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!

Duran Duran - #15 Northern Lights and Final Thoughts

My Birthday's over, so here we are at the end of my Duran Duran album review of Paper Gods with the final bonus song, Northern Lights. Well, hello there Liberty album, it's nice to see you got a production upgrade! This song is pure Liberty to me (of course, with the modern Duran twist that this album is filled with). As much as some of these songs pull me back to specific Duran albums, it is all still quite a new Duran vibe, so I probably shouldn't reference old albums, but I tend to think in terms of what I know.

This might be my least favorite of the three bonus tracks, but it's not my least favorite of the album (I've already covered those). This one is probably at the lower end of my favorites or the upper end of my mid-lands. This is yet another reason why the Deluxe version is always a good purchase when it comes to Duran. You really get your money's worth all across the album instead of one or two good songs and a bunch of fluff like 90% of the other albums bands put out (and I'm not going to name names, but I'm sure thinking of some).

More than likely, as singles start to get released, there will be other B-sides, demos or new tracks that find their way on the circuit, that always happens and most of them are the gems of my Duran collection, so Duranies keep a lookout (but, if you are a Duranie, you already know that, don't you?).

And that's the end! I've gone over every single song on Duran Duran's new album (including the bonus tracks) and, overall, I absolutely LOVE it (well, except for Danceophobia, but not everyone's perfect, not even Simon Le Bon!). It is a rather dark album, but because the melodies all pretty much tend to be upbeat, you don't feel like you're being brought down and it is pure Duran, so the kids might not get it, but us older folks will...I guess you'd call it a mature thinking person's dance music? Yep, I'll go with that.

In almost every single Duran album, there is always at least one instrumental or an interlude type song, but this entire album is back-to-back full-on. I've always kind of complained about the lack of Simon on that one instrumental too, especially being a tiny bit partial (OK, blatant lie, you caught me) to The Good one himself (inside joke for those who can speak French), but honestly, I kind of missed it on this album. Be careful what you complain about, I guess.

Granted, this review is very personal and opinionated...I'm no Jane Austen by any means, but I think that it's fair to admit that I'm "a partial, prejudiced, and ignorant historian" when it comes to Duran Duran. I tend to see things from very rose-colored glasses when it comes to them and I'm OK with that. I mean, seriously (no pun intended), one of my favorite D2 albums is Liberty, so that already says something might be off with me in the first place. Or is is? I actually ran across this article the other day on the Duran Duran site. Apparently, I'm not the only fan of the album or Serious! HA! Take that (again, no pun intended) Liberty naysayers!

I just wanted to go over every song for myself and see where they took me (I do always say I blog for myself because who else would care about this stuff anyway). I don't know about you, but I'm rockin' a serious (again, no pun intended) happy face about this album! DURAN DURAN RULZ FOREVER (so said my 6th grade school notebook and so say I now, 34 years later).

As I was digging up clips for yesterday's Birthday post, I found this interview with Simon and John, which is barely a week old, and it surprisingly sums up a lot of the points I made through this whole mess, so obviously I do know my stuff a bit because Simon and John both say (in a lot less time) that I have throughout this whole series. So I'm going to leave you with the interview...enjoy!

Oh, and go out and buy the album (see, I am old, I probably should have said download it!), or hell, do both! It is honestly one of Duran Duran's best albums in years and that is an unbiased, unprejudiced, and rather smartly summed up opinion, if I do say so myself!

My posts will probably be pretty sparse between now and after Disneyland (or not, I may have panic-attack postings every five minutes), we'll see.

Oh, and I missed my Blogoversary in here somewhere (again), so a big THANK YOU to all those who follow me (for whatever reason) and here's to many more years of Stitching, Disney, and Duran Duran (with a puppy pic or two in the mix for good measure) as I try to let my Asper-flame burn bright! I'm off to watch old Duran videos now and bask in the glory of my favorite band ever.

Duran Duran - #14 Valentine Stones

I would have really liked to have ended my Duran Duran Paper Gods review today of all days...a fitting end for my Birthday. Yes, today is my big 45th Birthday, but enough about me, let's get to the Duran!

Valentine Stones, bonus song #2, is Red Carpet Massacre meets Medazzaland, but with an All You Need Is Now vibe. I can relate quite a bit to the lyrics of this song because it reminds me a lot of my relationship with my ex-husband, but I don't want to go there, especially on my Birthday, so I choose not to think about that right now and just enjoy the music.

I don't want to do a reference video with this one, but instead let's go this route:

And definitely this route:

Granted, these are are a "specific" period in Duran history, but isn't that what we old people do...wax nostalgic about the past? Besides, I had to get Serious in there somewhere, right? It IS my day after all!

