Top 10 Songs of Summer (Sort Of)

Top 10 Tuesday time again! Be sure to check out both Kate and Tiff's Blogs to see other (and guaranteed better) views on today's subject and to find out how to join up.

I know I always seem to start these with "this is a hard one", but this one really is! I'm not a summer music kind of person per-se...I like the music that I've always liked and I rarely venture elsewhere. On top of that, most of my music isn't the perkiest of genres, Besides Duran, I tend to lean more toward the Depeche and Cure types.

Before I started this list, I searched my music library and found that I had surprisingly 79 songs with the word "Summer" in the title, but considering I have well over 10,000 in my library that, in itself, is kind of a joke and a good 15 of them were remixes of my #1 choice below. As I scanned through the list, none of the songs really made me think of summer...songs like, Endless Summer Nights by Richard Marx, Cruel Summer by Bananarama, Long Hot Summer by Girls Aloud or even Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Since I don't really link songs to events in my life or to specific people (other than a couple of exceptions), I don't really have songs that remind me of things that might have happened during the summer (be it good or bad), so I've got no experiences to pull from there either.

I had initially decided to leave Duran Duran out of this list entirely (despite them having three summer-titled songs that I can pull off the top of my head and a large part of their library having a "summery" vibe), but I wouldn't have a list otherwise. I tried to find songs with "summer" or "sun" in the title that I could tolerate enough to add to the list, songs with a summery vibe, songs that had a summer-type video, songs that make you want to crank up the radio and roll your window down in the summertime (which is kind of insane during the summers here) and even songs that I remember getting released in the summer, but I barely got enough for part of a list and I kept turning it into a Top 10 Favorite Songs list instead. I even went as far as Googling "Summer Songs" and I had either never heard of most of them or hated them with a passion and would never include them in my list. So, I'm going to give it a shot, probably mixing most of these options and try to get things as "summery" as is possible for this dark soul!

These are in no particular order, FYI...it's just how they went.

#1: VIOLENCE OF SUMMER - DURAN DURAN
Obviously, this is always the first song that came to my head when I thought of possible summer songs. It's not my favorite Duran song, but it is one of Simon's. There was a lot of controversy about this video at the time because it came out around the same time as INXS's Suicide Blonde and they are very similar. Of course, although Michael Hutchence and Simon Le Bon were best friends, this wasn't intentional and things like this sometimes happen. It didn't affect their friendship even though VOS bombed and Suicide Blonde was a hit.


#2: BOYS OF SUMMER - DON HENLEY
As much as I rant on and on about not liking mainstream music (especially in my youth), there are notable exceptions and this is one of them. Granted, I only own two Don Henley albums (if I don't count a couple of Eagles Greatest Hits - see? I can be varied!), one is a Greatest Hits and one is The End Of The Innocence (which I contend is one of the best non-New Wave albums of the late 80's, hands down), but thankfully, this song is on the Greatest Hits album. I'm not sure this is a very positive/upbeat/summery song, but I remember blasting it in the summertime and I always get that "summery" feel from it for some weird reason.


#3: FREELOVE - DEPECHE MODE
This one falls more in the summery-video ring than anything else, but it was another one of the first ones I thought of, so it had to make the list, whichever way I chose. Besides, there isn't a scene in this video which I can't find a location just like it within 10 miles of me (even though this was filmed in Louisiana and I live in Arkansas), and as much as I complain about my home, it's nice to imagine Depeche Mode in it!


#4: (REACH UP FOR THE) SUNRISE - DURAN DURAN
There are six main different edits of this video (there are more, but let's not go there) - the main one and each band member has their own version. With each band member version, the music mix varies to match their personality...Simon and Nick's both have a dance vibe, John and Roger's tend to be a bit groovy, and Andy's is (obviously) guitar heavy. I'm not going to post the individual ones (although I do prefer Simon's first, then John's), but rather the whole group together in the original edit. And trust me, it was incredibly difficult not to list all six individually so I would only have to come up with four other choices!


#5: CRUSH (1980 ME) - DARREN HAYES
How is this summery, you ask? It's not. But when you think of all the biggest summer-type anthems, this song has that vibe to me as does the video, with all the street dancing etc. Besides, any song that specifically mentions Simon Le Bon in the lyrics MUST be brilliant!


#6: DEADBEAT CLUB - THE B-52'S
This song has always been very summery to me...I don't know if it's just a Southern thing (and I actually visited Athens, GA where both The B-52's and R.E.M. are from, just because I loved this song so much) or the vibe of the song, but this song also would qualify as one of my theme songs.


#7: EUROPA AND THE PIRATE TWINS - THOMAS DOLBY
What makes this a summer song for me is the storyline...little boy finds love of his life during summer break. They end up moving away from each other and she grows up to be a model/actress and he's just a stalkery geek wondering if she still loves him. Weird, but summery, right?


#8: GOLD - SPANDAU BALLET
Does sand make things summery? I'm not sure, but it's what I think of when I think of this video. It's not one of my favorite Spandau songs, it's probably pretty far on the list, but this isn't a list of my favorite songs (I have to keep repeating that for myself more than you guys).


#9: GREATEST DAY - TAKE THAT
Well, if I had to pick a summer anthem, it would probably be this song, although I'm not sure why. It does have the kind of sound that is a 'sing at the top of your lungs' kind of song, it was filmed on a rooftop in L.A. (where I will be very shortly...in L.A., not on a rooftop), and it's by my second favorite band, Take That.


#10: I TURN TO YOU - MELANIE C
All this list has accomplished for me is that I have NO idea what constitutes a "summer" song. But again, the video to this one always comes to mind, so it made my list. When it comes to Spice Girls solo stuff, I do tend to lean toward Mel C's solo stuff to everyone else's simply because I think she has the best voice (although Victoria Beckham has some amazing songs on her self-titled album and Posh was my favorite Spice).


Sucky list, right? Sorry about that...I really just didn't know where to go with this one. I'm sure Kate and Tiffany came up with amazing lists! I rarely go outside, my favorite clothing color is black no matter what time of year, and popular music is something I grew out of about 30 years ago. If this would have been a favorite song or video list, I probably would have aced it. Or maybe Top 10 F-U Songs, Top 10 Most Depressing Songs, Top 10 Songs by Bands From "insert British city here", or even Top 10 Songs from Splinter Groups or Solo Acts from One Particular Band (I could do several different ones on that topic). I may not be cut out for Top 10 lists after all, but I'm going to keep trying!