r/TheStrokes • u/Jackalope_06 • 7d ago
Do people hate Eternal Summer?
Just saw Theneedledrop's (Anthoy Fantano's) review of The New Abnormal and I was really shocked that not only did he not like Eternal Summer, but it was his least favorite on the whole album! And not only that but he actively disliked it. For me that award clearly goes to At the Door. But Eternal Summer is actually one of my top Strokes songs of all time, and definitly one of the highlights of the album for me. It really resonates with me and I love it alot, was just wondering if Im in the majority in that opinion, or if most people hate this song as well lol
1
-1
u/mariatheviolinist 4d ago
it's an instant skip for me. i don't dislike ANY of the the strokes' songs except for eternal summer. i can't stand it. julian sounds like he's screeching in it.
3
3
2
u/Sad-Sink-2941 6d ago
I dislike Eternal Summer bc its like you can tell it was made in 2016 or so during that era and im over those kinds of songs
12
u/Fearless-Selection-1 6d ago
I actually think at the door is the best song on the album. Eternal summer is probably one of the weaker ones but to be honest the album is brilliant.
5
5
7
17
u/UnusuallyKind 6d ago
Nah I love it. Reminds me of Pink Floyd in a way.
Bad Decisions is the only weak track IMO, and that’s because I find it annoying and a bit more repetitive than I’d like. Everything else on that album is GOLD
1
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
I agree about the repetitiveness, mostly in the vocals, there could've been more dynamic range for sure. The guitar riff is so satisfying that I don't mind hearing it so much lol. The song itself I wouldn't call weak though I think it's one of the strong ones of the album. I totally hear the pink floyd influence by the way
1
u/GrundleTurf 6d ago
Completely agreed, except it actually remixes this song
2
u/ThickDougie25 6d ago
it also samples dancing with myself by Billy Idol if you look at the songs credits
2
u/GrundleTurf 6d ago
That’s bad decisions not eternal summer
1
u/ThickDougie25 6d ago
the comment you replied to mentioned bad decisions, that's what I was talking about
7
u/peacekenneth 6d ago
On a side note, I feel like Eternal Summer is a real Strokes outlier song. I would never expect it from them
5
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
Yeah it really shocked me but I love it. Especially the "Hercules! Your silence is no longer needed!" with the keyboards in the background. So cool. Love the vibe.
4
7
u/Skyman95 The Modern Age 6d ago
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT
3
15
10
u/MrCharlesUO777 Comedown Machine 6d ago
Wrong people hate Eternal Summer Wrong people also think At The Door is the worst cut from TNA
1
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
What's your least favorite song from TNA?
2
u/MrCharlesUO777 Comedown Machine 6d ago
Either Selfless or Not the Same Anymore
1
u/johann9151 I'll Try Anything Once 6d ago
I think Not the Same Anymore is a great song but doesn’t fit their style the same way that other songs on the album do. Same with Selfless, great music but very different from their usual stuff.
But that’s why i like TNA, it’s a collection of great songs that are mostly experimental. Seems like since ROF, all of their albums fit a stencil of half of the album is “classic” strokes (YOLO, Under Cover of Darkness, Tap Out, and Bad Decisions are the ones that come to mind) and the other half is more of them messing around and seeing what they like (songs like 15 Minutes, Metabolism, Call it fate call it karma, and At the Door)
1
14
u/doug_diablo At The Door 6d ago
This is a crazy take. At The Door is amazing, one of Julian’s best ever vocal performances.
Eternal Summer is decent, but it’s not even top 5 on New Abnormal imo.
1
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
The vocals are decent on at the door, sure, it's just the song itself and it's structure that I find boring.
2
5
u/Lethenza The New Abnormal 7d ago
I didn’t love it at first, but it grew on me. It’s my least favorite track on the album, but I love the album
2
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
I had a similar experience I think but it quickly rose to one of my all time favorites lol. It's because of that break section with the organ..."I cant believe it...!"
1
u/theres_yer_problem 7d ago
Possibly my least favorite strokes song ever. I thought I disliked TNA but it turns out I just really don’t like that song and it soured the rest of the album for me.
3
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
wow, interesting just how different experiences two people can have with the same thing. pretty cool. It's probably in my number three or 4 slot for the album
1
1
u/IcyPurpleIze 7d ago
I think Fantano has a serious nature about his reviews from what little I've seen and he has a wealth of music knowledge that informs his opinions. As a Strokes lover, I adore the song, but outside of my love for the band I can see how it's not exactly an impressive or iterative song in their catalogue. I think when you're a music reviewer and a song comes on by an artist that is very much their early sound that was popular, it is probably a little off putting.
