On Demand
Selecting the Song of the Summer
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Every June around this time, candidates for the year's "Song of the Summer" start to appear. Those are the songs that blast from car windows, beach radios and cell phone speakers. Today, we talk with Rob Tannenbaum, editor at Blender magazine, and Maura Johnson, editor at Idolator.com about makes a summer jam stick - is it romance? Escape?
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five summer song contenders and tell us below what your picks are.
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My lip gloss is popping, too! I like that song. None of these songs really make it as a summer hit. Like Hey Ya and Who Let The Dogs Out (bleck!! glech!!)
Well, R. Kelly has a checkered past but the song still has the best hooks of these five. I do agree with Daddy Yankeee that Lip Gloss is quite popping indeed.
Lil Mama's lip gloss be poppin up as the best hit this summer. I am addicted to it, it's the only one out of the bunch that gives me goose bumps. It's just that good.
Lip Gloss! Irresistible!
I heard a song when I was down at the shore that blew my socks off! The entire bar stopped and you could hear a pin drop. The song is a moving tribute to the US troops by a Jersey Rocker named Lance Larson. If this isn't a anthem, I don't know what is - Cool cover jacket too!
www.SongForTheSoldier.com
If you havent yet heard it you will soon. It's "Icky Thump" by the White Stipes, the title song of their new album. It's a rock & roll classic that's soon to be at the top of the charts.
Definitely "Lip Gloss" by Lil Mama. The only one that is upbeat other than Umbrella - but that is about the rain and we are talking summer.
LIP GLOSS is the best candidate for Best Summer Song. The others take themselves too seriously and everyone knows Summer is about having fun. LIP GLOSS has a playful double dutch / old school beat and the young women are empowered not objectified. Yeah!
Ugh. Can't stand any of these songs.
My all-time favorite is still "Under the Boardwalk" by The Drifters.
Plus, anything by Jimmy Buffett is always great for the Summertime!
I agree. None of these songs hit the mark as a true summer anthem...is this what we're reduced to? Sheesh.
Summer in the City by The Lovin' Spoonful.
None of the songs suggested for 2007 cuts it for me. I vote for Rehab, by Amy Winehouse. Surely that's appropriate for the summer when Paris Hilton goes to jail (the toughest rehab of them all), and when every celebrity going to rehab every time he or she gets in trouble has become something of a joke.
It has always been, and will always be
Nat King Cole's
Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer
A classic cannot be argued
Good lord these "songs" are horrible. None of them are even memorable never mind being summer anthem worthy. How did you pick these?
I agree with the above post, "Hey Ya" was a great summer song as was "Crazy" (Gnarls Barkley).
Do-Yo is the best of the five candidates on WNYC's website for best song of the summer, 2007. My all time favorite is an old song titled "Summertime" (not the one from Porgy and Bess) - I don't know the artist, but it's pretty repetitive - the words re Summertime, summertime, sum, sum, summertime, summertime .............. Does anyone know this song, and who the artists are?
Do You! melody and pop! Neyo manages to cross the generation gap.
Killer Creature Double Feature by Nim Vind from The Fashion of FEar album should be the song of the summer!!
tin armstrong's Into Action is definitely the song of the. Upbeat, aggressive and always on the party tip. Even features pop tart Sky Sweetnam on background vocals
new york city boy my whole life. but in 1974, "beach baby" by first class made me believe that los angeles, california was the closest thing to heaven on earth.
i can still hear the first two bars of the tune and know it right away. and i'm 11 years old again, with the raido tuned to wabc a.m. and 14th street between b & c can be the magical world of (what i imagined was) malibu beach.
yeah it's a beach boys rip-off, but it's a great one. nothing puts in mind of summer like that song.
see you on tar beach,
pete
In the Summer of 1967, I was in the US ARMY, in South Vietnam. Armed Forces Radio had a show on in the evening that played rock & roll. One evening I heard SUMMERTIME BLUES by Blue Cheer. This was a song to be played loud, and this definately spoke to those of us who were 19 - 21 years old, fighting that war.
THERE AIN"T NO CURE FOR THE SUMMERTIME BLUES.
SATISFACTION by the Stones has got be be right up there, also. That was the theme of the Summer of '65 (high school graduation).
Thank you!
Summer is time-off from school, just for fun as so many others have said. Dreams of summer romance, or at least summer crushes. Just this morning in the supermarket I heard "All Summer Long" by the Beach Boys. No simpler words than "we've been having fun all summer long." Still my favorite.
I love Lil Mama, but I can't say that "Lip Gloss" is the best option. I'd pick her remix of Rihanna's "Umbrella" as more of a summer catch. Also Lilly Allen's "Knock Em Out" and Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" have great riffs, reminiscent of going out,hanging out with friends and tabloid America's obsession with rehab and redemption, respectively.
I'd have chosen any song recently released by Lily Allen. But out of the choices given, I'd have to say Rihanna. The song is catchy and easy to digest unlike most of the other choices. The video which includes her completely coated with a metallic sheen helps alot too.
Of the songs you've selected, Lip Gloss is by far the closest thing to a summer anthem-- got beat, spirit, and it's fun. It would be great, but I can't see it blasting from car windows, though.
Can't say I have heard of any of these songs...
I go with a Springsteen tune anytime....
This summer it would have to be one of his Sessions Bands Standards...
When the Saints Go Marchin' In is quite an incredible arrangement!!!
Though all of these songs are certified club hits, I wouldn't classify any of them as a Summer Anthem. After listening to them all, I found myself repeatedly playing "Buy u a Drink" by T-Pain, closely followed by "Lip Gloss."
