50 Best Rock Songs About Summer

Best Rock Tracks That Feel Like Endless Summer

There’s a strange kind of haze that hangs over summer. Not the kind you can photograph, but the one that hits when the heat blurs the edges of days and nights until they bleed into each other. You’re half-sunburned, half-bored, blasting music through half-dead speakers that make the guitars sound even dirtier. The right song turns the air heavier, like the moment before a thunderstorm or the start of something that won’t last long enough. Some tracks were made for this season, and others stumble into it by accident, but they all catch the same feverish pulse that keeps everyone outside too long.

Rock songs tend to stretch that feeling until it snaps. There’s sweat in the riffs, grit in the vocals, and a kind of chaos that feels earned. Some are wild and defiant, others sound like a hangover at sunset when the beach empties out and you realize the day’s gone. Not every song literally talks about summer, but they still hit that mood—the mix of warmth, restlessness, and low-grade heartbreak hiding under the tan. They share something with those pop, rock, country, and R&B songs that cling to a season and make it feel endless even when it’s fading fast.

It’s not all surfboards and open roads. Some tracks drag through humid nights, headlights cutting through static, sweat drying on your neck while the chorus hits. Others spark like lighters in a crowd when everyone’s too tired to care how they sound. These are the ones that bottle the feeling of summer at its weirdest and loudest. Here are the best rock songs for summer.

1. 'Summer of '69' by Bryan Adams

2. 'School's Out' by Alice Cooper

3. 'Rockaway Beach' by Ramones

4. 'The Boys of Summer' by Don Henley

5. 'Summertime Blues' by Eddie Cochran

6. 'Summer in the City' by The Lovin' Spoonful

7. 'Walkin' on the Sun' by Smash Mouth

8. 'Hot Fun in the Summertime' by Sly & The Family Stone

9. 'Dancing Days' by Led Zeppelin

10. 'Summertime Rolls' by Jane's Addiction

11. 'Good Day Sunshine' by The Beatles

12. 'Island in the Sun' by Weezer

13. 'Vacation' by The Go-Go's

14. 'California Girls' by David Lee Roth

15. 'Summertime Girls' by Y&T

16. 'Surfin' U.S.A.' by The Beach Boys

17. 'Suddenly Last Summer' by The Motels

18. 'Summer Breeze' by Seals and Crofts

19. 'A Summer Song' by Chad & Jeremy

20. 'Sunny Afternoon' by The Kinks

21. 'Summer Time' by The Sundays

22. 'Long Hot Summer Night' by The Jimi Hendrix Experience

23. 'Cruel Summer' by Bananarama

24. 'All Summer Long' by The Beach Boys

25. 'Wipe Out' by The Surfaris

26. 'Surf City' by Jan and Dean

27. 'Summertime Sadness' by Lana Del Rey

28. 'California Sun' by The Rivieras

29. 'Dancin’ in the Moonlight' by Thin Lizzy

30. 'Heat Wave' by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas

31. 'In The Summer Time' by Mungo Jerry

32. 'Endless Summer Nights' by Richard Marx

33. 'Here Comes the Sun' by The Beatles

34. 'The Other Side of Summer' by Elvis Costello

35. 'Blister in the Sun' by Violent Femmes

36. 'Hot Hot Hot' by Arrow

37. 'Too Much Time on My Hands' by Styx

38. 'Surfin' Safari' by The Beach Boys

39. 'Summer Girls' by LFO

40. 'Saturday in the Park' by Chicago

41. 'Summer Love' by Justin Timberlake

42. 'Feels Like Summer' by Weezer

43. 'American Summer' by Lilium

44. 'Summertime Clothes' by Animal Collective

45. 'California Dreamin'' by The Mamas & the Papas

46. 'Cheeseburger in Paradise' by Jimmy Buffett

47. 'Groovin'' by The Young Rascals

48. 'Roadhouse Blues' by The Doors

49. 'Sweet Caroline' by Neil Diamond

50. 'Take It Easy' by Eagles