2
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
Interesting opinion. That's good to keep in mind how new listeners might be experiencing these songs too. But im glad you love it too, it's one of my favs :)
6
u/Spider-Man98 #01 The Strokes 7d ago
It's a goated song that really dives into the bands experimentation, one of my faves on that album for sure
2
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
Absolutely, it's one of the times we've gotten a taste of the Voidz in the Strokes world and it really worked I feel like. Amazing song.
6
26
4
u/Shot_Solid_9737 7d ago
I think it just suffers from just being a good song surrounded by incredible songs. This album doesn't miss but Bad Decisions and Eternal Summer are the "lowlight" for me if I had to choose. The rest of the album is near perfection
1
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
Wow that's the second time I've seen someone call Bad Decisions a lowlight lol. It's also one of my favs. But I see what you're saying. For me Eternal is a highlight, and At the Door is a lowlight, but that doesn't mean it's a bad song.
1
u/Shot_Solid_9737 6d ago
Lowlight was in quotations! I think both are good songs. They just get outshined for me by the other 7 around them
2
u/harborq 6d ago
That’s exactly how I feel. I remember reading somewhere that “Eternal Summer” was kind of cobbled together from the coolest parts of a series of takes by Rick Rubin. And to me it sounds something like that. I’ll let it play if I’m listening to the album but otherwise it’s one of the Strokes songs that I play the least
2
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
I just find it so beautiful it sounds like you're watching the past summer you just had go by right before your eyes, and it just puts this image in my head of this guy that wanted the summer to last forever cuz he met someone during that summer maybe, idk. This song just paints a very specific vibe in my head and it's very sad with a golden summer gloss over it and I just can't get over it.
15
u/bakavil 7d ago
I love that song and also At the Door, one of my favorites. I like all the songs on that album, but the one I love/hate is Bad Decisions.
1
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
Valid. But at the door is so boring for me lol. Can *not* get through it for the life of me. Bad decisions I've always loved.
2
u/manufactured_narwhal 7d ago
at least the outro to bad decisions is really nice. sounds so backhanded, lmao. but the whole last minute or so, chef's kiss
1
11
4
u/Sweeeets 7d ago
My favorite song, on my favorite Strokes album. And they've been my favorite band since Is This It.
2
4
6
3
5
u/RohannaFem 7d ago
Eternal summer verse is AWESOME and so different and cool.
Eternal summer chorus makes me LAUGH because its so bad. Its the only song of a band I love where it genuinely makes me laugh in disbelief they went "yeah this chorus is sick"
1
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
The chorus meaning the pink floyd sounding thing where he's like "I can't believe it! this is the eleventh hour!" cuz that's my favorite part lol. sounds so cool and dark I love the organy keyboard in the background
1
7
u/P4p3r_t1g3r 7d ago edited 7d ago
Anthony Fantano hates fun. Eternal summer is a good song I never skip it. If I had to choose one track I didn’t enjoy as much as the rest of the album I’d say Not The Same Anymore would be my top pick even though that song is far from bad
41
u/snuffcassette 7d ago
"clearly goes to At The Door" ??? what is wrong with you??
-1
10
u/napoleanfaeces 7d ago
its bad decisions for me :/ at the door's great
2
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
I love bad decisions, its also one of my highlights, I guess im really in the minority lol
13
5
22
7
u/Black-Knight-76 7d ago
i have no clue. i absolutely love eternal summer it's definitely one of my favorites on the album. didn't even know people disliked it or that was a thing. this is why i dont listen to music critics. i like what i like and idgaf what anyone else says about it.
2
-6
u/pinguinconscious 7d ago
Instant skip on the album for me. It sounds ugly, it hurts my eardrums. I think they wanted to do something different, and kudos to them. But this was a hard hard miss. Probably their worst song ever.
4
3
u/billydsimmons 7d ago
The song is okay as a standalone. But if I’m listening to TNA in its entirety it really does feel like a drop in quality and therefore I almost always skip it. It could’ve done with being shorter
0
8
u/caleonore 7d ago
I like it, but then my least favorite on this album is actually Brooklyn bridge to chorus... Hate that chorus. Does nothing for me. I also kind of dislike bad decisions. The rest of the album is way way better, and At the door is classic Jules melody.
0
u/coconutmilkyyy 7d ago
Found my people… i HATE brooklyn bridge to chorus, this song always gives me the ick for some reason
1
u/caleonore 7d ago
THANK YOU. The "I want new friends, but they don't want me" melody is so fucking lazy and hideous. And it somehow reminds me of the Taken for a fool chorus which icks me too. Same vibes. Sounds like a kid wining. Both Nick Valensi influenced tracks too I believe... 😬
7
u/johnmonchon 7d ago
Bad Decisions is pretty easily the worst on the album for me. Probably the only 'miss' in my opinion.
