Realized that I forgot to make my annual Summer Jams CD this summer probably a mix of it being so dreary in the Marina for most of June and my desktop being broken…so it took a good week of blazing hot sun and triple digit temperatures to remind me. It looks like it’s going to be a late summer.

The Summer Jams CD is the epitome of everything Summer. And every year it gets burned to an actual CD. The idea being it can go from car to pool party to backyard barbecue. Anytime someone says “Let’s get some music going!” and you’re outdoors, you can say “I’ve got just the thing!”  and the Summer Jams is there providing the music.

I usually start out with 20 or so songs and then whittle them down to a really nice 13 to 15. 

Rules of the Summer Jam CD

The rules of the summer jam CD are like rules for spelling; they’re there but half the time you’re going to break them anyway. You’ll notice that I’ve broken a few on the track lists for better or worse.

• No bands that are known for their summer all year sensibilities i.e. Jimmy Buffett, Beach Boys etc. (This is inevitably always broken)
• No song should be too heavy. SJ ‘09 suffers when it hits ‘Dazed and Confused’ by Led Zepplin. Sure, it’s a great song. But heavvvvy. Nothing should be too-overwrought with emotion or set in a minor key (usually the same songs.)
• Special attention should be paid to any songs that mention summer, sunshine, beaches, summer love, beaches etc. 
• No song should be so polarizing that someone listening to it would drag themselves out of the pool and walk over to change it on a boom box. Classic examples of this are heavy gangster rap, intensely indie bands (the ones that barely sound like music) and country music that tries to be clever (i’m looking at you Brad Paisley’s ‘Celebrity’.
• No Classical. (It’s Summer. No Vivaldis allowed.)
• Keep it varied and interesting. I like to use a lot of different bands people may not have heard of to push my musical tastes… BUT keep in mind Rule 4 especially if you like Indie music.
• The songs should mesh well together and/or ebb and flow into more intense choices. Summer Jams 2007 included the full theme to Cowboy Bebop (intense acid jazz) but it built up into it and then gradually mellowed again afterwards. (This was a bold choice that i’m still unsure about regardless of the rule.) 

I’ll be posting some of the playlists I could find of past Summer Jams throughout the week. With the idea of making them downloadable for your enjoyment. This will all culminate with the new 2010 version.

That being said. Who’s got some suggestions for Summer 2010?