Summer Girls

For other uses, see Summer Girl (disambiguation).
"Summer Girls"
Single by LFO
from the album LFO
Released June 29, 1999
Format CD
Recorded 1998
Genre Pop-rap
Length 4:17
Label Arista
Writer(s) Rich Cronin
Dow Brain
Brad Young
Producer(s) Dow Brain
Brad Young
LFO singles chronology
"Sex U Up (The Way You Like It)"
(1999)		 "Summer Girls"
(1999)		 "Girl on TV"
(1999)

"Summer Girls" is a song recorded by the pop group LFO. It was released in June 1999 as the lead single from their album, LFO. The song reached the Top 30 in the US in July 1999 and peaked at number three in August 1999.

Background and content

The song was written by Rich Cronin, Dow Brain, and Brad Young. Cronin said that the song included numerous inside jokes,[1] and that he never anticipated its success. He claimed this was because the song was made strictly for a demo tape, but was leaked to WWZZ, a top 40 radio station in Washington, D.C..[1] PD Dale O'Brien at the radio staton got an unmixed copy of the song from Kelly Schweinsberg, GM of LFO's initial label, Logic Records. He listened to it a few days later, his "jaw dropped, and the song was added in a hot second."[2] Many of the song's rhyming lines appear to be randomly inserted. The formula often consists of writing a line about Cronin's summer relationship with a girl and following it with a non sequitur that rhymes, similar in fashion to "The Thanksgiving Song" by Adam Sandler. It is considered the most popular song by the boy band.

"Summer Girls" is often identified by one of the lines in the chorus: "I like girls that wear Abercrombie and Fitch"[3] and "You look like a girl from Abercrombie and Fitch."[4] The song was also featured in the movie Longshot, in which LFO appeared.

The song has myriad of primarily 1980s and early 1990s cultural references, including: Cherry Coke, Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone, Alex P. Keaton, New Edition, Kevin Bacon in Footloose, New Kids on the Block, Beastie Boys, Larry Bird, William Shakespeare, Abercrombie and Fitch, Michael J Fox, Cherry Pez, "Paul Revere", Mr. Limpet, Chinese Food, pogo sticks, Candy Girl, The Color Purple, Boogaloo Shrimp, and Fun Dip.

Music video

The music video was directed by Marcus Raboy and was released on July 20, 1999.

In popular culture

Rapper Eminem parodied the song's chorus in his track, "Marshall Mathers", from his 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP.

"Summer Girls" was certified Platinum by RIAA[5] and reached the number-one position on the Billboard Hot Single Sales in 1999. In 2010 Billboard magazine named it the number sixteenth biggest summer song of all-time.[6] However, Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio ranked the song at #53 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, stating that "Stream-of-consciousness writing might be better off left to slightly deeper thinkers."[7]

Track listing

US single
  1. "Summer Girls" – 4:17
  2. "Summer Girls" (instrumental) – 4:17
  3. "Can't Have You" – 4:02
European single
  1. "Summer Girls" – 4:17
  2. "Summer Girls" (instrumental) – 4:17
  3. "Summer Girls" (video) – 4:17

Charts

Peak positions

Chart (1999) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[8] 71
Canada Top Singles (RPM) 18
Germany (Media Control Charts)[9] 56
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[10] 79
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[11] 14
Scotland (Official Charts Company)[12] 26
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[13] 36
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[14] 16
US Billboard Hot 100 3

Year-end charts

Chart (1999) Position
US Billboard Hot 100[15] 38

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Raman, Sheela (2005-07-07). "Rich Cronin's comeback Six years after 'Summer Girls,' the leader of LFO battles leukemia". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2009-01-09. "I just thought back to when I was young, happy, no worries," he says. 'Summer Girls' was all about a summer on the Cape. Inside jokes. I never thought that anyone besides my close friends would ever hear it." But the song was leaked to a radio station and climbed Billboard charts.
  2. ↑ Billboard, August 7, 1999
  3. ↑ ""I like girls that wear Abercrombie and Fitch" search result from Google".
  4. ↑ ""You look like a girl from Abercrombie and Fitch" search results on Google".
  5. ↑ RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - LFO singles. RIAA.com
  6. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/articles/list/513566/top-30-summer-songs
  7. ↑ Wilkening, Matthew (September 11, 2010). "100 Worst Songs Ever -- Part Three of Five". AOL Radio. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
  8. ↑ "Australian-charts.com – LFO – Summer Girls". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  9. ↑ "Chartverfulgong > LFO > Summer Girls – musicline.de" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
  10. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – LFO – Summer Girls" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  11. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – LFO – Summer Girls". Top 40 Singles.
  12. ↑ "Archive Chart: 1999-09-18". Scottish Singles Top 40.
  13. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – LFO – Summer Girls". Singles Top 60.
  14. ↑ "Archive Chart: 1999-09-18" UK Singles Chart.
  15. ↑ "Billboard Top 100 - 1999". Retrieved 2010-08-28.