t’s summer and Stylus is here to help. We’ve been soundtracking your summer for the past two (2002, 2003) years with everything from metal to reggae, and a lot of hip-hop in between. This year we’ve got five possible tapes for your listening pleasure that cover a wide variety of music. So, kick back, get a nice glass of lemonade and enjoy the tunes. Like the season, they’re gonna be hot.

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There’s only one thing to do when the sun gets so hot you sweat standing still (apart from riot in Portugal, that is), and that’s crack out the dub, reggae, dancehall, and pale British rock rip-offs thereof… Nothing makes the sun more bearable than a fat bassline, and if there’s a great melody and maybe some trumpets riding on top of it then that’s great. And if it’s loaded down with sonic chaos that threatens to destroy your speaker-cones then even better, I say. And so, without further ado, here’s 80-odd minutes of butt-shaking bass, head-swirling chaos and sun-kissed melodious beauty to make those rays seem that much sweeter…

1. Ring The Alarm – Tenor Saw
If there’s a better way to start anything then I’ve not come across it. This is perfect. For years I thought it was "bring me your love" until I picked up the RAS Reggae set from Trojan and was put to rights. The bass is heavenly, the offbeat brass hook is perfect, and the “whoa-oa / hey!” is, possibly, the best t’ing ever ever. Sweet reggae music go straight non-stop. Oh yes.

2. Passa Passa – Elephant Man
God knows how I found this, browsing slsk for ‘dancehall’ in all probability. It’s a much less aggressive groove than Elephant Man normally jives over, almost rare but not quite. The weirdy, tiny organ fill under his voice as he enunciates the title is pure head-shake perfect. Niiiiice.

3. One Big Family (Perfecto Mix) – Embrace
Early funk-goes-terrace-chant balls-out rocker from maximalist Huddersfield favourites is given the dub treatment by Steve Osbourne and Paul Oakenfold. The result is seven minutes of filter fuzz and impossibly deep bass, plus a Sister-Sledge-on-testosterone chorus, i.e. thrilling.

4. Galang Gal – Crystal Vibez
Another nuts piece of dancehall found almost totally by accident whilst trying to get hold of M.I.A.’s "Galang" (more of her later). This is the maddest thing to ride the Diwwali riddim that I’ve heard (which isn’t saying much, but, you know…). There’s some kind of mad harpsichord in the background, and a crazy girl scatting “one by one / two by two / tree by tree”. If I knew what year it was from it’d be Single Of The Year for then, but I don’t.

5. Push Yourself–Make It Work – Ruts DC
Rhythm Collision Dub by Ruts DC and Mad Professor is reasonably easy to get hold of now, and well worth it; (The)Ruts (DC) did that punk-meets-dub thing better than just about anyone in the late 70s. As the title suggests, this is kinetic, and very very cool.

6. Keep It Movin’ – Missy Elliott
More from Elephant Man here as he crops up on one of the highlights from Missy’s dancehall-lite This Is Not A Test! LP from late last year. Minimal wicked, with an irresistible, arms-in-the-air chorus.

7. Never be Ungrateful / Dub – Gregory Isaacs
I’ve got a stack of Trojan boxsets, and the 12” one is by far the best. A string of perfect, three-minute reggae pop songs bolstered by extended dub outros. Isaacs is a master, and this is a masterpiece, it’s quite simple. Lighter than air.

8. Rudie Can’t Fail – The Clash
When I was 19 I got chickenpox. Supposedly it’s worse if you’re older. I had spots in my ears. It fucking hurt. All I could stand to listen to was London Calling, and even then only really, really quietly. This is the best track. Drums! Trumpets!

9. Sun Shawa – M.I.A.
M.I.A. is meant to be dropping an album on XL in September, and on the strength of this and “Galang” it should be quite something. The UK’s answer to Missy, only Sri Lankan, and with a big dose of bhangra and techno (produced by Fat Truckers, wtf?!). This appears to be about seasoning a mango with salt and pepper. I can’t wait to hear more…

10. Lazarus (12 Mix) – The Boo Radleys
Some time ago I found a near-mint condition copy of this on 12” in the corner of my office, just sitting there. (It’s a very odd office.) I took it home and played it at 33rpm, which is the wrong speed, but it didn’t matter because it made it sound like the best dub track EVER. Played at the right speed it’s… well… awesome. Wordless chorus. Fat bass. Trumpets!