Last summer's anthem, "Dear Summer," by Jay-Z still resonates with me, as does "Summertime" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, which contains a sample of "Summer Madness" by Kool & the Gang, a true Summer Anthem.
I've managed to be unaware of any these contenders (blissfully so). I have a hard time believing this list reflects the tastes of the soundcheck listenership...
Truth be told the current "top five" is dismal.
As far as summer anthems go, I'm happy to vote for anything by Amy Winehouse, "Rehab" or "I'm No Good", or "Black to Back".
I like to think that folks who listen to soundcheck are open to listening to any type of music, even types they may at first find dismal. That's the beauty of soundcheck!!! Smorgasbordness!!!!
I wear my sunglasses at night! Ahh... if only I was as naieve as I was the year that came out, walking barefoot after dark down my block singing that song.....
Umbrella looks like a winner now but I think people will be sick of it before July. I think anything by Ne-Yo is a surefire summer hit....he knows how to write catchy tunes and who knows maybe he ghostwrote Umbrella as well.
Hands down, the best summer song written in the past five years has got to be "Autographed Copies" by Wormburner, an indie rock band from NYC. It's a lyrical number with cinematic references to the Jersey shore, baseball, etc. The track was produced by David Lowery, frontman for Cracker and Camper van Beethoven. It's on the band's myspace page at www.myspace.com/wormburner
"Sly" by The Cat Empire, a band out of Melbourne, Australia. What a great, crazy-catchy tune that just sounds like a summer music fest.
Absolutely awful, all five. i was so eager to hear some great music. these are all tuneless, flat, and trying too hard to have a "hook".
geeze, Louise.
Rockaway Beach by the Ramones.
More contemporary - Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne.
ouch. those songs are terrible. at least "crazy" didn't suck out loud.
terrible choices.
rockaway beach or springsteen
dear prudence......
DYLAN not a summer song!
What about these summer releases?
The Basement Tapes
Release Date: June 26, 1975
Nashville Skyline
Release Date: April 9, 1969
Blonde on Blonde
Release Date: May 16, 1966
Highway 61 Revisited
Release Date: August 30, 1965
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Release Date: August 8, 1964
Oh, 'American Woman' by the Guess Who also.
"It Takes Two" Rob Bass and DJ EZ Rock.
I can already hear my students singing the Lip Gloss song (in the South Bronx)and the Umbrella song. I am partial to theLip Gloss Song. I am already envisioning front stoop barbecues in my neighborhood and park blasting both of these songs from their boom boxes.
black and white. I think the playing of black music goes further back then 20 years ago. As I recall, Elvis was "scandelous" as he was playing "black" music.
1966 the year of Motown?
Billboard top 10 for 1966:
1. I'm A Believer Monkees
2. Summer InThe City Lovin' Spoonful
3. Wild Thing Troggs
4. Hanky Panky Tommy James And The Shondells
5. When A Man Loves A Woman Percy Sledge
6. Soul And Inspiration Righteous Brothers
7. Monday, Monday Mamas And Papas
8. Good Vibrations The Beach Boys
9. Devil With A Blue Dress On Mitch Rider And The Detroit Wheels
10. Good Lovin' Young Rascals
I take huge offense to Rob's vicious attack on "Summer Summer Time." That song evokes every thing good re my childhood. That song always brings me to a good place. Man this broke my heart!
What about Amy Winehouse's Rehab song?
grateful dead IS summer.............
sugar mag
truckin'
half step
throwing stones.........
I don't think the 'song of the summer' has come out yet. None of the aforementioned songs have what it takes to be the hit of the summer.
I nominate "Metastatis" by Iannis Xenakis. Makes me want to grill a burgher and open a brewski every time I hear it.
First of all, anyone who rags on Fresh Prince's "Summertime" obviously was not hanging out as a 14year old at the basketball courts hearing the distant cars drive by pumping this song. I'd vote for Jesca Hoop "Summertime" for this summer, but it is not on your list.
Is hip-hop/R&B the only musical genre from which a summer song can come?
Why not pop/rock? Country? Others?
Why are your choices so limited?
Agree with Bram. Still, none of these songs is evocative of time/place. Two ancient favorites: "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress", "Brandy"
I also agree with Bram. For a radio station which considers itself a resource for all New Yorkers, this represents a very narrow musical view.
yves larock rise up summer 2007!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The five songs you've chosen are too much like every other song on the radio.
My summertime fav is:
Janis Joplin "Summertime"
choices were embarrassingly awful!
As we lead up to the Fourth of July, I just say the song heard and talked about the most has been 1234 by Fiest. Should have been on the list. VH1 just played it, followed by Gnarls Barkely's Crazy so someone there thinks they appeal to the same audience.
I think Umbrella is definitely the Summer Jam of 2007! Whereas some of the songs on the list might inspire more inside jokes, or perhaps become more popular amongst adults, Umbrella is the song that EVERYONE can and is listening to. Kids sing along to it in the car with their parents, it played at a million proms this past Spring, and I cannot count how many times I've heard adults playing it on their iPods on the subway. I think what makes a quintessential Summer song is that it has a big crossover appeal, and unites a wide cross-section of music listeners in favor of it.
the summer´s best songs this year to go and try to hook up a pretty lady are justin´s timberlakes
I forgot saying the girl go crazy listening to that guy
I am looking for a song I am not sure of who sings it or the name of it. some of the lyrics are "sensational" " booty booty" it is a dance song if anyone know what I might be talking about pls let me know and post it here
I feel like Buy you a drink would be the song for the summer. Why? There is a legend (r.kelly) and the up and coming t-pain on the same track.
I feel like Ima Flirt would be the song for the summer. In my State everybody and there mama was jamming to that song. Its a crowd pleaser. Who doesnt flirt.
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