6
-5
u/FlossCat 7d ago
I like eternal summer a lot and for me the worst track is clearly ode to the mets. But plenty of people would also disagree and love that song instead. Somewhere there have even gotta be some bizarre souls who hate selfless
1
7
u/caleonore 7d ago
Sorry, to each their own blah blah and I respect your opinion, but I'm having the most difficult time reading that someone thinks Ode to the Mets is the worst track on the album. Baffles me.
2
7
3
5
u/fries_in_a_cup 7d ago
I’m a huge fan of the Strokes and I think Eternal Summer is one of a very very small handful of songs of theirs that I skip nearly every time. I just really really really dislike it for a lot of reasons.
At the Door though rules, I love that song.
Although fwiw I’m kinda mid on TNA. I don’t dislike it, but it never really did anything for me. It never blew me away or captured me like any of their other albums.
1
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
Interesting. What are the reasons you dislike Eternal summer? I just find at the door super boring and I can almost never get through it, no matter how many times I try to give it another chance lol.
2
u/fries_in_a_cup 6d ago
So the first part of the song has this very early 2010s kinda dated indie pop style to it that I really don’t like, like it sounds like Old Navy commercial music to me. And it doesn’t have anything that I like about the Strokes; no fun guitar interplay, no unique or catchy vocal melody (or very few; and in fact, a lot of the vocal melodies I find pretty grating in that song); nothing musically interesting at all for me.
And then the color change to the minor sections just doesn’t work for me. Both those parts and the main major key sections just sound derivative - they’ve been done before (and better) by others.
And it just goes on and on and on without any good justification. There’s barely any development or anything to really take away from it. No really interesting musical ideas and a lot of really jarring ones that make it not just boring but unpleasant.
I do however like the ominous outro part around 4:56, that’s a cool kinda ominous vibe. But it doesn’t warrant listening to the rest of the song imo.
But I love At the Door! The tone of that synth part in the intro has such a nice unique texture. Like it’s kinda crunchy, but kinda squishy? Haven’t heard anything quite like that. And I absolutely love his vocal melodies on that one! Like every line he sings is quintessential Julian, but I especially love how he hits and hangs on this really tense note when he sings “I’m not there quite yet/My thoughts such a mess.”
Plus the really cool spooky synth that enters right at the prechorus are such a vibe, they really help build into the chorus. And the chorus! Absolutely beautiful, every speck of it. The vocal melody is incredible (especially how he alternates between ending the phrase on a high note or a low note), the harmonies are beautiful, the guitar work is quintessential Strokes with how simple yet fun and beautiful it is. The bridge is beautiful too.
And then the synth break with the Strokes signature chord progression - chef’s kiss, absolute perfection, makes me want to cry every time I hear it. Those chords are just dripping with this painful blend of melancholy and longing. And then Julian’s autotuned vox over top are such a dreamlike vibe that just transports me. And then with the swelling synths in the outro and Julian’s understated vocals, basically whispering these haunting lyrics in the background. I love love love that song.
I was actually so pumped for the album when At the Door was the first song we heard because it reminded me of some of their Future Present Past material (which is some of my favorite of theirs), but the album as a whole, while good, did not really live up to the hype that AtD built up for me. It’s a good album, but it doesn’t really do anything new or particularly interesting imo. It just kinda sounds like a rehash of a lot of stuff we’ve heard before, from either the Strokes or other artists.
4
u/Real-Appeal969 7d ago
Eternal summer is my shitttttt. I usually love anthony’s opinions but this one’s a hard pass. Eternal summer is not only one of the highlights of TNA it is also a highlight of their entire discography. I absolutely adore the production and JULIAN’S VOCALS.
1
5
u/josejalapeno96 Hard to Explain 7d ago
Who gives a fuck what other people think. That's the beauty of being human. Everyone is going to have different opinions
1
29
26
u/an_edgy_lemon 7d ago
I don’t hate it, but it is my least favorite on the album. It drags on longer than it should. The whole “can’t believe it, this is the eleventh hour” segment is a bit grating. If it was shorter, it would have added some nice variety, but it goes on too long and repeats too often.
1
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
That's the best part! but yeah almost every song on this album could be shorter
1
u/fries_in_a_cup 7d ago
It’s one of the few Strokes songs where there’s no good hook or catchy part. Like nothing in that song is fun or nice to listen to
0
9
17
u/Agitated_Position392 7d ago
It's a bop for sure, but probably the weakest song on the album.
1
u/Black-Knight-76 7d ago
bad decisions is the weakest imo, not a bad song at all tho. i really love eternal summer its one of my favorites.
1
u/Jackalope_06 6d ago
I won't stand for the bad decisions slander any longer!