11. Blood On His Lips – Scientist
Scientist was King Tubby’s protégé. His dad was a TV repairman, or something, and he made all his equipment himself by nicking bits out of the back of broken sets, or something. There’s a woodblock scratch in this and it sounds like Timbaland and it’s thirty years old! OH MY GOD THIS IS SO GREAT!

12. Kowalski – Primal Scream
A comeback single of sorts, their first with Mani from The Stone Roses. I had to make a 20-mile-round train-ride pilgrimage to buy it on the day it was released. It actually does sound at one point as if your speaker cones have been blown the fuck out. Seven years on I still love it to death. That bass. HUGE.

13. I Killed The Barber – Dr Alimantado
Dr Alimantado is mad, and his Best Dressed Chicken In Town is magnificent nutso. This is about shooting a barber. I’m not sure why, but it’s great nonetheless. Apparently ‘Tom’ shot the barber. Oh well.

14. Ghost Town (12" Mix) – Specials
Best number one single ever, period. Perfect in every way. Except that it could do with being longer, maybe.

15. Ark Of The Covenant – The Congos
If you don’t own Heart Of The Congos then you are a bad person and I don’t want to know you. Quite simple, isn’t it? Lee Perry’s best production it may be, but The Congos themselves have just as much to do with this song’s astounding wonderfulness.

16. Black Woman & Child – Sizzla
There’s just something about the way he garbles the melody of the title line in this that makes my heart absolutely ache. Love love love this. Is that an accordion? Oh boy…

17. Uptown Top Ranking – Althea & Donna
Best single ever released anywhere ever by anyone, isn’t it, and t’ing. I mean, if you start a Summer Jams tape as well as this one, you’ve gotta finish it with something even better… “See me in ma ‘alterback / See me gi’ ya ‘art-attack”… Oh fucking hell!

[Nick Southall]

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Summer is undeniably the most romantic of seasons. Spring may have flowers, and Valentine’s Day may be nestled comfortably in February, but summer is when the kids return from school to search out that most wonderful of distractions: the summer fling. For me, mix tapes are an integral part of the courtship ritual; without C90s and scribbled track lists, I’d never get laid. Accordingly, here’s a mix tape designed to seduce my imaginary dream girl.

Side A
01. Jackie O Motherfucker – Everyday
The repetitious melody that begins Everyday makes one think of breezy plains, dotted with farmhouses; the harmonica and quiet, resigned vocals reinforce that image. It works as an introduction to the general mood of the tape and, if she listens carefully, she’ll hear a few sly compliments.

02. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Just To See My Holly Home
When one thinks of Will Oldham, one would probably think of autumn and winter before summer. The instrumentation and upbeat lyrics on Ease Down The Road give it a sunnier feel than any of his other albums, but the songwriting is top notch.

03. Pearls Before Swine – Guardian Angels
This track is a bizarre confession of love with an amazing vocal hook at the end of each verse. It’s just Rapp’s voice set to a playful string arrangement by Selwart Clarke, and it’s captivating.

04. Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
Would I be giving away a secret if I told you that girls love Neutral Milk Hotel? The title track of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is perhaps the best mix tape choice from that album; it doesn’t flow directly into the next track, it’s not eight minutes long, and there aren’t any tricky lyrical references to semen.

05. Neu! – Lila Engel
This song is for driving fast, late at night with the windows down, hopefully on the way home from a date with that special someone.

06. The Upsetters – My Girl
Though it may take her a few seconds to recognize the tune in this instrumental form, I picture nothing but smiles once she does.

07. Animal Collective – Baby Day
I’ve raved enough about this song, but suffice to say that it’s got that tripped out Beach Boys vibe goin’ on. Another one to make smiles.

08. Boredoms – Super Are
Beginning with pleasant electronic drones and synth melodies, the call-and-response chants eventually explode into monstrous riffs and tribal drumming. A short guitar solo reiterating the main melody disintegrates into a quickly fading scream.

Side B
09. AC/DC – Have A Drink On Me
AC/DC would like to remind us that summertime is party time, and Back In Black has been the soundtrack to many.

10. Dead Kennedys – Stealing People’s Mail
What better to do when drunk than disrupt the lives of others? Any romantic interest of mine has to share my love of pranks and malicious mischief; otherwise, it just won’t work out.

