Did you ever find yourself turning certain songs off in the summer time, or just not feeling a song you cranked from March to October once the temperature started dropping rapidly? Maybe some songs, as good as they are were meant to be heard during a certain time frame, within a certain set of circumstances or only when the timing is just right?
The Alice In Chains Jar Of Flies EP. It’s a masterpiece from beginning to end. Acoustic and raw, Layne Staley’s pain and Jerry Cantrell’s frustration is laid out candidly for the entire world to feel. I remember when it came out, January of 1994. 10th grade for me. Belonging to a staunch grunge and metal crowd, I can remember many of my friends dismissing the effort is “lame” and “weak” because it lacked intense riffs that we grew to love from the band on Dirt and Facelift. Whether I agreed or not, I did shy away from Jar Of Flies for a few months.
Then school ended. Then pool parties started happening and hanging out down by the Blue Point fishing pier. Summer nights at 16, no matter what you were doing, can usually be defined by what was in your discman in the 90’s. Somehow that Jar Of Flies album made its way back into our field of interest.
There is a distinct bassline in “Rotten Apple”, the opening track that’s quietly commanding. You can almost see that finger curling and telling you to “come here”. Maybe you didnt instantly turn around but as Mike Inez continues to pluck those four bass strings over and over, the words of whoever was talking to you slowly faded out of earshot as you got lost inside an incredible six minute, mostly acoustic jam.
With the waves crashing onto the sand, the stars shining, and the heat dropping to a level that requires a light hoodie, there was something about that song, and that album that just SCREAMED “summer”.
Do you have certain go to songs and albums for the summer months? Why do YOU think some songs sound better when the weather is warmest?