By Jenn Sussman aka DJ Belladonna

1. Eddie Cochran “Summertime Blues” – A quintessential summer song kicks off a playlist inspired by summer road trips, dancing on the beach on hot nights, and one of the worst heat waves on record in NYC. Early rock and roll great Eddie Cochran sometimes gets lost among more famous peers like Elvis and Johnny, but there’s no denying his impact on American rock in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Originally recorded by Cochran as a single in 1958, “Summertime Blues” has been covered by an incredibly diverse spectrum of artists, from The Who, Blue Cheer and Olivia Newton-John to Stray Cats, The Beach Boys and T-Rex. Cochran’s sound is something of a hybrid of the classic rockabilly strum-and-swing combined with surf rock undertones, an infectious combination that always makes me think of summer. A summer road trip just isn’t complete without The Best of Eddie Cochran in your speakers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItOCOeskC20

2. Bob and Earl “Harlem Shuffle” – Resist the urge to jump around after the intro to this classic American soul side, sampled in the ‘90s by House of Pain for that megahit of theirs. “Harlem Shuffle” is a classic from the AM radio days, a down and dirty soul single recorded in 1963 that was meant to be played in sweltering juke joints during the dog days of summer, when your beer bottle sweats but your feet can’t help but move. The Rolling Stones had a big hit with their cover of this track, recorded for their 1986 album Dirty Work, but no matter how many props the Stones get for their almost ceaseless homage to American blues and soul masters, their version just doesn’t work for me. If you want to shake a tailfeather, y’all, it’s all about the original.

3. Martha Reeves and The Vandellas “(Your Love Is Like A) Heat Wave” – The classic Motown sound is always a sure bet for your summer soundtrack, and almost no one did the Motown sound the way Martha Reeves and The Vandellas did. A contrast to the smoother sounds of 1960’s “Hitsville USA” girl group peers Diana Ross and The Supremes, Martha and The Vandellas offered up a somewhat grittier sound, mixing doo-wop, pop, blues, rock and R&B styles on smash hits like “Nowhere To Run To”, “Jimmy Mack” and their best known hit “Dancing In The Streets”, which has been covered by Van Halen, The Rolling Stones and, oddly, The Grateful Dead. It’s pretty sad to see what’s become of modern day Detroit, Michigan when you think back to all of the amazing music that was born there just a relatively short while ago.

4. Stevie Wonder “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” – Originally released on Wonder’s 1980 record Hotter Than July, there are few Stevie songs that make me want to dance like “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” does. The overall sound of Hotter Than July was a bit of a departure from what fans of Stevie’s early days in the Motown pop hit machine and his evolution into a more funk-driven vibe were used to, deepening into reggae grooves and disco riffs and exploring African cultural and somewhat political territory on “Master Blaster (Jammin’)”. There’s also a cover of one of my favorite Motown soul ballads on this album, Tami Terrell’s “All I Do Is Think About You”, reworked here into a dance track as “All I Do”. Stevie Wonder is a flat-out musical genius, and “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” is a great example of what a fantastic songwriter he is.

5. Kool and the Gang “Jungle Jazz” – Most people are a lot more familiar with Kool and the Gang’s disco-era staple “Jungle Boogie”, but this DJ prefers the groovier, instrumental, and more percussion-driven “Jungle Jazz”; sort of a variation on the themes laid down in “Jungle Boogie”. Sample junkies will recognize the drum breaks in this track, which were looped by Brand Nubian on “Drop The Bomb” from their bangin’ 1990 debut release One For All, as well as sampled on the hit single “Don’t Walk Away” by ‘90s R&B girl group Jade. I’ve been known to mix all three tracks together for a little hip-hop history lesson.

6. The Cure “Hot! Hot! Hot! (Extended Mix)” – I think most people had the same reaction upon seeing the video for this track from The Cure’s 1987 release Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me – holy crap, what happened to Robert Smith’s hair? Good lord, who told him that would be a good look for him? Luckily the song is great, so after you watch the clip below it’s best to forget that it exists and just enjoy the audio from now on. “Hot! Hot! Hot!” was a surprisingly funky and un-Cure-like cut from the gods of guitar-based gloom from West Sussex, England, so starkly a departure from what had come before it and from the rest of the tracks on Kiss Me (x3) that it’s no wonder Robert Smith got confused about his style. Fortunately, the famously ratty hair, orange-red lips and creative control tantrums returned in time for the release of their 1989 masterpiece, Disintegration – and all was once again right with the world.

7. Soul Coughing “Soft Serve” – Soul Coughing’s lead singer and songwriter Mike Doughty is a quirky beat poet for a new generation, all slacker jazz cool, obscure literary influences, and meandering lyrics that go nowhere but somehow make perfect sense. I remember picking up SC’s 1996 release Irresistible Bliss on the strength of the record’s bouncy first single “Super Bon Bon”, but I wasn’t prepared for the depth of brilliant musicality that I received. This album helped to define my summer of 1996, with standout tracks like “Soundtrack To Mary”, my personal favorite “Lazybones”, and this track, an ode to a girl with “…the body like soft serve, drippin’ down in the June sun…”, which goes on to provide other similarly evocative summer-esque metaphors. Irresistible bliss, indeed.

8. X “Fourth of July” – Classic X fans tend to view X’s 1987 release See How We Are as a practically heretical sellout and a turning away from their West Coast noise-punk roots, and while it’s definitely a major departure from X’s original groundbreaking Los Angeles-era sound, the haters are missing something – See How We Are is an incredibly good, well-written rock album. A foreshadowing of John Doe solo recordings yet to come at the time, “Fourth of July” is pure storytelling set to music, an intimate view into the personal heartbreak of a man in an unhappy relationship, as he tries to get the woman he loves to take some small measure of happiness from watching the fireworks. This song always makes me reminisce about someone I met back in high school one 4th of July, and even when we fell out of touch for long stretches of time, for many years he would always call me on the 4th. It’s amazing how music-induced nostalgia can add a shiny glaze to tarnished memories.

9. Danzig “Dirty Black Summer” – Demon-obsessed former Misfits and Samhain singer Glenn Danzig scored big time with this gritty, Sabbath-style rocker from his 1992 solo record Danzig III: How The Gods Kill; punks liked it, Goths liked it, metalheads liked it, and even alt-rock loving teenage girls liked it. (Well, okay… I can only speak for myself on that last one.) What’s particularly interesting about Danzig’s post-Misfits/Samhain body of work is that it harkens back to the formative era of British heavy metal in the 1970’s, when metal wasn’t really “metal” as it later came to be known; rather, it was just good, solid, dark, hard rock. Granted, Danzig’s preferred lyrical subject matter usually deals with demons, women being accosted and/or ravished by demons, and Danzig himself acting as some sort of overlord during all the demonic activities, but at the end of the day, Danzig just made some pure, hard rock. And it was good.

10. Hardline “Hot Cherie” – I had to throw this excellent rocker in for my metalheads, because if ever there was a group of people who know how to make the best of a hot summer, it’s them metalheads. Hardline was a very late entry into the pop metal music scene of the ‘80s and early ‘90s, and the release of their extremely rockin’ Double Eclipse album in 1992 went pretty much unnoticed as the American musical palette rapidly shifted towards grunge. This is a damn shame, because there were few hard rock bands in that era that were getting it done like Hardline was; and, they had a secret weapon – moonlighting Journey axeman Neal Schon. “Hot Cherie” cruises on a solid hard rock groove, recounting with atypical eloquence the prototypical ‘80s metal storyline of a woman who’s just too damn hot and how badly the singer wants to bang her. This is stripper rock at its most intelligent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uuN8AC3SQM