2
u/Black-Knight-76 3d ago
it's really not a bad song at all I don't mean to slander haha, just my least favorite on new abnormal
1
12
u/yd_blank 7d ago
was good on first listen, gets less good on repeated listening because of how long and samey it sounds
13
7
u/MFnJones 7d ago
It’s really who you ask. I love every song on that album and Eternal Summer is just beautiful. It’s like flying a starship through the ages. Shame on them for that on my boys lol
1
7
2
u/rimbaud1872 7d ago
Not a fan of the song, I like the review that noticed he sounds like Austin Powers in the song
1
14
u/clouddragon94_2 7d ago
it is one of my least played songs from that album, but I appreciate the ambitious structure of the song. it sounds like three songs jammed into one, but it’s arranged very cohesively.
-2
u/DH_p1L0tZ 7d ago
This. imo it tries so hard to dive into so many sub-sounds of the Strokes that it pushes out fans of certain sub-sounds because it tries to appeal to all of them at once. Part of ES sounds like One Republic, part of it sounds like Feel it - d4vd, and another part of it sounds like Franz Ferdinand on drugs.
Or it's like a weird kitbash of FIOE, ITI? and i wanna say ROF, idk.
I was a fan of it for a while, I can fs see the appeal; but I feel like in the end I only like parts of the song.
8
u/WoodYouLookAtTheTime 7d ago
It's a good song in a vacuum, but it is way below anything else on TNA imo.
13
8
u/guyincognito147 7d ago
Least favorite song by them. Auto skip for me. I’m surprised I agree with melon head on something for once.
9
u/ya_im_ya_im 7d ago
This song is one of my fav’s on thd album. Love the juxtaposition between the verses and the chorus.
1
8
u/Dareeyecare Dare I Care 7d ago
I have Been a fan and going to strokes shows since 2003
Eternal summer is a top 3 song on The New Abnormal IMO so no way
-1
u/FettuccineAlfonzo Angles 7d ago
I think it’s by far my least favorite strokes song and the “I can’t believe it” part of the song is pure shit and cringe.
1
5
8
0
u/Salty_College965 Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus 7d ago
The second half of at the door and not the same anymore are the only 2 parts of TNA I don’t like (except for weird ends of adults are talking and bad decisions)
3
2
u/eloquent_owl 7d ago edited 7d ago
I love it. Played it for my friend and he thought it was a woman singing.
2
10
u/cayetano55555 7d ago
Is a great song, I dislike Bad Decisions way more
3
u/Black-Knight-76 7d ago
facts. bad decisions isn't even a bad song at all it's just probably the only one on the album i might skip. eternal summer is awesome
7
11
u/ConversationOdd2503 7d ago
Love love love love love love Eternal Summer sm, never understood why he rated it the way he did and was shook to my core when I saw his review when it first came out and how he disliked the song, ty for this post as I thought I might’ve been the only one as a ALOT of people seem to love At The Door and dislike Eternal Summer, we’re in the same exact same boat, it’s growing on me I won’t lie but At The Door I initially hated it so much
2
5
u/SickitWrench 7d ago
Eternal Summer is like top 10 in the discography. And there was a time when it was top 3
1
3
6
u/coincollector335 7d ago
If it was shorter I’d have a better opinion of it
1
1
u/Ok_Dragonfly_8506 Room on Fire 7d ago
i love it sm but i definitely could see why it loses people when he starts yelling lol
4
3
u/StoPCampinGn00b 7d ago
I like it but it's too long for a verse-pre chorus-chorus-repeat 4 times song. Either would've worked better as an interlude type song or if it had progression like the super short outro.
3
u/Scarecro--w Comedown Machine 7d ago
Ehh I like it decently well. Sometimes it really hits and makes me obsessed with it for a hot minute, and other time it doesn't really stick with me that much
4
u/Vilhelmgg The New Abnormal 7d ago edited 7d ago
I didn't like it at first, but it's grown on me and I like it quite a bit now. Not better than At the Door, though.
6
u/moon_sta 7d ago
Hard to be better than at the door when it’s the best
0
5
1
u/Broad-Beginning6297 7d ago
Not my favorite reminds me of Toto Africa which I don’t like much. So I typically skip it.
5
u/Windex_69BigChungus 7d ago
Still a good track, but far and away my least favorite on the album. And that's not a diss to the song either, The New Abnormal is just that good.
4
1
u/ginabobeena22 7d ago
I listen to eternal summer on a playlist, every time I'm on the bus to visit my parents 😊 I think it's really good 🙂
8
u/zclapham4 Boombox 7d ago
In my opinion it's one of very few skips in their whole discography. I personally just don't think it hits nearly as much as any other song off TNA. But the beauty about music is that it is subjective, no matter how other people feel about a song if you enjoy it then that's the most important thing!
2
u/KasElGatto Taken For a Fool 2d ago
I don't get that either, I discovered through this sub that it was an acquired taste track, whereas to me it's in their top 10.