Sunday, August 4, 2024

Flopcast 639: Cruel Summer Songs of the 80s

As the Hit Parade podcast recently taught us, each year Billboard declares an official "Song of the Summer" based on chart performance. We're taking a more subjective approach, and choosing which songs we most associate with each summer of the 1980s. Of course you'll find some Go-Go's and some Kenny Loggins on our list (come on, it's us), but perhaps we'll surprise you with a choice or two. And which songs would you pick? What reminds you of the summer of 1984, as you biked through the heat to the arcade in search of Donkey Kong Junior? (Is it Huey Lewis? It's probably Huey Lewis.) Let us know! And prepare for next week, when we'll take on the summer songs of the 1990s. It'll be intense.

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Show Notes

Listen to the Hit Parade episode that inspired us! Billboard launched the Songs of the Summer chart in 2010, when Katy Perry (featuring Snoop Dogg) was on top.

It's just occuring to the Mayor that Perry's song title mirrors the spelling used in Big Star's September Gurls, covered by The Bangles on Different Light. What's up with that?

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You can navigate through Billboard's archives using the calendar icon at the top of the page. For a slightly clunkier solution that you might find easier to parse, check out Top 40 Weekly.

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Check out Anaria's gorgeous cover of Alone!