The 10 best Christmas gifts for music lovers this year

Our 2021 guide to the box sets, LPs, and clothing every music fan will want this holiday season

By Marah Eakin | November 24, 2021 | 6:00pm

Music Features A Boy Named Charlie Brown

The 10 best Christmas gifts for music lovers this year

Clockwise: Gorillaz spacesuit set (Photo: Superplastci), Kid A Mnesia (Image: XL Recordings), The Storyteller (Image: Dey Street Books), I Shall Wear A Crown box set (Image: Numero Group), The Lyrics (Photo: Liveright) Graphic: Natalie Peeples

Every year, the music industry really turns it out for the holidays, dropping gorgeous box sets, deluxe and limited edition books, and even cute toys and apparel. We’ve combed through all of those amazing items to put together our list of absolutely the 10 best holiday gifts for a music lover in 2021. Slip on some headphones, crank up some tunes, and click through to find out more.

Nirvana’s 30th anniversary Nevermind reissue

Nirvana’s 30th anniversary Nevermind reissueAs essential a record as you can find, Nirvana’s Nevermind shook the foundations of music when it dropped in 1991. Now, Geffen/UMe is commemorating the 30th anniversary of its release with With 70 previously unreleased tracks, including four complete live shows from the Nevermind era, woven into various versions of the reissue, it’s an incredibly comprehensive look at the band’s output at that time. All of the Nevermind tracks have been remastered, as well, making the record sound better than ever before.

Dave Grohl: The Storyteller

Dave Grohl: The StorytellerSpeaking of Nirvana, drummer Dave Grohl has just released The 350-page tome follows Grohl from his days growing up in the suburbs of Washington D.C. to his years as a touring musician in punk bands, Nirvana, and now the Foo Fighters. A funny and sharp guy, Grohl has led a fascinating life and The Storyteller should prove to be a great read for anyone, whether they’re a Nirvana-head or not.

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Paul McCartney: The Lyrics

Paul McCartney: The LyricsAnother look inside a fascinating and lengthy career, is billed as “a self-portrait in 154 songs.” This stunning two-book collection features recollections of McCartney’s life as it ties into his beloved songs. Arranged alphabetically by song rather than chronologically, the book provides the first official account of what McCartney meant and wrote in some of the songs, as well as what he thinks of the tracks now. Laced with material from McCartney’s personal archive including letters, pictures, and hand-written lyrics, the collection is both beautiful and revealing.

Radiohead’s Kid A Mnesia reissues

Radiohead’s Kid A Mnesia reissuesIt’s almost shocking that Kid A and Amnesia came out 21 years ago, and yet, here we are, with Radiohead announcing a new, triple-album release celebrating both the landmark recordings. is available in multiple formats, including CD and LP, and features both of the original records plus a third disc, Kid Amnesiac, which is made up of newly unearthed material from the sessions for the two records.For Radiohead fans who really feel like going the extra mile, frontman Thom Yorke is also teaming up with the band’s longtime artist, Stanley Donwood, to release two art books cataloging the visual works and collaborations between the two around these releases. The Kid A Mnesia art book is a 300-page look at the pair’s work and process, while Fear Stalks The Land! is a black and white paperback filled with Yorke and Donwood’s notes, sketches, and lyrics.

Turntable Lab’s Peanuts collection

Turntable Lab’s Peanuts collectionA longtime purveyor of everything turntable-related, from headphones to needles, cartridges to Technics 1200s, Turntable Lab is the gold standard for taste when it comes to DJ culture and audio geekery. That’s why it’s so great that the company has teamed up with another beloved entity—the Peanuts universe—for . Any record collector worth their salt will love the shirts and totes, which bear the “Buying Records Cheers Me Up” Peanuts cartoon that’s been making the rounds for years. The collection also features Peanuts cartoon strip slipmats, as well as an exclusive pressing of Vince Guaraldi’s A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Hell yes.

A Lebowski-infused Grateful Dead sweater

A Lebowski-infused Grateful Dead sweaterA swaggy item for only the most serious ’heads, blends the palette of The Big Lebowski with the iconography of The Grateful Dead. Featuring the Dead’s iconic “Marching Bear,” this hand-knit sweater is available for a limited time only. At $428, it’s not cheap, but it’s the kind of item that you can wear in parking lots and at jam sessions for the rest of your life.

Motorhead, Everything Louder Forever

Motorhead, Everything Louder ForeverA four-LP greatest hits with a deluxe fold out cover, contains 42 of Motorhead’s very best songs. They’re also some of the band’s loudest, if you believe the item’s description. (Buyers can put that to the test themselves, of course.) Fans can also pick up a matching shirt or tee to declare their undying devotion to Lemmy, et al.

Space age Gorillaz collectibles

Space age Gorillaz collectiblesA four-piece set of designer toys, the is the perfect gift for any toy collector or Damon Albarn fanatic. The four-pack of figures is clad in spacesuits and jetpacks and features light up eyes, just in case you’re into that sort of thing. Two of the characters—Murdoc and Noodle—also have “special gravity-defying tools,” which might just mean stands. If you’re into these, though, you’ll have to act fast: They’re only available on the NTWRK app as part of the livestream shopping platform’s curated holiday collection.

Pastor T.L. Barrett And The Youth For Christ Choir, I Shall Wear A Crown box set

Pastor T.L. Barrett And The Youth For Christ Choir, I Shall Wear A Crown box setA civil rights activist who was also a Stax recording artist, a preacher for Earth Wind & Fire, and a Family Feud contestant, Pastor T.L. Barrett is one of those artists who only really began to find acclaim in recent years. His music has been sampled by Ye, lauded by Beck, Radiohead, and Leon Bridges, and featured on a number of TV shows and movies. encompasses 49 tracks spread across five LPs, plus a bonus disc of singles and sermons. As with all Numero releases, there’s also a book of extensive notes and photos, all packaged up in a lovely little box. Even if you don’t know Barrett’s work, pick up this set. Trust us when we say you’ll be glad you did.

Oneohtrix Point Never’s special Magic blu-ray

Oneohtrix Point Never’s special Magic blu-ray—No. 16 on our —this single, collectible pressing features not just the tunes from Magic but also 16 official music videos. Four new songs also make the cut, and the whole thing is presented in both stereo and Dolby Atmos spatial audio, meaning if you have good, well-placed speakers, you can totally trip the heck out. Packaged with a 12-page booklet, the blu-ray also features artwork and animated menus created by .

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