Ah Summer, the most wonderful time of the year. Everyone seems to be in a better mood as people have plans to make the most of the good weather. It is the opportunity to take a holiday or even just hang out in the garden with friends.
The summer gives you many opportunities to make some great memories. And there is usually a song that is tagged to those memories that helps define a particular summer. Granted, by September you're so sick of it that you promise if you hear it again you're going to smash the radio.
But time heals all wounds so let's take a stroll down memory lane and take a look at some tunes that defined a summer.
1995: Scatman John - Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6oXW_YiV6g
What in God's name was this? Nobody really knew but nobody cared. This stuttering gibberish helped sum up the pure nonsense and joy that was the summer when you were just a nipper. It also holds a special place in my heart because it gave birth to the rumour that Scatman John had died after taking 50 ecstasy tablets in one night.
1997: Puff Daddy and Faith Evans - I'll Be Missing You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM0-ZU8njdo
Puff Daddy (as he was known back then) had an absolute smash with this Sting sampled tribute to his friend "The Notorious BIG" who had been murdered in March of that year. It went on to sell 8 million copies and introduced Biggie to a much pastier set of fans than he would have been used to.
1998: The Tamperer feat Maya - Feel It
What's she gonna look like with a chimney on her? What is a chimney? It turns out a chimney is a black eye. This song by Italian dance group had youth's across the nation unwittingly supporting lady on lady violence in the summer of 98.
1999: Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)
The last summer of the millennium provides us with one of the more curious songs on the list. A strange collaboration that saw Australian film director Baz Luhrmann reciting an essay intended as a college commencement speech written by a Chicago Tribune columnist. It is a strange marriage but one that definitely works and the advice is well worth following... trust me.
2000: The Bloodhound Gang - Bad Touch
A new millennium and perhaps a new more relaxed attitude to sex. Very few would admit to being impressed by this low brow offering but there was no-one who could resist singing along with this innuendo laden classic. What would you expect from a band who's album was entitled Hooray for Boobies.
2002: Elvis vs JXL - A Little Less Conversation
This little known Elvis song enjoyed a rebirth after it was remixed and used in a rather excellent Nike ad for the World Cup. Perhaps this hit is so fondly remembered because it came out after Nickelback's How You Remind Me had topped the charts for 5 weeks.
2003: Project Underdog - Summer Jam
Almost the very definition of a summer blockbuster. The lyrics were tinged with all the good things about a young careless summer. Despite not being very good the song evokes memories of bronze skin and partying as much as you can in some dodgy Greek holiday resort.
2004: O Zone - Dragostea Din Tei
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9YbICd43Mc
Certainly not the best song released that summer (Dry Your Eyes and Lola's theme to name a few) but there was no getting away from the numa numa song. It was all the worst things about Euro Pop plus it was everywhere and once it got in your head it wasn't coming back out.
2006 Shakira feat. Wycliffe - Hips Don't Lie
This saucy ditty had Irish people everywhere desperately trying to replicate the Colombian minx's dishonest hips. The results proved unsurprisingly embarrassing but it certainly didn't seem to put people off. This song was number 1 for practically the entire summer, a whopping 9 weeks.
2007: Rihanna - Umbrella
The song that turned Rihanna into a bona fide global superstar. Well first of all it's a summer song that was about rain, which is entirely appropriate for an Irish summer. It actually coincided with one of Ireland's wettest summers on record. Rihanna's voice is perfectly suited to this tune and managed to make it seem like she was singing about something exotic rather than a plain old umberella ella ella.
2009: Black Eyed Peas - I Got A Feeling
With its brain-dead lyrics and repetitive beat this was always destined to be a smash hit for the Black Eyed Peas. It is notable for the fact that it was produced by David Guetta who has been inflicting songs of a similar ilk on us every summer since.
2013: Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams - Get Lucky
One of the few songs on this list that was actually a decent song to start out with. But unfortunately it was played into oblivion by every single person on the planet. There was actually a stage where you couldn't walk down the street without hearing it coming from numerous different sources. Originally an upbeat tune that would put you in the mood for dancing, probably the reason it was so popular, it eventually came to symbolise the height of too muchery.
