The Best Summer Song, Bar None

Alyssa Rosenberg is older than me. So maybe that’s why she has fond memories of Will Smith’s “Summertime.” Sure, it’s a good enough track, and one that looks a whole lot better in comparison to his later works, but is it really the best song “about June, July and August?” Maybe this is California homerism, but Sublime’s version of George Gershwins’s Summertime is my favorite between-memorial-and-labor-day tribute:

Now here’s the real question, had Bradley Houser not succumbed to drugs, would Sublime have followed the career trajectory of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, or would they just be another forgotten 90s band, desperate to show up on Gossip Girl with Rufus Humphrey?