(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUMMERTIME")
DJ JAZZY JEFF & THE FRESH PRINCE: (Singing) Ah.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
It's the first day of summer. Here come the beach trips, the cookouts and those ubiquitous summertime songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUMMERTIME")
DJ JAZZY JEFF & THE FRESH PRINCE: (Rapping) Summertime.
LAVETTE GOODMAN: (Singing) Summer, summer, summertime.
DJ JAZZY JEFF & THE FRESH PRINCE: (Rapping) Summertime. Summertime.
RASCOE: For every banger that gives summer its party vibe, there are just as many songs that we may never want to hear again.
(SOUNDBITE OF VENGABOYS SONG, "WE LIKE TO PARTY! (THE VENGABUS)")
RASCOE: Everyone has that one song that was annoying the first time you heard it and becomes unbearable the millionth time you hear it. Stephen Thompson, co-host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, has one or two or three to talk about, and he joins me now. Welcome.
STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE: Oh, Ayesha, it is so good to be here and to bring a little bit of negativity...
RASCOE: Yes (laughter).
THOMPSON: ...To your otherwise sunny, beautiful summer day.
RASCOE: Yes. Yes. Yes. So what song makes you kind of want to go running screaming from the room, even though it's a summer staple?
THOMPSON: Well, the first one that sprung to mind - because my immediate reaction is usually the song of the summer is a song that I can embrace on...
RASCOE: Yes.
THOMPSON: ...Some level. But every once in a while, there's one that just gets its hooks into you in exactly the wrong way. And for me, that song is by a group called Glass Animals.
RASCOE: OK.
THOMPSON: The song is called "Heat Waves."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEAT WAVES")
GLASS ANIMALS: (Singing) Sometimes all I think about is you, late nights in the middle of June. Heat waves been faking me out.
THOMPSON: OK. First of all, very summery song...
RASCOE: Yeah. Summery song. Yes.
THOMPSON: ...Called "Heat Waves."
RASCOE: Yes.
THOMPSON: Naturally, radio stations...
RASCOE: Yes.
THOMPSON: ...Took to it and played it 400 million billion...
RASCOE: Yes.
THOMPSON: ...Trillion...
RASCOE: Yeah. You definitely...
THOMPSON: ...Octillion times.
RASCOE: ...Could not escape it. Yes.
THOMPSON: And it was, like, setting chart records just for longevity.
RASCOE: Yes.
THOMPSON: So this was a song that really took advantage of the changing nature of pop radio where pop radio, in reaction to streaming, created this doom loop where songs just never left the charts. This song was on the Billboard Hot 100 for something like 90 weeks, 91 weeks - something like that. And it just never left. I still hear it on the radio. The fact that we just played it made me angry.
RASCOE: OK (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEAT WAVES")
GLASS ANIMALS: (Singing) Heat waves been faking me out. Can't make you happier now. You can't fight it.
RASCOE: Well, in general - so a good summer song creates, you know - or I guess all summer songs may create this reaction where some people just want to live and die inside the track while others are like, get me away from this horrible thing.
THOMPSON: Yeah. Absolutely. And sometimes, you know, that summer song that is incredibly annoying to one person, I will still, you know, almost 15 years later...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CALL ME MAYBE")
CARLY RAE JEPSEN: (Singing) Where you think you're going, baby? Hey, I just met you. And this is crazy. But here's my number. So call me, maybe.
THOMPSON: Anytime "Call Me Maybe" by...
RASCOE: Yes.
THOMPSON: ...Carly Rae Jepsen comes on, I'm thrilled. And it's like - and it's - I'm like a goldfish. I've...
RASCOE: Yes.
THOMPSON: ...Completely forgotten that I've ever heard it before.
RASCOE: Yeah.
THOMPSON: And every time I hear it, I'm hearing it for the first time. I'm like, ee, Carly Rae Jepsen.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
THOMPSON: And so - but I'm sure there are people listening to this right now who are like, what is wrong with him?
RASCOE: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: Yeah. Well, what makes a song of the summer catchy?
THOMPSON: Well, I think that in order to be a song of the summer, it has to have reached a level of ubiquity where radio stations have embraced it. People have embraced it on streaming. You'll hear it at the grocery store. You'll hear it at the cookout. You'll hear it at the pool. You'll hear it out of the rolled-down windows of cars driving by. And so in order to reach that level of ubiquity, there usually has to be something innately extremely catchy about...
RASCOE: Well...
THOMPSON: ...The song.
RASCOE: Yeah. Yeah.
THOMPSON: The song has to sort of insist upon itself.
RASCOE: Well, what's another song that really caught on with a lot of people for the summer but did not catch on with you?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DYNAMITE")
TAIO CRUZ: (Rapping) I came to dance, dance, dance, dance. Yeah. I hit the floor 'cause that's...
THOMPSON: I'm going to go with the song "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DYNAMITE")
CRUZ: (Rapping) Yeah. I'm wearing all my favorite brands, brands, brands, brands. Yeah.
RASCOE: Oh, yeah. My kids love this. Yes.
THOMPSON: It's super catchy.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
THOMPSON: But it is also the site of my experiencing my own obsolescence.
RASCOE: OK.
THOMPSON: I'll explain. I was at a bus stop with my son when he was - you know, when this song came out, you know, he would have probably been maybe 9 years old, something like that. And, you know, I was, like, singing the song because it's super catchy. It was...
RASCOE: Yes.
THOMPSON: ...Stuck in my head.
RASCOE: Yeah.
THOMPSON: And I'm just like - you know, I'm not a big Black Eyed Peas fan, but, you know, this song's pretty catchy. And he just looks, and he just gives me this withering stare. And he's like, Dad, that's Taio Cruz.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
THOMPSON: And...
(LAUGHTER)
CRUZ: (Singing) Dynamite. 'Cause I told you once. Now I told you twice.
RASCOE: Well, how do you get an earworm out of your head? I'm sure you probably...
THOMPSON: Oh, boy.
RASCOE: ...Heard this a lot. Like...
THOMPSON: Yeah.
RASCOE: Do you have to, like, sniff coffee beans...
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
RASCOE: ...Like, to reset your sense of smell, or what?
THOMPSON: Very often, I will just try to kind - you know, kind of - not do exposure therapy where I'm exposing myself to the song that is stuck in my head, but I'll just find another earworm.
RASCOE: Yeah. OK.
THOMPSON: Sometimes it's just, like, I just need it to not be "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals.
RASCOE: OK.
THOMPSON: It might as well be the Vengaboys.
RASCOE: OK.
THOMPSON: It might...
RASCOE: (Laughter).
THOMPSON: ...As well be "Who Let The Dogs Out?"
RASCOE: OK.
THOMPSON: I don't...
RASCOE: Yes.
THOMPSON: I - it can be "We Built This City" by Starship. Like...
RASCOE: OK.
THOMPSON: Often, when a song is stuck in my head, I'll often treat it by just crowding it out with something else.
RASCOE: OK.
THOMPSON: And hopefully, just the kind of slurry of earworms will just kind of kick them all out eventually.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WE BUILT THIS CITY")
STARSHIP: (Singing) We built this city. We built this city on rock and roll. Built this city.
RASCOE: That's Stephen Thompson, co-host of the NPR podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour. Thank you, Stephen.
THOMPSON: Thank you, Ayesha.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WE BUILT THIS CITY")
STARSHIP: (Singing) Roll. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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