“Damn Good”
by David Lee Roth
from the album Skyscraper
1988
Buy the album on Amazon

Growing up, I was all about country and easy listening music because those were the only two radio stations I could reliably pick up with my clock radio (R.I.P. WSIX 98.6 and Easy 93).  When I heard friends talking about Huey Lewis and the News, I thought he was an anchor on channel 13.  Men At Work became “Minute Work” which I interpreted as some kind of scholastic study method (I was a weird kid).  Eventually though, we got MTV.  Although I missed out on a lot pop music as it was happening, I quickly caught up.

One of the first pop cassettes I bought for myself was David Lee Roth’s Skyscraper and I’m not ashamed to say that I absolutely adore it.  I must have listened to that whole album a thousand times, although It took me a while to make the entire loop,  I’d get hooked on a song, play it through and then quickly rewind and listen again.  I became an expert in knowing just how long to keep the button down so that the track was queued perfectly.  I can feel the vibration of my Panasonic boom box (with Ambience™) rewinding right now.  “Just Like Paradise” and “Stand Up” were perfect singles.  “Hina” was just a bizarrely amazing and beautiful song (it’s also a perfect night song).  But the song that encapsulates a summer song for me is “Damn Good.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mIP7ySBXBg

“Damn Good” is a late summer song for me.  It’s the closing number on the summer soundtrack, recounting all the fun you had the previous three months.  Or the previous three decades. It’s sitting on a front porch, sharing a laugh with your buddies while watching fireflies lighting up the yard.