Every summer, bored websites start debating the "Song of the Summer," and I get it—clicks are clicks. It was not always so, I swear. Sure we'd argue about what songs we liked better (that's part of what pop music is about), but I don't remember having to decide what song won that summer.
I blame this on the sportsification of pop culture discourse, though certainly the hollowing out of our shared culture has inspired a hunger for consensus. Anyway, the biggest song this summer is Alex Warren's "Ordinary," and SOTS handicappers deserve it.
But I'm not interested in that. Not today at least. Not in this Open Thread. I want to know what songs remind you of past summers.
I'll start: I turned 14 in 1984, and the songs were summery—bright, glossy, synthetic, airy. Just about any of them, from classics like "Dancing in the Dark" and "Borderline" to radio filler like Scandal's "The Warrior" or Peebo Bryson's "If Ever You're In My Arms Again," takes me right back. Weirdly though, the biggest song of that summer was also the darkest: It's like "When Doves Cry" hoarded all the bad vibes from that year. Then "Ghostbusters" knocked it from No. 1.
And in 1997, I made a mixtape that I listened to non-stop. It started with Pulp's "Misshapes" and the Pet Shop Boys "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" and included lots of femme alt-rock like That Dog and Belly. That's what my last summer before I moved to Minneapolis will always sound like to me. (Speaking of "Minneapolis" and That Dog...)
OK, your turn: Unload yer thoughts and memories about whatever tunes turn the Proustian crank in your brain.
As always, feel free to ignore this prompt and talk about whatever you want. This is your Open Thread after all.
And now, let's take it back to 1984...
