Over Again" got some airplay on rock stations when the album was first released in 1992, but I rarely hear it on radio at all.
And as the number of "AVSC" albums goes up, so, too, does the lack of radio hits, it seems. Read the track listing of "A Very Special Christmas 3" and you tell me if any of these songs have been heard on the radio, at least during this decade.
It makes me realize how much radio has helped in familiarizing people with the tracks on the original "AVSC". I mean, thirteen holiday songs out of a fifteen-track album are still heard on the radio today (at least during the Christmas season). Yet sequels are hard-pressed to produce radio staples. Can anyone explain otherwise?