11. The Chinese Stars – Getting The Death Card
Eric Paul (formerly known as Mr. Potty Mouth) has completed his transformation into the Frank Sinatra of the creepy noise nerd set, urging us on lustful conquest with lines like “I keep taking the necessary pills because / Anti-depressants make me love her.”

12. Olneyville Sound System – I Want My Money
Over a fuzzy bass groove, Jon Von Ryan reminds us that money is a necessity for summer fun. He’s got the right idea with his mumbled threats. Motherfuckers, I want my money too; this minimum wage summer job bullshit is, well, bullshit.

13. Quintron – Certain Girl
Even on a budget, Quintron can kick out the jams, and he inspires us to do the same—work with what you’ve got, give it some effort, and everything will be fine.

14. USAISAMONSTER – We’re Surely Spliffin
A duo after my own heart, Colin and Tom search for peace and understanding through both music and the summertime tradition of smokin’ weed.

15. US Maple – Open A Rose
US Maple show off their melodic side, and their drummer even opts for a backbeat most of the time. Abrupt washes of guitar come in unexpectedly, and a nice bit of post-coital afterglow follows the climax.

16. The Godz – New Song
The band I admire most is The Godz. Their commitment to ineptitude and curiosity led to some of the most carefree music of the sixties; “New Song” doesn’t strive to be a slick pop hit, it just wants to make you giggle.

17. Bardo Pond – Pick My Brain
The jittery high from the bong hits has faded into a fuzzy laziness. Let Isobel Sollenberger sing you to sleep, her mush-mouthed vocals all but buried under the slow riffs and the bass’s rumble.

18. The Dead C – Bone
I maintain that the best impression to give a girl is that you’re really strange. By combining hellish guitar noise and suggestive lyrics, “Bone” evokes sweltering nights spent screwing on sweaty sheets. That ought to do the trick.

[Ian Johnson]

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Ian Mathers

When I was a little kid, I loved summer. We didn’t have to go to school, my birthday is in August and we got to go swimming all the time. Now that I have to work, no longer have regular access to bodies of water and my sweat glands have fully developed I hate it. Of course, as soon as I set to putting together this mix, about how much the sun and heat sucks, things cooled down. That’s okay, I had the memory of a recent day when the temperature hit 39 degrees Celsius (Americans: this is really, really hot) to spur me on.

Side One
01. Limblifter – “Wake Up To The Sun”
Yes, we do wake up to the sun. Every. Single. Day. But if I have to do that, at least there’s this poppy little tune from under-appreciated Vancouver band Limblifter to hum along to. It talks about taking shelter too, which we should all do.

02. Royal City – “At Rush Hour The Cars”
This is one of my favorite love songs ever, and as mentioned previously by me, deserves to soundtrack your summers. But, for the purposes of this mix, we’ll pretend that heat-haze organ and Aaron Riches’ tender refrain of “You are the sun in my eyes” are supposed to be negative. No, there’s nothing in my eye—I’m just tearing up a little.

03. Clinic – “Hippy Death Suite”
To: All those people who tell me I should love the sunshine, isn’t it so nice and the birds are out and is it hot enough for you? Die. Love, Ian.

04. Supergrass – “Alright”
The piano on the rollicking “Alright” sounds just like summer. Also, crucially, it gives the impression that they’re up to their hijinks at night, which is the only time during the summer you should go outside.

05. Elefant – “Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid”
It does! When being outside causes me to burn (which it does), something is wrong. I know we’re all used to sunburn at this point, but think about it for a second: Being outside during the summer is hazardous to your health. What’s up with that?

06. Crowded House – “Distant Sun”
Crowded House have been a favorite of mine ever since I became addicted by my dad’s vinyl copy of Temple Of Low Men as a young child, but in addition to this being classic pop, the sun in it is distant. As it should be.

07. The Velvet Underground – “Ocean (Live)”
“Here comes the ocean, and the waves / Where have they been?” If you have to go out, go underwater. I grew up on the shores of Lake Huron, and while that’s a lake rather than an ocean, nothing beats a nice swim when it’s humid. The best version of “Ocean”, of course, is the one Lou did with the VU before leaving, with John Cale’s bitchin’ organ.

