The Big 80’s Christmas

(Rhino) When Billy Squier clangs his way through the trebly Fender twang of opener “Christmas Is the Time to Say ‘I Love You,'” The Big 80’s doesn’t seem like such a dreck decade after all. That’s when the Queen himself, Freddie Mercury, gets reverential on “Thank God It’s Christmas,” which segues into the Pretenders’ maudlin “2000 Miles.” David Bowie, Bing Crosby, Squeeze, the Alarm — okay, now we remember. The Ramones, Los Lobos, and Bob & Doug McKenzie liven things up toward the end, but by then it’s bedtime for Bonzo.

This article appears in December 21 • 2001.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.