Summer jams
I've been driving around New England a lot over the past few weeks, and have been listening to far too much pop music. Which is fortunate in at least one respect. The summer is starting, it's time to consider what this year's summer jam should be, and for once I'm well informed enough about the possibilities to have an opinion.
Now, just to be clear, the selection of a summer jam is not an opportunity to show off one's knowledge of obscure trends in independent music. A summer jam should be at least mainstream enough for one to have a reasonable chance of hearing it on commercial radio during daylight hours. But, on the other hand, it shouldn't be so all-pervasive that one will be sick of it by the middle of June. In other words, the song that everybody else thinks is this year's summer jam probably won't be it.
So there's a delicate line to toe here, and I'm probably not up to navigating it. But here are three possibilities that came to my mind driving around over the last few weeks:
First, there's Gnarles Barkley's "Crazy". This seems to have been anointed the year's summer jam by the critical establishment, which is surely a strike against it. But, all the same, it has plenty going for it as well. The Danger Mouse / Adult Swim connection, for one. And the way Cee-Lo responds to the question, "Does that make me crazy?", with an especially soulful, "Possibly". Downright philosophical.
Then, and this is a bit embarrassing, there's "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado and Timbaland. Now, I'm no fan of Furtado - generally her schtick makes me want to kick some hippy butt. But somehow I kept finding myself hoping to stumble upon this song when scanning my way down the highway. And Timbaland is in hilarious top-form.
But my summer jam, until I hear otherwise, is Ghostface Killah's "Back Like That". It isn't a true Ghostface joint, but if it was it would hardly be in the running here. Plus its got a chorus that gets my atonal sinuses vibrating and a nice little undercurrent of (unintended?) gender-role-reversal as well.
Still, there must be other possibilities out there that I'm missing. Any thoughts?
Now, just to be clear, the selection of a summer jam is not an opportunity to show off one's knowledge of obscure trends in independent music. A summer jam should be at least mainstream enough for one to have a reasonable chance of hearing it on commercial radio during daylight hours. But, on the other hand, it shouldn't be so all-pervasive that one will be sick of it by the middle of June. In other words, the song that everybody else thinks is this year's summer jam probably won't be it.
So there's a delicate line to toe here, and I'm probably not up to navigating it. But here are three possibilities that came to my mind driving around over the last few weeks:
First, there's Gnarles Barkley's "Crazy". This seems to have been anointed the year's summer jam by the critical establishment, which is surely a strike against it. But, all the same, it has plenty going for it as well. The Danger Mouse / Adult Swim connection, for one. And the way Cee-Lo responds to the question, "Does that make me crazy?", with an especially soulful, "Possibly". Downright philosophical.
Then, and this is a bit embarrassing, there's "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado and Timbaland. Now, I'm no fan of Furtado - generally her schtick makes me want to kick some hippy butt. But somehow I kept finding myself hoping to stumble upon this song when scanning my way down the highway. And Timbaland is in hilarious top-form.
But my summer jam, until I hear otherwise, is Ghostface Killah's "Back Like That". It isn't a true Ghostface joint, but if it was it would hardly be in the running here. Plus its got a chorus that gets my atonal sinuses vibrating and a nice little undercurrent of (unintended?) gender-role-reversal as well.
Still, there must be other possibilities out there that I'm missing. Any thoughts?
posted by kds at 6:38 AM
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