this summer's anthem
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 9:38AM Last summer, it was "Boom Boom Pow." I couldn't get enough of that song. In New York, it was the most-played selection on my iPod. On the weekends, when we went to our house in Connecticut, it was on every radio station every time I got in the car.
My abiding love lasted well into the fall, until one day "Boom Boom Pow" started to sound a little "two thousand and late," and that was the end. Still, as a summer anthem—the kind of song that puts you in a happy state of mind, and immediately takes you back to a particular summer, whenever you hear it—it ranks among the best. Here are a few of my other anthems over the years...
During the summer of 1977, I was constantly wrecking my Dorothy Hamill haircut by listening to "Hotel California" on my dad's giant stereo headphones. (I also thought the lyric "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave" was sooo deep.):
A few years later, during the most monumental summer of music of my life, I went on a trip during which I toured colleges, played drinking games for the first time and got my first taste of New Wave*: "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me," by Culture Club, "Rio," by Duran Duran, "Der Kommissar" by After the Fire, "She Blinded Me With Science," by Thomas Dolby, "Rock the Casbah," by the Clash, and this:
Now I'm wondering: What will be the summer anthem of 2010? So far I've come up with two possibilities, both already in heavy rotation in my brain. One is "Miss Independent" by Ne-Yo:
The other is "Rude Boy" by Rihanna:
But the choice of summer anthem is highly personal. You may have entirely different predictions. So I'm turning this over to you: Which songs have been your summer anthems over the years? Is there a song you think will epitomize Summer 2010? Click the Post a Comment link below to share your thoughts.
*Yes, I know, some of these artists are really synth-pop, or punk, or something else. Please indulge me.
Reader Comments (4)
Can I guiltily admit I am totally digging Katie Perry's California Girls???
Yes you may, Stephanie. This is a safe space. :)
Gosh darn it Lauren, thanks to you I had The Eagles stuck in my head most of the afternoon. And not just that song but that whole flippin album.
So agree with you on the Peas.. I reviewed that CD and it was already way over by then. I find that the entitlement in some of the songs .. is beyond the timeframe.. and also I did like a couple of songs but not enough to call it anthemic
Have you checked out Aqualung's new Magnetic North? Also there's something from Rev Theory-- not usually my genre but it's definitely a REV THAT MOTOR type of thing-- Hell Yeah and the entire album hums with a tension that's really crisp