A Charlie Brown Christmas - Influence

Influence

The musical soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, by jazz composer Vince Guaraldi, has become as well known as the story itself. In particular, the instrumental "Linus and Lucy" has come to be regarded as the signature musical theme of the Peanuts specials. Additionally "Christmas Time is Here" has become a popular Christmas tune. A soundtrack album for the special was released by Fantasy Records and remains a perennial best-seller. (While the soundtrack contains some music that does not appear in the TV special, it also fails to include two musical themes which appear in the special. It also includes the full version of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing without the audio fade-out where the Coca-Cola voice-over originally was. Both of those missing themes are, however, available on another album by the Vince Guaraldi Trio entitled Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits.)

The popularity of the special is said to have practically eliminated the popularity of the aluminum Christmas tree, which was a popular fad between 1958 and 1965, but because of the negative publicity the trees received in A Charlie Brown Christmas, quickly fell out of favor. By 1967, just two years after the special first aired, they were no longer being regularly manufactured.

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