For as long as we can remember, people have been conditioned to adore the summer. Swimming pools, firecrackers, barbecues, family vacations, soap operas, streetlight curfews, and camping in the yard—and, best of all, no school. Sure, our favorite network television shows are traditionally on hiatus, but, when it’s summer, we’d prefer not to be locked down to commitments, anyway. We want the wind blowing through our hair. We want iced tea while laying on a beach towel. We want everyone pretty and happy and without a care in the world, and often we want our summer music—whether from Brian Wilson or Stephen Malkmus—to reflect that.
There’s another school of thought, though, and it doesn’t owe the summer a thing. Heartbreak doesn’t take the season off, and plenty of folks see the gloomy bummer-fest the summer can be, particularly as it contrasts heightened expectation.
We’ve gathered 40 angst-ridden or depressing or just plain sinister summer-related tracks for you below, without the typical fare like “Summertime Blues” or newer mediocre tracks like “Summertime Sadness.” These aren’t just the only 40 we could find, but, rather, 40 songs worth spending time with and discovering.
And then we ranked them in order from barely sad to utterly depressing…
40. Sparklehorse – “Knives Of Summer”
The thing about Sparklehorse is even if this is a love song, which it might be, the imagery is still not anywhere near cheery. But without real clarity, “Knives of Summer” is only the slightest bummer, not cutting deep enough.
39. Queens Of The Stone Age – “Feel Good Hit Of The Summer”
“Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstasy and Alcohol/C-c-c-c-c-cocaine.” Bummer summer for some, best summer ever for others. We’ll error on the side of caution and label this a bummer, because dying from an absurd drug cocktail can ruin your summer. Food for thought, kids.
38. Lambchop – “The New Cobweb Summer”
Lambchop’s contradiction parade is only half-gloom, but with lyrics this clever, it barely qualifies as a bummer: “The last thought that you think today / Has already happened / The link between profound and pain / Covers you like Sherwin Williams.”
37. The Decemberists – “July, July”
Trying to figure out what is going on in this song might be a bummer in of itself, but The Decemberists’ faithful “rocker” that still pops up in concert—thanks to both it’s seemingly light subject matter and short duration—is more of a bummer than appears on the surface. An uncle is shot in the stomach in the first verse, ghost chickens haunt in the second, and the unrelenting march of time spoils a perfectly good July, July.
36. The Flaming Lips – “It’s Summertime”
Wayne Coyne’s ode to summer is an interesting one in that it presupposes sadness, convincing the listener to look outside and see that summer isn’t all bad. Sure, that’s a message of hope, but it’s also a bummer to know that summer is expected to bum.
35. The Fiery Furnaces – “Here Comes The Summer”
The Friedberger siblings’ wonderful summer anthem isn’t a bummer for the first several verses where waiting for the summer and remembering it’s pleasures preoccupies the rest of the year. But, when summer actually comes, the preoccupation turns to an anticipation of loss, worrying about missing summer more than actually enjoying the time it is there. A bummer, but also a little life lesson from the experimental indie popsters.
34. Interpol – “Summer Well”
Interpol may be clawing at the same tired theme we’ve seen repeatedly, summer heartbreak. They may even take away some of the song’s power with a conclusion of “it’s alright.” But, they’re the only one of these bands to use summer as a verb, for which this song is forgiven any transgressions.
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