Christmas music is Christmas music because of Bing Crosby: he's the kingpin, the blueprint, the bedrock of the genre. His 1942 recording of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," which tamped down World War II-era anxiety with broad reassurances about holiday warmth and security, sold so many millions of copies, the master had be rerecorded in 1947 due to overuse; it remains the best-selling single of all time. And his reverent readings of Christian hymns like "Silent Night" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" remain potent antidotes to seasonal stress and familial dysfunction. His trademark pipe-and-cardigan drawl offsets a brassy arrangement and the Andrews Sisters 'frenetic chirping in "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town."