08. Texas – “Summer Son”
The last few songs have been kind of slower, so it’s time to dance. Yes, the title refers to the wrong kind of sun, but when the chorus goes “Here comes the summer son / It burns by skin / I ache again” just pretend it’s a “u” instead. Texas may get regular critical brickbats (and deservedly so), but some of their singles are pretty damned killer, as is this immaculate slice of disco-pop.

Interlude
00. King Tubby – “Dub Investigation”
The nice thing about CD-Rs as opposed to tapes is that you can still have “sides”, conceptually at least, but you can do other stuff too. Two important rules: First, a summer without dub is a shitty summer. Second, on a hot day if you play some good dub (as in pretty much anything by King Tubby, among others), time actually stops. Try it sometime.

Side Two
01. Super Furry Animals – “Juxtapozed With U”
Where were we? Ah yes, the dance floor. More disco! More of a slow jam, though. I firmly believe that on any themed mix you’re allowed at least one track that you put in just because—as in just because it’s an incredible song. SFA’s finest pop moment to date qualifies.

02. The Durutti Column – “Sketch For Winter”
Eh, movement is overrated anyway. Let’s just stay inside and sleep and dream of snow.

03. Plumtree – “Latitude”
From the late, great and sadly unlamented Halifax band, we have not only a beautifully lambent song (boasting, as per normal, Linette Gillis’ awesome drumming), but a remembrance of “how it was when we didn’t go out much”. Good times, at least when it’s 39 degrees Celsius outside. This band is so slept on, as the kids say, that it’s not funny.

04. Spoon – “June’s Foreign Spell”
But don’t get too languorous; Not only is “All fixed up now for June's foreign spell / All sad 'bout it now June's bitter soil again / Oh no can't take this another year” exactly how I feel at the start of every hot summer, but “June’s Foreign Spell” is just an awesome song in any season. It starts out like a piledriver, and only speeds up and adds intensity from there. “I’ll call him up and give him flack”, yeah!

05. Talking Heads – “Once In A Lifetime (Live)”
“Into the blue again / Into the silent water / Under the rocks and stones / There is water underground”. Man, do I miss the lake. And the pool. Underground is a nice place to be in the summer too, if you’re deep enough.

06. Mercury Rev – “Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp”
What an awesome mélange of a track, with the harpsichord riff and the horns and that gutbucket stomp and the flute… but most importantly, it’s about getting the hell out of the place, after the missionaries flood your favorite AM stations and that “washed up Delta sun” comes up.

07. Mercury Rev – “Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp (Chemical Brothers Remix)”
Like the mutant cousin of the original struggling to dance after the first has called it a night. Waving goodbye, I’m not saying hello.

08. Low – “Last Snowstorm Of The Year”
"The winter was nice / But the summer is hell". They’re from Minnesota. They understand.

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Nate DeYoung

My colleague Nick Southall described a new trend in dance music in his review of Felix Da Housecat— “Dance music is the new dance music (as long as it’s spannered apart into tiny bits and stuck together again seemingly at random. And played at the wrong speed.)” With that in mind, I made my summer mix with songs that start with Cubase and end pulled apart into tiny bits. It surprisingly yielded a lot of music: from disco-punk to microhouse to disco-Pink Floyd to Ragga to housed-up Rakim, this is “Dance Music is the New Dance Music”.

01. Forbidden Planet – Deceleration

Using the sounds of “bleats, burps, whirs, whines, throbs, hums and screeches,” The Forbidden Planet soundtrack has always sounded simultaneously dated and relevant. The otherworldly electronic belches shouldn’t be confused with the otherworldly funk of Fantastic Planet.

02. Mouse On Mars - Wipe That Sound

From their new album Radical Connector, Mouse on Mars appear to rework the force of “Actionist Respoke” into a straight-ahead electro rump. For my parties, a couple of the mommas always ask for booty music—leave it to a couple of digital fetishists from Dusseldorf to deliver.

03. DJ /Rupture - Rumbo Babylon, Limb By Limb, Latoya, Tables Will Turn

Flowing from gabba to Missy in three quick minutes, DJ /Rupture takes mash-up into unlikely forms, making early mash-ups sound juvenile. Despite quoting “Get Ur Freak On,” this song almost doesn’t fit in any other setting outside of Minesweeper Suite.

04. Basement Jaxx – Breakaway

Taking the start-stop to heart, Basement Jaxx could be the band that I associate most with cutting their songs into tiny chunks and throwing everything back together into a musical collage. With helium-drenched vocals and a whip for a backbeat, “Breakaway” is the future of pop (I wish) with a twist of Joe Meek.

