1. "Jingle Bell Rock," Bobby Helms
Decca 9-30513 b/w "Captain Santa Claus (And His Reindeer Space Patrol)"Highest chart position: #6 US (1957)
Recorded October 1957, Nashville, TN
Nowadays, many people think of him as a one-hit wonder (those who don't remember "My Special Angel," anyway) but Bobby Helms was quite the crossover country star back in 1957, a child prodigy who was playing the Grand Ole Opry at 17 and who'd already scored one huge C&W smash with "Fraulein" before dropping his two big pop hits. This Christmas classic, produced by Owen Bradley, featured country-jazz pickin' legend Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland on guitar (he also plays those tasty licks on Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree"). Indeed, before his death, Garland filed suit against the record label, claiming that he and Helms, not Joe Beal and Jim Boothe, wrote the song. Eyewitness accounts say that Helms was reluctant to record the novelty, which is regarded as the very first rock and roll Christmas song. Either way, it stands the test of time -- it's hit the Billboard charts a record six times since, as recently as last season, and is second in popularity only to "White Christmas," with 120 million copies sold. More incredible still is that the 45 even made it to Number Six that first year, despite having been released only two days before Christmas!
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