In Christmas seasons you cannot escape Christmas songs. So I decided to learn more about why we have them everywhere.
It turns out that the culprit is White Christmas by Irving Berlin, first introduced in 1941, a few weeks after the U.S. had entered World War II. It was a massive hit with people nervous about the war, and was also embraced by the troops overseas.
There had been Christmas songs before. But after the release of White Christmas, the theme of home and nostalgia suddenly became far more central to the holiday, and nostalgic Christmas songs quickly took over the market. And that’s the world we live in now.
It reminds me of what happened after the iPhone was released in July 2007. Before that, people didn’t even think about smartphones. Now, everybody you know has one.
I wonder how many other similar events there have been: Somebody introduces a new product, and it quickly creates a market didn’t exist before, a market which then dominates the culture.