05. Felix Da Housecat - What She Wants (feat. James Murphy)

Playing out the funk backing track, James Murphy sounds like a crazed (and irony-drenched) fool pushing around the edges with falsettos and hums.

06. Michael Mayer – 17 & 4 (Joachim Spieth Remix)

Although Kompakt has gotten about as much love and attention as any label in the world, the hypnotic swing with driving breaks make this one of my favorite tracks from Kompakt 100. Summer is perhaps the perfect time for Kompakt to celebrate their hundredth release.

07. M83 - Run Into Flowers (Midnight Fuck Remix by Jackson)

Taking a page from Michael Mayer’s Fabric 13, this remix takes the atmospheric builds from the original “Run into Flowers” and reworks clicks/breakbeats into the song.

08. M.I.A. - Sunshowers

Although M.I.A. (or Maya) successfully stole my heart with “Galang,” this little number also has the programmed bare sub-bass, sexy drawl and a kick-back chorus. But “Sunshowers” is also a summer jam, with an entrancingly tweaked chorus sung for lazy afternoons.

09. !!! - Dear Can

Conceivably the sexiest song that !!! has recorded—if you don’t think “Me & Guiliani Down by the Schoolyard” is a love song (I always pictured Nic Offer singing sweet nothings into Rudy Guiliani’s ear). My favorite layer is the kazoo that appears for the last minute. I admit that it’s probably not a kazoo, but I’d still like to see one of the !!! legion playing a kazoo on stage.

10. Spandex - Snakeskin Teeth

From the blues-dance label Hand on the Plow, this song has a stoned-to-death lyrical style and a bass-hook with a grain of glitch.

11. Matthew Dear - Tide

With a rubbery bassline and splintered synth counter-melody, Dear sings spiteful lyrics with lazy doo-wop. This isn’t the life-affirming joy of “Dog Days” but still sounds somehow just as sublimely hook-ridden.

12. Eric B & Rakim – I Know You Got Soul (Arcola 000 remix)

Shedding Eric B’s production in favor of a dubbed out house track could be sacrilegious. And that might be why I like this remix so much. This song also reveals my addiction to MP3Blogs—thank you music (for robots).

13. Soft Pink Truth - Big Booty Bitches

Soft Pink Truth is a favorite from last summer and “Big Booty Bitches” is the best tongue-too-firmly-in-cheek song I’ve heard in a long time. From the chants of “doo-doo” to the mid-song reveal of “fucking with you,” this is a constipated verbal dumping in all of its glory.

14. Scissor Sisters - Comfortably Numb

If Xanadu had been musical genius, this could’ve been a killer track on that album. No other song brings Pink Floyd’s prog-rock excesses into such mutated clarity like this disco cover.

15. Erlend Øye - Morgan Geist/Erlend Øye - Lullaby/A Place In My Heart (Acapella)

Ending with a re-working of the Star You Star Me song, the singing DJ (Oye) and Morgan Geist (from Metro Area) wash away with airy and minor synths. The programmed drums kick through with hand-claps and all—reminiscent of Metro Area’s “Atmospherique.”

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Dom Passantino

The young know nothing. Oh sure, a summer sustained by designer drugs, microhall and dancehouse may seem a good idea to you, but not to me. It’s too transient. The summer isn’t about living for the moment; it’s about living for the three month period. This mixtape is for those of us who don’t want the shock of the new, the strange, or the youth. It’s a workmanlike tape, chock full of bands that care about song-writing and can play their instruments properly. No surprises are needed; it’s the sturdy, reliable sound of local radio five years prior and five years hence. These are the acts that blazed the trail for Maroon 5. And don’t front: you love every track here.

1. Fastball- The Way

Musical mysteries of our time #276: when it comes to vaguely collegiate pop crossover attempts with really bad lyrics from the summer of 1999, the New Radicals’ craptacular “Get What You Give” is regarded by simpletons as some sort of classic, whilst this song is remembered by exactly four people. The drive-time friendly face of child abandonment.

2. Laura Branigan- Gloria

Now this is what was missing from the Vice City soundtrack. A riff stolen from “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting”, as Laura goes up-tempo power ballad crazy, whilst dropping the cuss “If everybody wants you/Why isn’t anybody calling?” This is what we called Anastacia in the old days.

