Summer has finally arrived in Oregon, and to celebrate, I’ve put together a couple of summer playlists. This first one is an uptempo mix, with some fun mash-ups (courtesy of my sister Katie) and a few other classics mixed in.

tracklist

• 1. The Bravery – Swollen Summer
• 2. Divide & Kreate – Crazy in the Deep (Gnarls Barkley vs. Adele)
• 3. DJ Morgoth – Ace of Spades Feels Good (Motorhead vs. Gorillaz)
• 4. Young the Giant – My Body
• 5. Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky
• 6. New Radicals – You Get What You Give
• 7. Portugal the Man – People Say
• 8. Los Campesinos – You, Me , Dancing
• 9. Plastic Bertrand – Ca Plane Pour Moi
• 10. Sly & the Family Stone – I Wanna Take You Higher
• 11. Rare Earth – I Just Wanna Celebrate (Motown Remix)
• 12. De La Soul – A Roller Skating Jam Called Saturdays
• 13. Go Home Productions – Mick ‘n’ Carly (Rolling Stones vs. Carly Simon)
• 14. Weezer – Island in the Sun
• 15. Chad & Jeremy – A Summer Song

I was trying to make a playlist of my favorite uptempo songs whose primary elements were drums and guitar, and I realized that more than half my list came from the 70′s, more or less. So the hell with it, I thought, I’ll just make a playlist of those songs. All of these songs came out between 1968 and 1978 (if wikipedia is to be believed).

I know that many of you will complain that these songs are obvious. Well, duh. There’s a reason that awesome songs are awesome; it’s because they’re awesome, and generally speaking, awesome songs become well-known. My goal was to make a playlist of songs that would each, under normal circumstances, make people at a party stop talking for just a moment and say, “Hey, I love that song.” I was really tempted to throw “Suffragette City” by David Bowie on there, but I decided that it didn’t rock quite hard enough.

As I compiled my original list, which included some current artists, I found some connections between the songs. I suppose that’s to be expected. I like certain kinds of music, so it’s natural that I would gravitate towards that style, no matter when the music was originally made. I find the progression from The Ramones to The Hives, or from Led Zeppelin to The Bravery (the song Swollen Summer, in particular) to be really interesting. I’m not saying these bands are all equal in the pantheon of rock and roll history, but it’s fun to hear how modern bands use their influences to make new sounds.

tracklist
• 1. MC5 – Kick out the Jams
• 2. Led Zeppelin – Rock and Roll
• 3. Iggy Pop – Lust for Life
• 4. The Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop
• 5. Misfits – Last Caress
• 6. The Stooges – Search and Destroy
• 7. The Beatles – Revolution
• 8. Jimi Hendrix – Voodoo Child
• 9. Queen – We Will Rock You
• 10. ZZ Top – Tush