All I want for Christmas is… a new CD player

As he gets stuck into the mistletoe and wine, Will Gore wonders if his music choices are becoming obsolete

Can you even buy CD players these days? Or is it like trying to find a Betamax machine in the Nineties? (Getty/iStock)

Iiitttttt’s Chriiiiiiiissssstmaaaaassss!!! And I hope you’re simply having a wonderful Christmas time, rocking around the tree with little Saint Nick and jingling bells with Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.

Along with pigs in blankets, cruddy cracker jokes and an afternoon nap, music is a critical part of a decent Christmas Day. In our house, the musical accompaniment will begin with a bit of BBC Radio 3: a necessary, calming tonic at silly o’clock when the kids wake us up to declare that we absolutely must be conscious as they open their stockings.

At breakfast time, we’ll flick the dial to Radio 2, hoping for some proper classics rather than some of the more supine modern efforts. That’s not to say there aren’t some notable exceptions – The Darkness and Kelly Clarkson brought suitable oomph to their 21st-century festive songs, and George Michael’s “December Song” is his best Christmas track, which is saying something. Generally speaking, however, the last 25 years don’t come close to matching the previous quarter-century when it comes to quality Christmas tunes.