3. Daniel Bedingfield- "Gotta Get Thru This (Acoustic version)

When the original version of this was released as Daniel’s debut single, it was assumed that this was representative of what we could expect from his future career: crap 2-step pop singles. Danny Boy must have realised that if he wanted to have a career lasting slightly longer than, say, Sweet Female Attitude, a change was needed, and thus he became the much-loved Robert Palmer for the noughties. This makeover, which removes any remotely urban stylings of the original, replacing them with classical guitar, is the best (read “only non-shite”) thing he’s done in his entire career.

4. Roy Orbison- I Drove All Night

Fuck a Lauper. This is a perfect tune for driving, perhaps at night, in the summer. I really don’t think I’ve ever heard a man sing with more purpose in his voice than Roy does here. He is going to drive all night, and if you get in his way, you’re gonna be roadkill.

5. The Cardigans- Lovefool

Does this let Baz Luhrmann off the hook for the later musical atrocities he’d commit? Whatever, this saw The Cardigans drop the dumb rock aspirations that screws up 90% of their output, and instead jumpstarted the bubblegum heart of the listening public.

6. Dire Straits- Walk of Life

People don’t record stadium rock albums any more, because Brothers In Arms basically means you’re going to end up second best. Never has one album been so precise, so clinical, and when Knopfler hits those “Wooo-hooh”s at the start of this, before unleashing the rest of this summer pop Springsteen homage, you realise it: Punk lost.

7. The Connells- 74-75

You see, this song is why Idlewild suck. It proves that you can make an entire career out of copying REM and still not be rubbish. Big in Europe during the mid 90s, without making any real impression back in their home country, this is what Gary Jules will spend the rest of his career trying to record. If you can’t find this, just listen to “Lemon Tree” by Fool’s Garden. They’re actually the same song.

8. Tony Christie- I Did What I Did For Maria

The British Sinatra unleashes this chicken-in-a-basket circuit classic. A tale of murder, vengeance, love, death, and eternal damnation wrapped up with a wink in its eye and a request that you try the veal. Gangsta? You don’t know the half of it.

9. Santana ft Rob Thomas- Smooth

Is it better than “Dance The Night Away” by The Mavericks? The Mavericks are a winter band anyway, so it’s irrelevant. Old Hispanic guy pulls high notes out of his ass whilst hunky alt.pop irritant comes good on the distorted vocals, and you’ve basically got every single 11pm of every single summer Thursday soundtracked.

10. Hall and Oates- Rich Girl

Here, we chill. The only hit single ever written about Patty Hearst. Hall and Oates are the kings of AOR, the kings of blue-eyed soul, and the kings of everything that those who are ruining pop want to stop. You can’t stop Hall and Oates.

11. Liquido- Narcotic

If the Eels and The Breeders had a child that went to the Love Parade each year and was best friends with that guy with the stupid voice from the Crash Test Dummies, it probably still wouldn’t sound like this. Another mainland Europe hit, this time from 1998, and I’m sure this is where The Clipse steal all of their drug/love lyrics from.

12. BJ Thomas- Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

The song for when you’re 18 and you’ve just got your driving license and you’re going for a drive with your best friend, one of you will probably be dead in seven months, but neither of you know that yet so you drive to that spot on the outskirts of the city where you can see the entire town spread out in front of you, it all looks so small and meaningless, so you get back in the car, watch the sun set, and you’re nostalgic for a moment that hasn’t finished happening. You ain’t even gonna stop the rain by complaining.

13. Usha Uthup- Hotel California

“This could be heaven, or this could be hell”. It’s the former. Indian Streisand, or something, gives the country-rock Satanism epic a new lease of life as a spooky Bollywood track. It feels like wandering around an abandoned warehouse.

14. Matthew Wilder- Break My Stride

Used in the UK to advertise vitamin supplements for the elderly. It replaced “Hey Joe”. This is better. Basically a Men Without Hats/Men At Work soundclash, and as such it’s all that’s good about the 80s.

15. Dean Friedman- Lucky Stars

I’ve got nothing but love for my Hebrew brethren, and Big Dean came correct in the late 70s with this dinner party pianothon featuring an arguing couple. Frankee and Eamon = amateurs.

16. Don Henley- Boys of Summer

Oh, like we could have ended with anything else.