After Bill—who was then the director of publicity for Rush Productions, which managed Run-DMC—gave the band the idea for "Christmas in Hollis", they changed their minds and agreed to be on the album.

[1] (Other contributing artists included Whitney Houston, Sting, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Madonna, and Bob Seger.)

The track samples Clarence Carter's 1968 holiday song "Back Door Santa", as well as "Frosty the Snowman", "Jingle Bells", and "Joy to the World" and features an Acme siren.

The video was directed by Michael Holman with cinematography by Mark Richardson, both NYU film students at the time, and features a cameo appearance by Bannah McDaniels, DMC's adoptive mother.

"Christmas in Hollis" went on to win Rolling Stone's Best Video of the Year award in 1987, beating out Michael Jackson's "Bad" directed by Martin Scorsese.