Bananarama's 'Cruel Summer' Named 14th Best Summer Song by Rolling Stone

40 years before Taylor Swift declared it was a "Cruel Summer" in 2023, British pop girl group Bananarama did so with their 1983 hit of the same name. The dark synth pop smash hit just ranked No. 14 on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest summer songs of all time.

After reaching modest success on the U.K. charts and an appearance on BBC's Top of the Pops, "Cruel Summer" soared to international popularity following its appearance in The Karate Kid in 1984. This led to the song's peak at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song plays during a montage where Daniel, played by Ralph Macchio, tries — and fails — to fit in with the cool SoCal kids after moving across the country from New Jersey. A cruel summer indeed.

The song's lyrics lament the brutal, humid heat of a city summer. Bananarama members Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward wrote the lyrics about their native London, per American Songwriter. With lines like the "hot summer streets and the pavements are burning" and "the air is so heavy and dry," they accurately summed up the misery attached to what's supposed to be the most enjoyable season of the year.

While London served as the inspiration for "Cruel Summer," the music video takes place in a different, miserably hot city: New York. And right in the middle of a brutal heatwave, to boot.

"The 'Cruel Summer' video was just an excuse to get us to the fabled city of New York for the first time," Fahey said in the book I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution. "It was August, over 100 degrees. Our HQ was a tavern under the Brooklyn Bridge, which had a ladies' toilet with a chipped mirror where we had to do our makeup." Sounds cruel and miserable, alright.

source https://www.mensjournal.com/news/1983-dark-pop-smash-ranked-among-best-summer-songs-of-all-time