Summer Madness (instrumental) explained

Summer Madness
A-Side:	"Spirit of the Boogie" (Nor. Am.)
Type:	single
Artist:	Kool & The Gang
Album:	Light of Worlds
Released:	September 1974
Recorded:	1974
Length:	4:16
Label:	De-Lite
Prev Title:	Spirit of the Boogie
Prev Year:	1975
Next Title:	Caribbean Festival
Next Year:	1975

"Summer Madness" is a song by American by R&B band Kool & the Gang, released on their 1974 album Light of Worlds. It reached number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 36 on the Hot Soul Singles charts.^[1] It has subsequently become one of the most sampled R&B compositions of all time, and was re-released and reissued as a CD and cassette single by Epic Records in 1996.^{[2] [3]} As of 2018, over 145 recordings had sampled it.^[3]

Composition

The song's most recognizable aural signature is the 4-octave ascent from F₃ to F₇ on an ARP 2600 played by Ronald Bell.^[4]

In popular culture

"Summer Madness" has been used in various media, and has been prominently used as a sample in many pieces of hip-hop music since the 1980s. Notable uses of the song in media include:

• It appears in background of a scene in the 1976 film Rocky.^[5]
• The track was sampled in the 1996 song "A Girl Like You", as performed by Aaliyah and Treach, from the former's second album One in a Million.^[6]
• It is used in a 2006 Nike shoe commercial featuring LeBron James.^{[7] [8]}
• It appears in the first season second episode "Hooper" of the 2021 Netflix series Last Chance U: Basketball.^[9]
• American psychedelic band Khruangbin covered the track on their 2020 remix album .^[10]

Charts

Chart (1975)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100^[11]	35
US Cashbox Top 100^[12]	27
US Record World Singles Chart^[13]	34

Notes and References

1. Web site: Breaks With Tradition: Kool & The Gang's "Summer Madness". September 17, 2018.
2. Web site: Summer Madness by Kool & the Gang – Songfacts. www.songfacts.com.
3. Web site: Five Hip Hop Tracks That Sampled Kool & The Gang's Summer Madness. future-classic-music.
4. Cox, Arnie. Music and Embodied Cognition: Listening, Moving, Feeling, and Thinking. United States, Indiana University Press, 2016. 55.
5. Web site: Kool and the Gang – History. Kool and the Gang Official Site. Red Light Management. December 9, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151209085655/http://koolandthegang.com/history/. December 9, 2015.
6. Web site: The 25 Best Aaliyah Songs. Complex. 27 August 2021. 19 July 2022.
7. Web site: Audio clip from a 2006 LeBron James Nike commercial has TikTok thinking. The Daily Dot. Audra. Schroeder. June 25, 2021. November 21, 2024.
8. Web site: Nike - The LeBrons Poolside. SplendAd. November 21, 2024.
9. Web site: Every Song In Last Chance U: Basketball Season 1. Screen Rant. Quinn. Hough. March 11, 2021. November 21, 2024.
10. Kreps . Daniel . 2020-10-28 . Hear Khruangbin Cover Kool and the Gang's 'Summer Madness' for 'Late Night Tales' Mix . 2020-11-01 . Rolling Stone.
11. Kool & the Gang: Hot 100. Billboard.
12. Web site: Cash Box Chart Entries 1970-1979. popmusichistory. October 5, 2023.
13. Web site: Record World Singles Chart: July 5, 1975. October 5, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230922151255/https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/75/RW-1975-07-05.pdf. September 22, 2023. live.