15 Sunnier Avenues to Get You California Dreamin' (On Such a Winter's Day)

photo by Natasha Richardson

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The other day, I was in the car listening to "The Ghost of Virginia" by Justin Townes Earle. It's a very simple acoustic/banjo-based song about an old freight train in the South that hauled coal and transported soldiers "during the war." What happens a few seconds in? I'm in the historical district of Marietta, Ga. and I get stopped by a train. It was so perfect, peaceful and picturesque, I couldn't even be upset.

One of my favorite things to do is methodically pick and choose CDs each time I leave the house. These CDs need a purpose; they need to fit the mood. There are few things more fulfilling than creating your own memories to a soundtrack you molded and manipulated to be your own. However, it's so much more of an experience when Spring and Summer dissolve the overcast, melt the snow and warm the air.

Instead of moping around listening to sad-bastard music, why not get a head start and put your mind elsewhere? You'll thank yourself later when the nice weather actually does arrive. Here are 15 artists that will do the trick.

1. The Jesus and Mary Chain
Quite frankly, the JAMC has everything you'd expect from a band that sounds great in the summer: big reverb, catchy hooks, loud guitars, encompassing vocals. Just about any album you pick up by these guys will have some or all of those essential fun-in-the-sun ingredients, but Psychocandy and Darklands are a combined must. Of course, the Reid brothers' lyrics are another story. (See the title of their recently released B-sides boxset, The Power of Negative Thinking.)


2. The Ramones
Despite loads of critical acclaim, a lot of people don't give the Ramones enough credit. Yes, they were one of the first "punk" bands, but they were much more than that. They wanted to bring rock music back to its roots, and they did so by paying respect to artists such as the Beatles, the Beach Boys and Dick Dale. This equaled unforgettable summertime gems like "Rockaway Beach," "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker," "Questioningly" and countless others.  


3. The Replacements
It's difficult to imagine listening to albums like Tim or Don't Tell a Soul in the dead of Winter. Especially a guitar-happy rocker like "I'll Buy," where Paul Westerberg sings, "Crusin' in the sunshine / Ain't yet been to bed / I could hear the motor whistlin' / Something's off the wall again."


4. Weezer
Critics and fans alike have slammed pretty much every Weezer release since Pinkerton, either by taking turns or going at it all at once. But musically, can you honestly say any one album from the band doesn't sound good blasting from your car stereo? Rivers Cuomo has pretty much mastered pop-rock hook, and the production is always booming.


5. Green Day (pre-American Idiot)
Who can forget those punchy machine-gun drums from "Burnout," the album-opener for Dookie? What a kicker to begin a record. Although the band seems more intent on making a point these days (they're not washed-up, they can be clever, they can take a political stand, etc.), the music from back in the day, ironically, seems both smarter and more fun. 


6. Surf rock
Does this really need explaining? There's no other sub-genre that comes as close to capturing summer nostalgia. Dick Dale ("Miserlou") and Link Wray ("Rumble") made guitar-playing sound dangerous. The Ventures ("Walk Don't Run") and the Lively Ones ("Surf Rider") gave it style. Santo & Johnny made it weep. Nothing says "savor the memories" like the haunted steel-guitar work "Sleep Walk."


7. The Beach Boys
Another no-brainer. Although the groundwork was already laid by #8 on the list, Brian Wilson and the rest of the gang were the first to consistently bring surfing, cruising and hanging out in the summer to the forefront of their music. They drew up the blueprint for the season standard: layered vocals, reverbed guitars, detailed simplicity.