Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Top Ten Rock Songs For Summer



Everyone knows how awesome it is to have the windows in their car rolled down while just cruising down the street on a warm summer day. What makes this experience even better is when the right song is cranking through the stereo to match the vibe. Below are ten songs that are guaranteed to rock your summer.

1. Summer Nights, by Van Halen

This song from Van Halen's first album with Sammy Hagar captures the idea of a summer night perfectly by glorifying how great it is to get out of the house, hop into your car, and going out to find some fun. With a catchy chorus and fantastic guitar chops from Eddie Van Halen, this song is a must have in your summer playlist.


2.  Dancing in the Moonlight, by Thin Lizzy

If you like dancing, this song is right up your alley. It's all about going out with your friends and then finding a special girl and just dancing the night away with her, regardless of what your parents might say about you being up so late. You can almost feel the summer warmth radiating from the vibe of this song.


3. D'yer Maker, by Led Zeppelin

While the lyrical content in this song is sad, the reggae feel of the music itself is enough to bring you right back up and groove right along. It is a weird combination, but nonetheless no summer is complete without this song.


4. The Way, by California Breed

For those of you that like something a bit more bass-heavy, funky, and modern this song should do it for you. The groove laid down by this power trio completes any summer night scene if you're driving in a convertible through down town. While it isn't a dance tune, its loud steady groove is enough to energize get you going.


5. Beautiful Girls, by Van Halen

Another Van Halen song? Yes, that's right. This one is from the band's second album with original singer David Lee Roth. With the upbeat nature of the music combined with Roth singing about sitting with your toes in the sand on a beach and life seeming to be just right on a nice warm day, it's impossible not to get the image of an ideal summer day when jamming this.


6. Sunny Days, by David Coverdale

While a bit more obscure, this song does no less of a good job bringing vibes of warm sunny days than any other song on the list, as its title depicts. When you just can't take any more of the rat race of daily life in your town or city, it's good to just go back to thinking about those sunny summer days that you spent with all of your friends.


7. Summertime Blues, by Eddie Cochran

How could this classic NOT be included? When you're stuck working all summer for a boss who makes you stay late all the time when you want to go have fun, you just have to raise a fuss and a holler.


8.  All Over the Road, by Rival Sons

While not directly related to summer in any way, this is still a good song about getting out with your girl knowing that even though you're driving to some place, you two are so into each other that you probably won't be getting where you're going anywhere near the time you said you would, if you get what I mean....


9. Summer Song, by Joe Satriani

This song has no lyrics, but Mr. Satriani still brings the summer time energy with his strong zippy melodic guitar playing. It makes the listener just want to get into their car and just floor it in the hot summer sun.


10. Paradise City, by Guns N' Roses

I don't know about you, but when I think of a paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty, I've got summer time in mind. What other time of year do you get to see such wonderful things? Even if the song has been played to death on the radio, sporting events, festivals, etc. it still wouldn't be summer without hearing this down home rocker.


1 comment:

  1. Just about anything Van Halen fits the bill for "summer"...from the Roth era, not the era of Hagar the horrible. Some decent picks otherwise ("Summertime blues" is dead-on, though I might argue some of the later covers are superior), but no Beach Boys? No "School's Out" by Alice Cooper? No Fourth of July stuff like "Born in the USA" or Jimi Hendrix's rendition of "the Star-Spnagled Banner" at Woodstock? Surely, man, those were pretty obvious!

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