At 12:41 PM 6/28/2003 -0700, Jocelyn Geboy wrote:
>"Rock the Boat," The Hues Corporation (1974)

This is the earliest of these songs that I have conscious memories of, and
they're right: I remember this song being absolutely everywhere in the
summer of '74.

They missed '76, which was the summer of both "Afternoon Delight" and
"Rhinestone Cowboy."

>"Eye of the Tiger," Survivor (1982)

Good god, yes.  Every hour on the hour.  Even more irritatingly
omnipresent: Steve Miller's "Abracadabra" and Toto's "Rosanna."

>"Every Breath You Take," The Police (1983)

A song that I always thought was just slightly less irritating than "Eye of
the Tiger," actually.  This was also the summer of "The Safety Dance" and
"Sweet Dreams Are Made of This," as well as, god help us all, Michael
Sembello's "Maniac," which I think must have been playing 24 hours a day on
some stations.

>"When Doves Cry," Prince (1984)

This was still in the midst of Cyndi Lauper's string of singles off SHE'S
SO UNUSUAL (an album I still really like, dated though it is) -- and
seriously, how many singles were on Huey Lewis and the News' SPORTS???  I
swear, I bet three-quarters of that album was eventually released on 45!

>"Hot in Herre," Nelly (2002) 

The song I kept hearing on the radio last summer was Sheryl Crow's "Soak Up
the Sun."  I will always associate this song with my honeymoon, because
that was right when this song broke through big.  We spent one entire
afternoon and evening walking around Toronto with snatches of this song in
the background of seemingly every single shop and restaurant we were in --
and when we were back in town for the film festival three months later, it
was STILL everywhere!  As for Nelly's song...I liked it better when I was a
kid and it was called "Bustin' Loose" by Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers.

S

NP: BRING 'EM IN -- Mando Diao