A Very Biased List of the Top Ten Songs of Summer

This Sunday Morning at 10, (August 23, 2015) on Pour Some 80s on me, Phil takes a look at what makes a Summer Song. To get you all juiced up, here’s a completely random list.

When did summer songs become a thing? Well, there have always been songs released on the cusp of summer that frame your memories of that particular season, but they only started getting ranked in the 2000’s when Billboard Magazine started publishing a Top Songs of Summer chart (mind you, then they built retroactive lists).  A lot of summer songs though, are not chart hits, but defined through your particular memories and what you were doing at the time.  Here. then, in no particular order, my Top Ten Songs of Summer, and why.

Number 10 – Eagles – Hotel California

Mysterious and ethereal, when it was cranked on the car stereo it made anywhere you were in Canada feel like California for seven minutes. Plus you can do a wicked awesome dual air guitar solo at the end with a buddy.

Number 9 – Van Halen – Dance the Night Away

This was Van Halen’s first Top 20 Hit and while it was actually a Spring 1979 release, it made its way on to a lot of mix tapes that summer,   This was the dawn of New Wave on the radio and Dance the Night Away shared ear-space with songs like Gary Numan’s “Cars” and and The B52’s “Rock Lobster.” People didn’t judge, yo. Music was Music.

Number 8 – Katy Perry California Gurls

Let’s face it – any time you put the words California and Gurls/Girls together you’ve got an instant summer classic.

Number 7 – Beach Boys – California Girls 

As I mentioned, put California and Girls together in the same title and you have a sure fire summer hit.  Also, you can really be lazy and still dance to this one as evidenced by the background actors in this video. To be honest, i always thought California Girls sounded like the Beach Boys were going to slow down and stop in the middle of the tune.

Number 6 – Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe

Come on. How can you not like Ms. CR Jepsen? I know, you’re burned out on this song but for gosh sake, Tom Hanks likes her!  And be honest with yourself. Is there another Canadian song that has had such wide success? (not including Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald of course). And that is a rhetorical question.

Number 5 – LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem

You know, who would have thought that this track from LMFAO would define an era and herald a body of work unprecedented in the annals of music history. Nah, I’m kidding.  They released this song and then immediately went on hiatus where they remain to this day. Nonetheless, you couldn’t go anywhere in the summer of 2011 without hearing this.

Number 4 – “Blurred Lines” – Robin Thicke,  “Radioactive” – Imagine Dragons,  “Get Lucky” – Daft Punk “We Can’t Stop” – Miley Cyrus, “Can’t Hold Us” – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton, “Mirrors” – Justin Timberlake, “Treasure” – Bruno Mars (source Billboard)

Do you remember the summer of 2013? Pretty crazy eh? Hard to choose a clear winner.  Some rock, some pop, some disco and dance. And this  crossover favourite – Florida Georgia Line – Cruise.  

Number 3 – Rolling Stones – Satisfaction. 

How can you not include this one?  Even my Dad has this on his Summer Road Trip tape.

Number 2 –  New Order – Blue Monday

This is my mulligan because I don’t like any of the other tunes from the summer of 1988.

Number 1 – Bon Jovi – Living on a Prayer 

So here we are. Number one. Keep in mind this is a biased list based on my  many years with ears, and keeping in mind that most people do not like German Industrial Rock. If I were, however, completely biased, I’d drop in a Springsteen tune here like “Badlands” or “Thunder Road.”  It’s hard  to argue the staying power of JBJ though.   I wonder if we’ll feel the same way about Nickelback 25 years from now.