Although 1978’s Star Wars Holiday Special suggested that quality control was not necessarily a top priority at Lucasfilm, it was not the last officially-sanctioned, holiday-themed Star Wars project to reach the public. Two Christmases later, an embattled RSO Records gave the world Christmas In The Stars: Star Wars Christmas Album, a Yuletide-themed collection featuring the novelty hit “What Can You Get A Wookiee For Christmas (When He Already Owns A Comb?)” and eight other half-remembered, half-suppressed tracks, such as “R2-D2, We Wish You A Merry Christmas,” with lead vocals by a pre-fame Jon Bon Jovi (then known as John Bongiovi). Masterminding the project was producer Meco Monardo, who had scored a massive hit single in 1977 with a “space disco” version of John Williams’ Star Wars theme.
With anticipation for next year’s The Force Awakens already running high, the CBC‘s Andrea Warner has compiled a thorough and engaging oral history of Christmas In The Stars, interviewing three of the major contributors to the oddball LP: songwriter (and later successful Broadway composer) Maury Yeston, co-producer/engineer Tony Bongiovi (Jon’s second cousin), and actor Anthony “C-3PO” Daniels, the only major Star Wars cast member to contribute newly-recorded vocals to the project. Though all three men acknowledge the campy, lowbrow nature of the hastily-made album, to a man, they express no regrets or shame about their participation. The word “fun” pops up frequently in their comments. A nostalgic Yeston perfectly sums up the zeitgeist-capturing album’s raison d’être: “Why? Because it was the disco era.”