Duran Duran - #13 Planet Roaring

"Congratulations Duran Duran albums Astronaut and All You Need Is Now, you've just had a child named Planet Roaring"...that's the first thought I had after hearing the first bonus song on the Paper Gods album. This is probably my favorite of the three bonuses (if you can't tell already).

There is also no question about the frame of reference here...Astronaut I would say a mix of Sunrise (a concert opening favorite, so let's go there instead of the official video):

and the title track itself:

And from All You Need, I'd say either Girl Panic, which is an amazingly fun video FYI (and for those that don't know, "the guitarist" is none other than Simon's wife Yasmin):

Duran Duran - #12 The Universe Alone

I am absolutely in love with Duran Duran's Paper Gods album. It's definitely not one of those that peeters out after the first couple of songs and, if anything, I'd say the album gets stronger and stronger as it goes on. The last song on the regular album (but on the deluxe version), The Universe Alone, is the perfect example of this. Again, this is a very Astronaut song, I'd probably venture to say it's a soft version of Last Day On Earth (which was actually on Pop Trash, but was one of the only good ones on that album and feels Astronauty to me anyway...so imagine Last Day On Earth without Warren and on Astronaut and you've got it).

What I don't like, nay, readily admit I hate, is the melody breakdown at the end that just sounds like the CD is warped or something. It's such a great melody anyway, I'm not sure why it's there. This isn't a strong Nick heavy song, it's more orchestral driven (which again leads one back to Astronaut), so maybe it was Nick's attempt to do something one would notice? I'm anxious to hear some remixes on this one because it's just honestly more annoying that pleasing and I'm terrified at horrible it's going to sound with headphones on. Thankfully though, it's only at the ending and it's brief.

Oh, and since I mentioned it, here is Last Day On Earth.

Duran Duran - #11 Only In Dreams

We're getting close to done reviewing Duran Duran's Paper Gods album, but I'm not quite there yet.

Only In My Dreams is once again classic Duran sounding, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear John's voice on the backing vocals (usually he's so auto-tuned down, you can't hear him or Simon's voice is looped so many times, he disappears). I love this song. Again, that "play that fuckin' bass John" chant starts in on beat one of this song and continues the entire time. I also could tell that Nile Rodgers had his hands on this one without even having to look it up (as well as Mark Ronson), but this song is 80% John Taylor and my secondary 14 year-old self that loved John too (just not as much as Simon), is a twittering a bit on this one as well!

When it comes to John-heavy songs and Nile Rodgers, you can pretty much count the entire Notorious album, but let's go with the title track for frame of reference:

But you could also arguably pick any song from Rio too for that heavy John bass line. Me personally, I think I'll go with a live version mix of Sound Of Thunder from the first Duran album and Hold Back The Rain from Rio:

You guys have NO IDEA how much I'm LOVING doing these reviews...not just because I can keep playing the new album over and over again, but because I can scour YouTube for Duran Duran videos! I really should be focusing on Disneyland, but my heart is currently filled with nothing but Duran Duran.

Duran Duran - #10 Butterfly Girl

I always write my iTunes reviews after I listen to the album for the very first time in its entirety. My opinion tends to be a bit truer then and time can't cloud my judgement, especially where Duran Duran is concerned. I have a bad habit of "learning to love" Duran songs I wouldn't necessarily care for if they were by some other band.

When I initially reviewed Paper Gods (see how I managed to get that link in there still?), the only two songs I dogged were Danceophobia (and I stand by that judgment) and this one, Butterfly Girl. I think it was initially because of the strong guitar riff that felt very Chili Peppery (obviously because John Frusciante is on this one too) and it just sounds like he's trying to channel Warren Cuccurullo (and we all know how I feel about Warren).

But the more I listen to it, I would probably move Change The Skyline to my #2 least favorite and move this one up higher on the list (although I'm not sure how high). I still don't like the heavy guitar, but I love hearing Anna Ross, who has been a backup singer for Duran Duran for quite a while now. She just has one of those voices that melds well with Simon's (like Lamya's did back during The Wedding Album years-she's the singer you hear on Come Undone) and I love the lyrics and melody here. So, forgive me iTunes, but I do actually like this song after all (minus the guitar, of course)!

When it comes to references, the entire Pop Trash song has too much weird guitar strands on it, but here is the one I was specifically thinking of when I heard Butterfly Girl, Mars Meets Venus:

It's a great song if you take bloody Warren away!

And, since I mentioned it, here's Come Undone: